Download or read book Flying with the Fifteenth Air Force written by Tom Faulkner and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-11-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1944 and 1945, Tom Faulkner was a B-24 pilot flying out of San Giovanni airfield in Italy as a member of the 15th Air Force of the U.S. Army Air Forces. Only 19 years old when he completed his 28th and last mission, Tom was one of the youngest bomber pilots to serve in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Between September 1944 and the end of February 1945, he flew against targets in Hungary, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Yugoslavia. On Tom’s last mission against the marshalling yards at Augsburg, Germany, his plane was severely damaged, and he had to fly to Switzerland where he and his crew were interned. The 15th Air Force generally has been overshadowed by works on the 8th Air Force based in England. Faulkner’s memoir helps fill an important void by providing a first-hand account of a pilot and his crew during the waning months of the war, as well as a description of his experiences before his military service. David L. Snead has edited the memoir and provided annotations and corroboration for the various missions.
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 Forgotten Fifteenth written by Barrett Tillman and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: November 1943—May 1945—The U.S. Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler’s vital oil production and industrial plants on the Third Reich’s southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions spanning most of the European continent. The story of the Fifteenth Air Force deserves a prideful place in the annals of American gallantry. In his new book, Forgotten Fifteenth: The Daring Airmen Who Crippled Hitler’s War Machine, Tillman brings into focus a seldom-seen multinational cast of characters, including pilots from Axis nations Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria and many more remarkable individuals. They were the first generation of fliers—few of them professionals—to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against a major industrial nation. They suffered steady attrition and occasionally spectacular losses. In so doing, they contributed to the end of the most destructive war in history. Forgotten Fifteenth is the first-ever detailed account of the Fifteenth Air Force in World War II and the brave men that the history books have abandoned until now. Tillman proves this book is a must-read for military history enthusiasts, veterans, and current servicemen.
Download or read book Air Force Combat Units of World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1961 with total page 520 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book B 24 Liberator Units of the Eighth Air Force written by Robert F Dorr and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The B-24 Liberator was built in greater numbers than any other US warplane, yet its combat crews live, even today, in the shadow of the less plentiful, but better-known, B-17. Accounts of the 'Mighty Eighth' in Europe, and indeed many of the books and films that emerged from the greatest air campaign in history, often overlook the B-24, even though it was in action for as long as the Flying Fortress, and participated in just as many perilous daylight bombing missions.
Download or read book Mustang Aces of the Ninth Fifteenth Air Forces the RAF written by Jerry Scutts and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 1995-11-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although best remembered for its exploits with Eighth Air Force units, the Mustang, in its various marks, actually made its combat debut firstly with the Royal Air Force in the Army co-operation role, and then with the USAAF's tactically-optimised Ninth and Fifteenth Air Forces. Seeing action in Western Europe and the Mediterranean, pilots like Glenn T Eagleston, John J Voll and Samuel J Brown notched up impressive scores flying P-51Bs and Ds with the 354th, 31st and 52nd Fighter Groups. Rarely given the exposure enjoyed by their high-scoring brethren in the 'Mighty Eighth', this volume at last sets the record straight on Europe's remaining Mustang aces.
Download or read book With Courage The U S Army Air Forces In WWII written by Bernard C. Nalty and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The four years between 1941 and 1945 were years in which the nation raised and trained an air armada and committed it to operations on a scale unknown to that time. With Courage: The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II retells the story of sacrifice, valor, and achievements in air campaigns against tough determined adversaries. It describes the development of a uniquely American doctrine for the application of air power against an opponent’s key industries and centers of national life, a doctrine whose legacy today is the Global Reach-Global Power strategic planning framework of the modern U.S. Air Force. The narrative integrates aspects of strategic intelligence, logistics, technology, and leadership to offer a full yet concise account of the contributions of American air power to victory in that war.—Print Ed.
Download or read book A Concise History of the U S Air Force written by Stephen Lee McFarland and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1997 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.
Download or read book In Hostile Skies written by James M. Davis and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James "Jim" Davis piloted a B-24, as part of the 8th Air Force, on nearly thirty missions in the European Theatre during World War II. He flew support missions for Operations Cobra and Market Garden and numerous bombing missions over occupied Europe in the summer and fall of 1944, attacking enemy airfields, airplane factories, railroad marshalling yards, ship yards, oil refineries, and chemical plants. While he and his crew survived without serious injuries, they witnessed the destruction of many of their friends' planes and experienced serious damage to their own plane on several occasions.
Download or read book 12th 15th Air Forces written by Gerard Paloque and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Created in 1942, and immediately placed under the command of General Doolittle, the 12th Air Force was responsible for conducting Operation Torch on November 8, 1942.The unit served with the Northwest African Air Forces from February to December 1943, then with the Allied Air Forces in the Mediterranean (MAAF) until the end of the war alongside the other unit presented in this work: the 15th Air Force.Formed in November 1943, the 15th Air Force was established to operate in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO), primarily from air fields located in southern Italy where they were stationed. The objectives of both units were to destroy all the oil refineries and aircraft factories.Ge'rard Paloque provides a well rounded overview of all those involved in the 12th and 15th Air Forces as well as the aircraft utilized by these two great units, bringing to life many of the objectives and results that have been often forgotten by World War II historians. The reader will find a chapter dedicated to the famous Tuskegee airmen-the 322nd Fighter Group of the 15th Air Force, the United States' first all-black air unit.
Download or read book The Army Air Forces in World War II Men and planes written by and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Air Force written by Martin Caidin and published by . This book was released on 1957 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book On the Edge written by Bill Disbrow and published by Winlock Galey. This book was released on 2005-02 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1920 Bill Disbrow had his first airplane ride with his dad in a Jenny WWI trainer when he was five. This ignited his desire to be an Army Air Corps pilot. He finally applied in 1935 but failed his physical due to high blood pressure from excitement. He tried three more times. After Pearl Harbor, he was turned down because he was married, but the marriage ban was lifted and he was in and getting shot at. He always thought he could fly and sailed through Cadets in 1943, the oldest Cadet at 28. He was finally a pilot! He expected to go to P-38 fighter school but wound up as a B-24 co-pilot. His pilot and Bill flew their B-24 from Hamilton Field to Italy. Bill flew 50 missions for the 15th Air force, 455th Bomb Group, 741st Squadron. 25 of those mission he was first pilot in the B-24, Organized Confusion. He survived 7 missions to the Ploesti oil fields, the graveyard of the 15th Air Force. He returned to the U.S. in 1944 with the DFC and the Air Medal with 3 OLCs, where he attended Officers Armament School and graduated at the top of his class. He was later assigned to Colorado Springs where, as a recruiting officer, he flew anything they would let him. Bill In 1948, he was sent to Japan as an I & E officer and later Chief of Flight Test FEMCOM. Later he took an old C-47 to Korea, ferrying supplies to the troops and became stationed there in charge of field maintenance at Pusan. On his return to the states, Bill became the CO of the Air Force recruiting in Los Angeles where he built the Disbrow Special sportcar. Later he brought the car to Tyndal AFB in Florida and raced against General LeMay and others. There he flew F-86s and F-102s. He was sent back to Japan in charge of a fighter squadron and finally sent home to Travis AFB where he retired with 21 years of active duty. On retiring he would become an investigator, a high school teacher, a aircraft owner, a civilian flight instructor a resort owner, a house builder, a world-class snow skier in his age group, and an excellent ballroom dancer. He would sire four beautiful daughters by his wife Fay of 27 years; have 10 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren and still counting. through all the anxiety and adversities he had to contend with. He thanks his Lord Jesus Christ for making this all possible.
Download or read book B 17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO written by William N Hess and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the Fifteenth Air Force was dismissed as 'minor leaguers' by the Eighth Air Force, strategic bombers from this outfit had done a 'major league' job on Axis targets in southern Europe following its formation in Italy in November 1943. And the heavy bombers employed by the Fifteenth were of course the venerable B-17 and B-24. At its peak strength, the Fifteenth's B-17 force comprised six groups of four squadrons each, all controlled by the 5th Bomb Wing. Having been a part of the Fifteenth Air Force in 1944, author Bill Hess has long been waiting to write a definitive account on 'his air force'.
Download or read book B 17 Flying Fortress Units of the Eighth Air Force part 2 written by Martin Bowman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-01-20 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Boeing B-17, which has come to epitomise the American war effort in Europe, took the fight to Germans from the late summer of 1942 through to VE-Day. Its primary operator in Western Europe was the 'Mighty Eighth', who controlled 27 bomb groups for much of the war. This second of two volumes covers the 14 Bomb Groups of the Third Air Division. First hand accounts, period photography, profile artworks and nose art scrap views bring to life aircraft from each of the groups within the Third Air Division.
Download or read book Sierra Hotel flying Air Force fighters in the decade after Vietnam written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C.R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions.
Download or read book The Praetorian STARShip the untold story of the Combat Talon written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jerry Thigpen's study on the history of the Combat Talon is the first effort to tell the story of this wonderfully capable machine. This weapons system has performed virtually every imaginable tactical event in the spectrum of conflict and by any measure is the most versatile C-130 derivative ever produced. First modified and sent to Southeast Asia (SEA) in 1966 to replace theater unconventional warfare (UW) assets that were limited in both lift capability and speed the Talon I quickly adapted to theater UW tasking including infiltration and resupply and psychological warfare operations into North Vietnam. After spending four years in SEA and maturing into a highly respected UW weapons system the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) chose the Combat Talon to lead the night low-level raid on the North Vietnamese prison camp at Son Tay. Despite the outcome of the operation the Talon I cemented its reputation as the weapons system of choice for long-range clandestine operations. In the period following the Vietnam War United States Air Force (USAF) special operations gradually lost its political and financial support which was graphically demonstrated in the failed Desert One mission into Iran. Thanks to congressional supporters like Earl Hutto of Florida and Dan Daniel of Virginia funds for aircraft upgrades and military construction projects materialized to meet the ever-increasing threat to our nation. Under the leadership of such committed hard-driven officers as Brenci Uttaro Ferkes Meller and Thigpen the crew force became the most disciplined in our Air Force. It was capable of penetrating hostile airspace at night in a low-level mountainous environment covertly to execute any number of unconventional warfare missions.
