Download or read book Half a Wing Three Engines and a Prayer written by Brian D. O'Neill and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 1999-05-21 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Incorporating a wealth of new material, here is the riveting story of the bombing raids that broke the back of Nazi Germany, praised as "a well-researched, highly readable account of a B-17 combat crew's experience ... excellent." (Roger A. Freeman, author of The Mighty Eighth)
Download or read book Half a Wing Three Engines and a Prayer written by Brian O'Neill and published by . This book was released on 1989-03-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Half a Wing Three Engines and a Prayer written by Brian D. O'Neill and published by Aero Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 1989-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 Hell Above Earth written by Stephen Frater and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2012-03-13 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "After the twists and turns in Goering's many missions, Frater finishes with a stunning revelation . . . the author delivers an exciting read full of little-known facts about the war. A WWII thrill ride." - Kirkus Reviews The U.S. air battle over Nazi Germany in WWII was hell above earth. For bomber crews, every day they flew was like D-Day, exacting a terrible physical and emotional toll. Twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering, accepted this, even thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. He was an exceptional pilot—and the nephew of Hermann Göring, leading member of the Nazi party and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion or capture would represent for Nazi Germany. J. Edgar Hoover issued a top-secret order that if Captain Goering's plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be there in the cockpit to shoot Goering dead. FBI agents found a man capable of accomplishing the task in Jack Rencher, a tough, insular B-17 instructor who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in one of the most incredible untold tales of WWII.
Download or read book The Star in the Window written by Louis C. Langone and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2011-06-21 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a service banner adorned with stars was displayed in a homes window during World War II, it meant a family member was involved in the war. Some of the soldiers never returned, but those who did come home carried memories and war stories. In The Star in the Window, author Louis C. Langone tells the stories of more than seventy-five WWII veterans who lived in Waterville and Central New York. Langone personally interviewed and listened to more than 100 men and women telling their wartime storiesfrom bombing missions over Europe to the island hopping campaigns of the Pacific to suffering as prisoners of war. The narratives are supplemented with material from books, periodicals, the Internet, press releases, unit histories, and letters, providing a mix of memories and facts. Photographs and community honor rolls are also included. The Star in the Window not only preserves special WWII memories, but also gives insight into the hardships endured and sacrifices made by the veterans of the Central New York area. It provides an opportunity to experience history through the eyes and ears of veterans from the various military branches of service revealing shocking and obscure incidents of the war.
Download or read book To Kingdom Come written by Robert J. Mrazek and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The breathtaking, never-before-told, true story of a historic air force bombing mission in 1943 Germany. On September 6, 1943, three hundred and thirty-eight B-17 "Flying Fortresses" of the American Eighth Air Force took off from England, bound for Stuttgart, Germany, to bomb Nazi weapons factories. Dense clouds obscured the targets, and one commander's critical decision to circle three times over the city—and its deadly flak—would prove disastrous. Forty-five planes went down that day, and hundreds of men were lost or missing. Focusing on first-person accounts of six of the B-17 airmen, award-winning author Robert Mrazek vividly re-creates the fierce air battle—and reveals the astonishing valor of the airmen who survived being shot down, and the tragic fate of those who did not.
Download or read book Air Force Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1989-07 with total page 776 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Courage and Air Warfare written by Mark K. Wells and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-03-05 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonel Wells investigates the nature of aerial warfare and the men who took part. The book analyzes aircrew selection, reaction to combat, adaptability to stress, morale, leadership and combat effectiveness, and compares the efforts of the US Eighth Air Force and RAF Bomber Command.
Download or read book Flying against Fate written by S. P. MacKenzie and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, Allied casualty rates in the air were high. Of the roughly 125,000 who served as aircrew with Bomber Command, 59,423 were killed or missing and presumed killed—a fatality rate of 45.5%. With odds like that, it would be no surprise if there were as few atheists in cockpits as there were in foxholes; and indeed, many airmen faced their dangerous missions with beliefs and rituals ranging from the traditional to the outlandish. Military historian S. P. MacKenzie considers this phenomenon in Flying against Fate, a pioneering study of the important role that superstition played in combat flier morale among the Allies in World War II. Mining a wealth of documents as well as a trove of published and unpublished memoirs and diaries, MacKenzie examines the myriad forms combat fliers' superstitions assumed, from jinxes to premonitions. Most commonly, airmen carried amulets or talismans—lucky boots or a stuffed toy; a coin whose year numbers added up to thirteen; counterintuitively, a boomerang. Some performed rituals or avoided other acts, e.g., having a photo taken before a flight. Whatever seemed to work was worth sticking with, and a heightened risk often meant an upsurge in superstitious thought and behavior. MacKenzie delves into behavior analysis studies to help explain the psychology behind much of the behavior he documents—not slighting the large cohort of crew members and commanders who demurred. He also looks into the ways in which superstitious behavior was tolerated or even encouraged by those in command who saw it as a means of buttressing morale. The first in-depth exploration of just how varied and deeply felt superstitious beliefs were to tens of thousands of combat fliers, Flying against Fate expands our understanding of a major aspect of the psychology of war in the air and of World War II.
Download or read book They came from Burgundy written by Keith Janes and published by Troubador Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2017-03-28 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book to recount the stories of every single Allied serviceman (including more than a hundred and fifty American aircrew) helped by one of the major escape lines of World War Two, complete with details of their helpers. Escape lines – which should more properly be called evasion lines – can be described as organisations that helped stranded servicemen make their way from enemy occupied territories back to friendly territory. Of the three major escape lines running through France during the Second World War – the Pat O’Leary line, which covered most of the country, the Comete line, which ran from Holland and Belgium through France to the Pyrenees, and Bourgogne – Bourgogne (aka Burgundy) is the least well known. Escape lines are a largely unrecognised, or at least often overlooked, episode of the Second World War. For those who were involved – the helpers (mostly French, Belgian and Dutch civilians) – or who benefitted from them (mostly British, Commonwealth and American servicemen) this was a personal war, which was, and remains, almost unknown to the outside world, despite the tragic loss of so many of those concerned. To the families of the servicemen saved, it must have seemed like a miracle to have their loved ones returned safely to them. For the helpers and their families who were caught, it often meant death. This comprehensive study, some 480 pages, is based around contemporary reports and documentation, as well as extensive personal research by the author and others. It describes the evasions of the more than three hundred Allied servicemen helped by the Burgundy line, together with details and the eventual fates of many hundreds of their helpers. They came from Burgundywill appeal to those interested in history, specifically Second World War escape and evasion.
Download or read book Aviation Week Space Technology written by and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 734 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Strategic Bombing of Germany 1940 1945 written by Alan Levine and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1992-07-22 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the only full-scale account of the strategic air offensive against Germany published in the last twenty years, and is the only one that treats the British and the Americans with parity. Much of what Levine writes about British operations will be unfamiliar to American readers. He has stressed the importance of winning air superiority and the role of escort fighters in strategic bombing, and has given more attention to the German side than most writers on air warfare have. Levine gets past a simple account of what we did to them and describes the target systems and German countermeasures in detail, providing exact yet dramatic accounts of the great bomber operations--the Ruhr dams, Ploesti, and Regensburg and Schweinfurt. The book is broad-guaged, touching many matters, from the development of bombing doctrine before the war to the technical development of the Luftwaffe and the RAF, jets and V-weapons, to the role of the heavy bombers in supporting land and sea operations. Levine stresses the impact of bombing on the war, and generally endorses the strategic air campaign as worthwhile and effective. But he concludes that many mistakes were made by the Allies--both the British and the Americans--in tactics, the development of equipment, and in the selection of targets. Levine sees strategic bombing as a powerful tool that was often misused, particularly when the doctrine of area bombing flourished. Scholars, students, and buffs interested in World War II and/or the history of aviation will find this study of great interest.
Download or read book Secrets In The Sky written by Melinda Rice and published by Taylor Trade Publications. This book was released on 2001-02-26 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While her brother is off flying planes for the Air Corps, twelve-year-old Bethany becomes involved with women training with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASPS) right in her hometown of Sweetwater, Texas.
Download or read book The Last Mission of Lady Jane II written by Lisa A. Vans and published by Schiffer + ORM. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Further insight into the experience for 8th Air Force bomber crews over Germany, and in German captivity. New revelations about the investigation of the murder of several American bomber crewmen by German civilians. Learn personal stories about the crewmen of Lady Jane II, including the postwar struggles of the survivors.
Download or read book American Bomber Crewman 1941 45 written by Gregory Fremont-Barnes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-06-20 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory Fremont-Barnes examines the lives of the American Bomber Crewmen of the Eighth Air Force, 'The Mighty Eighth', who manned, maintained and repaired the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators that flew from the airfields of England. He highlights the physical and psychological strain placed on these men, who required brute strength to control the aircraft on long bombing missions and extraordinary endurance to fly for hours at 20,000 feet at temperatures below freezing in unpressurised cabins. In addition to this, with Luftwaffe fighters and anti-aircraft fire to contend with, it required incredible skill and some luck to return from a mission unscathed. This book is a fitting tribute to these often uncelebrated heroes who took the war deep into the Third Reich, as well as a fascinating historical account of their experiences.
Download or read book Shadow written by Neil Hunter Raiford and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2011-10-11 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the poignant and exciting story of a statistical anomaly, a B-24 bomber crew that completed 50 combat missions in World War II. This crew was part of the famous 450th Bomb Group, which was nicknamed the "Cottontails" because of their white rudders. As part of the 15th Army Air Force, they flew strategic bombing missions out of Manduria, Italy (in the heel of the boot) and struck strategic targets which were out of the reach of the 8th Army Air Force bases in England. The group lost 1,505 airmen in only a year and a half--the equivalent of losing their effective flying strength three times over. The book's title comes from the crew's bomber, Shadow, which in turn was named for the pilot's black cocker spaniel that flew with them on training missions. Based on interviews with the surviving crewmembers and their families as well as extant archival source material, the book details the childhood, training and post-war life of each of its 13 principal characters. Chapter One is a discussion of each man's boyhood years and Chapter Two provides details of the training that each received. In Chapter Three, the original crew of ten (Crew #4-N-33) was formed in Clovis, New Mexico. An assignment for training in Clovis and in B-24s meant that the crew had been designated for heavy bombardment. Chapter Four includes a description of the four main objectives for the crew, one of which was to participate in POINTBLANK, the Combined Bomber Offensive, which called for the destruction of German fighter aircraft plants, ball bearing plants, oil refineries, rubber plants, munitions factories, sub pens and bases. Details of the structural components of most missions are provided in Chapter Five. The crew completes its first missions in Chapter Six. In Chapter Seven, "Shadow" completes its last after taking enemy fire, and Chapter Eight introduces a new plane, Sleepy Time Gal. The book's Epilogue contains information about the post-war lives of the crew.
