Download or read book One Mission to Ploesti written by Robert P. Moore and published by Dog Ear Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-19 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lost among the great stories of World War II was the escape and rescue of hundreds of Allied airmen shot down over German-occupied Yugoslavia. Their target had been the vital Axis oil fields at Ploesti, Romania. Robert P. Moore and his B-17 crewmates were among the first wave of high altitude bombing raids that intensified in April, 1944. Enemy flak and engine trouble brought down their aircraft short of the target. It was Moore’s first mission, in an unfamiliar aircraft, with a crew he had met only moments before take-off. He bailed out into a completely unknown and rugged country, and was confronted by local militia carrying axes and firearms. The men were part of a larger nationalist army—Chetniks. Fiercely anti-communist, the Chetniks desperately wanted Allied help. The Chetniks guided Moore and hundreds of other airmen, traveling in rugged mountains to get them to a safe zone for rescue. Moore’s escape and rescue is here recounted in his own words. Moore and his airmen bailed out into a country that was at war with itself as well as the Germans. The Chetniks under the leadership of Gen. Draja Mihailovich were engaged not only in a war with the Nazi occupiers, they were also at odds with an army of their fellow countrymen, called Partisans, under the leadership of communist-leaning Josip Tito. Mihailovich and his Chetniks, in part to show solidarity with the Allies, guided downed American airmen to a secret airstrip in the mountains south of Belgrade. Mihailovich and American intelligence cooperated in Operation Halyard, the secret mission to rescue almost 500 airman and return them to their base. Following the war, many of the surviving airmen shared their story with family and friends. A few wrote about their adventure, and a few of those stories made it into print. Moore’s hometown newspaper ran a lengthy piece shortly after his return. Only now has Moore put together the complete experience, as a way to honor his wartime crewmen.
Download or read book Into the Fire written by Duane P. Schultz and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2008-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Schultz recreates the great World War II battle of Ploesti, Romania, combining original research and interviews with survivors in order to capture the tension, drama, and heroics of the warring sides.
Download or read book Fortress Ploesti written by Jay A. Stout and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2003-11-19 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive account of the World War II Allied bombing campaign to destroy pivotal Romanian oil refineries—by the retired Marine Corps fighter pilot. Unlike previous books on Ploesti, Jay Stout goes well beyond the famous big and bloody raid of August 1943 and depicts the entire 1944 strategic campaign of twenty-plus missions that all but knocked Ploesti out of the war and denied the German war machine the fuel and lubricants it so desperately needed. Stout’s account is also a launching point for the author’s inquiries into many aspects of the American strategic bombing effort in World War II. It delivers across the board. Stout, who served as a Marine F/A-18 pilot in the First Gulf War, asks questions about aviation combat history and technique that any modern combat pilot would be dying to ask. He carries the ball far beyond the goal post set by all other Ploesti historians. He has gone out of his way to describe the defenses throughout the campaign, and he brings in the voices of Ploesti’s defenders to complement the tales of Allied airmen who brought Ploesti to ruin. He describes the role of the bombers, as well as that of the fighters, the antiaircraft defenses, even the technique of obscuring the Ploesti complex with smoke. Stout’s lucid presentation of complex issues at the tactical and strategic levels makes his narrative “a must for those with a special interest in the attacks on Ploesti” (World War II History Magazine).
Download or read book Black Sunday written by Michael Hill and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1993 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Detailed, first-person account of the famed low-level B-24 raid over the Ploesti oilfields on August 1, 1943.
Download or read book Those Brave Crews written by Ray Ward and published by weldon publications. This book was released on 2003 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Colonel Ray Ward's magnificent Those Brave crews: The Epic Raid to Destroy Hiltler's Oil Fields, follows the fortunes of American aircraft on their suicidal mission against the vital Ploesti (Roumania) oil fields. With him you will follow each different crew, sit in the pilot's seat, and share the unique experience of the gunners dueling eye-to-eye with the enemy flack crews. The sacrifice and dedication of these men rivals other famous events in history, such as the calvary charges of the Crimea, Pickett's assault at Gettysburg, or Xenephon's March.
Download or read book Ploesti written by James Dugan and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
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 Ploesti 1943 written by Steven J. Zaloga and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-31 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Tidal Wave was one of the boldest and most controversial air raids by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). At the time, the Romanian Ploesti oil fields produced about a third of all Axis oil, and was Germany's single most important fuel source. In the summer of 1943, the USAAF decided to stage a major raid on Ploesti from air bases in Libya. The resulting Operation Tidal Wave raid on 1 August 1943 was one of the costliest to date, losing 53 aircraft, about a third of the starting force. Of the more than 150 bombers that took part in the raid, only 88 B-24s returned to Libya, 55 of which were damaged. On the other hand, of the 17 Medals of Honor awarded to US soldiers and airmen from Pearl Harbor in 1941 to D-Day in 1944, 5 were awarded to pilots of the Tidal Wave mission in recognition of their extraordinary performance. Although undoubtedly bold and heroic, the mission had questionable results. Initial assessments argued that the mission caused 40% of the refinery capacity at Ploesti to be lost but subsequent studies concluded that the damage was quickly repaired and that output had exceeded August levels within a month. This new study examines the raid in detail, exploring the reasons why its dubious success came at such a high price. Supported by maps, diagrams, and full-colour artwork including battlescenes and bird's-eye views, this is the full story of the audacious Ploesti raid of 1943.
Download or read book Operation Tidal Wave written by Vincent dePaul Lupiano and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Operation Tidal Wave tells the story of the bloodiest air battle in the history of war. It is about 1700 airmen who set out to bomb the oil refineries surrounding the city of Ploesti, Romania, on August 1, 1943. Success, they thought, would be a force in ending the war. Success instead was extremely limited and 500 airmen were killed, wounded, captured, or interned. Negligible damage resulted at the Ploesti refineries, and a few months later they were operating at one-hundred percent capacity. To show the asperity of the raid, five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded, two posthumously.
Download or read book One More Mission written by Jesse Pettey and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2001-12-05 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How often is it that we are fortunate enough to sit down and listen to first-person accounts of a distant past - not from a history book or a television documentary, but from a human being, who lived it, experienced it and is willing to share it. Jesse Pettey is one of these people who as a young man joined the military after the attack on Pearl Harbor because he felt it was his duty. He learned to fly a PT-19 and moved on to a BT-13. During World War Two, Pettey piloted a B-24 ́Liberator ́ and flew his first combat mission in August of 1944, to be followed by 34 more. One More Mission is not only an account of World War Two aerial combat missions with the 15th Air Force in Italy, but of a young man ́s journey through a gauntlet of emotion, growth and trying experiences. Mr. Pettey ́s glimpses into his past are a heartwarming journey to a different era, a different pace and a different lifestyle. His talent carries the reader along through his upbringing in East Texas through the precarious days of flight training and then on to the dangerous excitement of deadly combat over the skies of Europe. And all the while, you feel as if he ́s sitting across a table from you with a cup of coffee in hand, sharing the times of his life with a close friend. His story is well written yet personal, inspiring and yet humble. It is a story that demands sharing. One More Mission is a journey not to be missed. Reviewed by Denise M. Clark 6/2002: www.deniseclark.com
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 Bomber Pilot written by Philip Ardery and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2013-07-24 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " Winner of the Best Aeronautical Book Award from the Reserve Officers Association of the United States "The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account, available now for the first time in paper, records one man's experience of World War II air warfare. Throughout, Ardery testifies to the horror of world war as he describes his fear, his longing for home, and his grief for fallen comrades. Bomber Pilot is a moving contribution to American history.
Download or read book Low Level Mission written by Leon Wolff and published by Wolff Productions. This book was released on 1991 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Linebacker II written by James R. McCarthy and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 50 Mission Crush written by Donald R. Currier and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the crew of one B-24 bomber, the Woods Chopper, from their first training to their final mission and their long voyage home. Going to war alone, taking their airplane across three continents and 7,000 miles of ocean, jungle, desert, and mountains, these men joined the 449th Bombardment Group. From flying alone, Donald Currier and his crew mates now joined some of the most famous air battles of World War II. Their targets, Ploesti, Regensburg, Steyr, Vienna, Bucharest, among others, were once household words. But their story includes times of boredom and life on and off base, that show the human side of the technological war those men fought and died in to win.
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 Apollo s Warriors written by Michael E. Haas and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998-05 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presenting a fascinating insider's view of U.S.A.F. special operations, this volume brings to life the critical contributions these forces have made to the exercise of air & space power. Focusing in particular on the period between the Korean War & the Indochina wars of 1950-1979, the accounts of numerous missions are profusely illustrated with photos & maps. Includes a discussion of AF operations in Europe during WWII, as well as profiles of Air Commandos who performed above & beyond the call of duty. Reflects on the need for financial & political support for restoration of the forces. Bibliography. Extensive photos & maps. Charts & tables.
