Download or read book Flak Houses written by Keith Thomas and published by After the Battle. This book was released on 2006-11-30 with total page 80 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ‘Flak’ Houses were the rest homes set up in England during the Second World War by the American Red Cross to provide centers of rest and recuperation for combat-weary airmen. These were usually situated in large country houses where flyers were permitted to wear civilian clothes and partake in a variety of sporting and recreational activities. All told, some 87,000 men passed through the R&R system before it disbanded in 1945. Keith Thomas covers the history of more than 20 Flak Houses in Britain and, in keeping with the theme of After the Battle publications, all are illustrated with ‘then and now’ comparison photos.
Download or read book Flak Dodger written by Roland O. Byers and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Replacement Son written by W. S. Culpepper and published by Hillcrest Publishing Group. This book was released on 2013 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry McChesney is seven when he first learns of Buddy, his only brother who'd died young and left his family in misery. After a fitful start on his own life, Harry decides that the only way to get things right for himself and his family is to become "The Replacement Son." Author W.S. Culpepper frames Harry's psychological drama within an epic adventure story. Harry struggles to define himself, rescue his family from the emotional aftermath of his brother's death, and undertake a lifetime of labors as the next head of the McChesney clan. The novel tracks reluctant pilgrim Harry on his existential quest through Depression-Era New Orleans, WWII, and the city's devastation following Hurricane Katrina. "The Replacement Son" brings a charming but most unlikely hero and an exotic range of supporting characters to life in a compelling story of sacrifice and discovery.
Download or read book Yanks Over Europe written by Jerome Klinkowitz and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2021-12-14 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contrasts between fighter combat and the bombers' war support Klinkowitz's belief that notions of the air war were determined by one's position in it. He extends his thesis by showing the vastly different style of air war described by veterans of the North African and Mediterranean campaigns and concludes by studying the effects of such combat on adversaries and victims. Air combat, Klinkowitz writes, offers a unique perspective on the nature of war. The experience of combat has inspired authors to combine exquisite descriptions with probing thoughtfulness, covering the full range of human expression from exultation to heartbreak. Here is a tightly drawn, highly readable account of the European air war.
Download or read book Fortress written by Eugene Mullen and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2003-08 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve E. Larson learns the harsh reality of war, finding himself relieving the past as a youthful American soldier flying combat mission from England in the summer of 1943. As the heated battle over the skies of Germany's Fortress Europe, take their toll on Steve, he finds comfort in the arms of English women. With each mission, life becomes more meaningful. He meets two women that are different as night and day. Captain Ann Toille, harden by the war and as cold as ice, and Cindy Graham a local working girl that he can escape to and enjoy the pleasures of the world. Fate steps in and he gets shot down over Germany. Left with only the clothes on his back he tries to make it back to England before getting captured. He finds out that there is more to this war and to life, then what he is living. He gets befriended on the way by Carolyn only to leave her hanging on deaths doorstep. Returning to England feeling low in heart, he turns to Cindy only to regret being with her. Fate steps in again as he meets Ann. Can Ann's love nourish him back even though it is not her love that he desires?
Download or read book Courage to be Counted written by Eleri Grace and published by Eleri Grace. This book was released on 2019-01-18 with total page 419 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the bombs fall on Europe, their new love must survive a deadly war… Vivian Lambert wants to do her part. When she wins a coveted post with the Red Cross, she focuses on her war service. Falling hard for a sexy pilot wasn't part of her plan. Jack Nielsen has a mission. Motivated by patriotic duty and desire to avenge the death of his best friend, Jack commands a ten-man B-17 crew. Keeping himself and his men alive in the fire-filled skies over Europe will require Jack's full focus. Romancing a headstrong Red Cross Girl is a distraction he knows he shouldn't indulge. While Vivian's work takes her across France and into the heart of Nazi Germany, mounting casualties drive Jack to confront his dwindling odds of survival. As Allied forces converge on all fronts, can Vivian and Jack's relationship withstand an excruciating battle between love and duty? Courage to be Counted is the first book in the Clubmobile Girls series of thrilling historical romances. If you like brave military heroes, trailblazing heroines, and romance under fire, then you'll love Eleri Grace's page-turning tale. Buy Courage to be Counted and soar into this historical romance today!
Download or read book The Boys in the B 17 written by T/Sgt James Lee Hutchinson EdS and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-11-23 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author in flight gear after photo twelfth mission second Air Medal (age nineteen) He still wears lucky Air Cadet ring! Hutch's third book contains short stories of boys on B-17 Flying Fortress crews in deadly missions with the Eighth Air Force in World War II and stories of his own teenage combat experiences as radio/gunner on twenty missions with the Mighty Eighth. Teenagers enlisted or were drafted, trained and went into combat before they could legally vote or buy a drink. They volunteered to fly in the Army's Air Cadet Program and became a part of the greatest air armada in the world. Most of the gunners on a bomber crew were teenagers and the average age of officers was twenty-four. Veterans' memoirs and diaries give amazing reports of fighter attacks, flak damage and those who survived being shot down out to become Prisoners of War. These youngsters manned the planes that bombed and destroyed Germanys military and war industry. The price of victory was high, with an extreme loss of aircrews and planes. Eighth Air Force losses were among the highest of any military unit. Like the author, teenagers who survived to tell the stories of those great air battles are now in their mid-eighties and rapidly passing into history. See previous books "Through These Eyes" and "Bombs Away!" See a free DVD at http://video.smithville.net/?p=17 for interviews of the author with actual WW II combat film footage.
Download or read book The Fighting Forty fifth written by United States. Army 45th Division and published by . This book was released on 1946 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis written by Kevin A. Mahoney and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis: Combat Missions over Europe during World War II, historian Kevin A. Mahoney provides a detailed combat history of the crucial role played by this air force from November 1943 through May 1945. Presented by month in chronological order, Mahoney describes all the major bombing and fighter missions carried out by this air force within a strategic context. Each chapter includes an introduction describing developments in the evolution of the strategic air campaign against the Germans, highlights the purpose and importance of the month’s operations, and reviews the Luftwaffe’s resistance and changes in tactics and important developments in the Fifteenth Air Force’s organization. Each monthly narrative further explores most missions, detailing the number of aircraft lost during these missions. Losses are based on an exhaustively researched database compiled by Mahoney that contains details of almost 3,000 aircraft. Target damage is mentioned, while enemy opposition is also described for each mission. Appendices include four short essays on bombing operations (planning and flying of missions, tactics and techniques, bomb types, and bombing accuracy), tactics employed by fighter escort in aerial combat and strafing, combat crews and their aircraft (including a comparison of American fighters and bombers, the training of the crews, and their combat tours), and the Fifteenth Air Force command structure (including the use of intelligence, photo and weather reconnaissance, and the considerable effect of weather on Fifteenth Air Force operations). This work of military history is ideal for students and scholars of the air war in Europe.
Download or read book Ww Ii We Were There written by T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson EdS and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2022-12-08 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WW II books of 50 or more stories of boys on B-17 Flying Fortress crews, flying deadly missions with the Eighth Air Force in World War II. His writing is based on his teenage combat experiences as a B-17 radio/gunner on twenty combat missions with the 490th Bomb group, diaries and interviews of veterans of various bomb groups. Teenagers who volunteered to fly were trained and went into combat before they could legally vote or buy a drink. They signed up for the Army’s Air Cadet Program and became a part of the greatest air armada in the world. Any of the gunners on a bomber crew were teenagers and twenty-four was the average age of pilots, bombardiers and navigators. Veterans’ diaries give amazing reports of fighter attacks, flak damage and being shot down to become Prisoners of War. They were the youngsters who flew daylight bombing missions in the Mighty Eighth and destroyed Germany’s military and war industry.
Download or read book An Emotional Gauntlet written by Stuart J. Wright and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2011-04-21 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A moving account of the lives of one diverse WWII American aircrew, “filled with humor, chaos, horror, and tragedy” (The Freeport Journal-Standard). In this book, Stuart J Wright tells the gripping story of a World War II American aircrew flying missions from Old Buckenham, England in a B-24 Liberator bomber they nicknamed Corky, based on years of research and correspondence with crew members and their families. Wright adds a dimension rarely explored in other World War II memoirs and narratives, beginning the chronicle during peacetime when the men of the aircrew are introduced as civilians—kids during the 1920s. As they mature through the years of the Great Depression to face a world at war, questions are raised about “just” and “unjust” wars, imperialism and patriotism. Jingoistic sentimentality is resisted in favor of objectivity, as the feelings and motivations of the crew members are explored: the Chinese American air gunner had hoped to serve in the U.S. Army Air Force to fight against the Japanese invaders of his homeland; the Jewish navigator felt compelled to join the battle against Nazi Germany. In recounting the harrowing conditions and horrors of bombing missions over Europe, An Emotional Gauntlet emphasizes the interpersonal relationships within the crew and the spirit these men shared. As pilot Jack Nortridge regularly assured his crew, “If you fly with me, I'm going to bring you home.” This book is a testament to their strength and determination. Includes photographs “Compelling…stands out for its integration of pre-war civilian life with wartime experiences. To me, this is the essence of America's story in the war, and I am glad to find a book that comprehends this and tells the story from this perspective.”—Jerome Klinkowitz, author of Yanks Over Europe: American Flyers in World War II
Download or read book A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940 1945 Volume 5 written by Christopher Shores and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 527 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This international collaboration between air war historians is simply fantastic. . . . a deep-dive on the operations in a vast and very important theater of war.” —Air Classics During the final year of World War II, the defending Axis forces were steadily driven from southern skies by burgeoning Anglo-American power. This was despite the steady withdrawal of units to more demanding areas. This fifth volume of the series describes in detail the activities of the Allied tactical air forces in support of the armies on the ground as their opponents were steadily extracted from northern Italy and the Balkans for the final defense of the central European homeland. The book commences with coverage of the final fierce air-sea battles over the Aegean that preceded the advance northward to Rome and the ill-conceived British attempt to secure the Dodecanese islands following the armistice with Italy. The authors also deal fully and comprehensively with the advance northward following the occupation of Rome, and the departure of forces to support the invasion of France from the Riviera coast, coupled with the formation of a new Balkan Air Force in eastern Italy to pursue the German armies withdrawing from Yugoslavia and take possession of newly freed Greece. The effect of the creation within the same area of the US and RAF strategic forces to join the Allied Combined Bombing Offensive is also discussed. Includes photographs “Reflects the scope of a remarkable research effort and provides valuable detail that the reader is not going to find between two covers elsewhere.” —The NYMAS Review
Download or read book Hell s Angels written by Jay A. Stout and published by Dutton Caliber. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the air battles that destroyed Nazi Germany's ability to wage war, one bomb group was especially distinguished. The Hell's Angels. At the outbreak of World War II, the United States was in no way prepared to wage war. Although the U.S declared war against Germany in December 1941, the country lacked the manpower, the equipment, and the experience it needed to fight. Even had an invasion force been ready, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany's industrial and military might were crippled. Because no invasion could happen without air superiority, the first target was the Luftwaffe--the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. To this end, the United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain's already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group--Hell's Angels. This is the 303rd's story, as told by the men who made it what it was. Taking their name from their B-17 of the same name, they became one of the most distinguished and important air combat units in history. The dramatic and terrible air battles they fought against Germany changed the course of the war.
Download or read book Fighter Group written by Lt Col Jay A. Stout and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2012-10-01 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jay Stout breaks new ground in World War II aviation history with this gripping account of one of the war's most highly decorated American fighter groups.
Download or read book They Left Us Everything written by Plum Johnson and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-07-26 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A warm, heartfelt memoir of family, loss, and a house jam-packed with decades of goods and memories. After almost twenty years of caring for elderly parents—first for their senile father, and then for their cantankerous ninety-three-year old mother—author Plum Johnson and her three younger brothers have finally fallen to their middle-aged knees with conflicted feelings of grief and relief. Now they must empty and sell the beloved family home, twenty-three rooms bulging with history, antiques, and oxygen tanks. Plum thought: How tough will that be? I know how to buy garbage bags. But the task turns out to be much harder and more rewarding than she ever imagined. Items from childhood trigger difficult memories of her eccentric family growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, but unearthing new facts about her parents helps her reconcile those relationships, with a more accepting perspective about who they were and what they valued. They Left Us Everything is a funny, touching memoir about the importance of preserving family history to make sense of the past, and nurturing family bonds to safeguard the future.
Download or read book Armor Battles of the Waffen SS written by Will Fey and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2003-07-01 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Waffen SS were considered the elite of the German armed forces in the Second World War and were involved in almost continuous combat. From the sweeping tank battle of Kursk on the Russian front to the bitter fighting among the hedgerows of Normandy and the last great offensive in the Ardennes, forever immortalized in history as the Battle of the Bulge, these men and their tanks made history.
Download or read book Tail End Charlies written by John Nichol and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-04 with total page 444 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Night after night they stifled their fears and flew through flak and packs of enemy fighters to drop the bombs that would demolish the Third Reich. The airmen of the United States 8th Army Air ForceAmerican and British Bomber Command were among the greatest heroes of the Second World War, defying Hitler in the darkest early days of the war and taking the battle to the German homeland when no one else would. Toward the end of the conflict, too, they continued to sacrifice their lives to shatter an enemy sworn never to surrender. Blasted out of the sky in an instant or bailing out from burning aircraft to drop helplessly into hostile hands, they would die in their tens of thousands to ensure the enemy's defeat. Especially vulnerable were the "tail-end Charlies"---for the Americans, which meant two things: the gunners who flew countless missions in a plexiglass bubble at the back of the bomber, and the last bomber in the formation who ended up flying through the most hell, and for the British, the rear-gunners who flew operations in a Plexiglas bubble at the back of the bomber. Following their groundbreaking revelations about the ordeals suffered by Allied prisoners of war in their bestselling book, The Last Escape, John Nichol and Tony Rennell tell the astonishing and deeply moving story of the controversial last battles in the skies of Germany through the eyes of the forgotten heroes who fought them. "This is the best account that has been written of the heroic American and British bomber crews . . . the best of its kind." ---George McGovern "Rivaling the best of Stephen Ambrose's work, Tail-End Charlies gives a breathtakingly intimate look at the lives, loves, and deaths of the brave airmen of the greatest generation. This fascinating book is as valuable for its stories of joyous life on the ground as it is for its sobering tales of death in the air. You see the whole picture of the war here from the eyes of the strong young men who fought it." ---Walter J. Boyne, bestselling author of Beyond the Wild Blue "Adds new dimensions to the saga of the air war in Europe. The eyewitness accounts, reported within the context of the battle against Nazi Germany, provide a sense of the ordeals, the terror, the gore, and the heroism of ordinary men thrust into the savagery of aerial combat." ---Gerald Astor, author of The Mighty Eighth
