Download or read book The Mighty Eighth in WWII A Memoir written by J. Kemp McLaughlin USAFR (Ret.) and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2006 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Mighty Eighth in WWII written by J. Kemp McLaughlin and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-04-23 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On an early morning in the fall of 1942, Kemp McLaughlin's group set out for a raid on a French target. Immediately after dropping its bombs, McLaughlin's plane was hit. A huge fire burned a four-foot hole in his wing, his waist gunner bailed out, his radio operator was wounded, the plane lost all oxygen, and his pilot put on a parachute and sat on the escape hatch, waiting for the plane to explode. And this was only McLaughlin's first sortie. McLaughlin went on to pilot the mission command plane on the second raid against Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history, which resulted in the destruction of 70 percent of German ball bearing production capability. McLaughlin also participated in the bombing of heavy water installations in Norway. The Mighty Eighth in WWII also includes the stories of downed pilots in France and Holland who traveled under the cover of night through the countryside, evading the Nazis who had seen their planes go down. As a group leader, McLaughlin was responsible for the planning and execution of air raids, forced to follow the directives of senior (and sometimes less informed) officers. His position as one of the managers of the massive sky trains allows him to provide unique insight into the work of maintenance and armament crews, preflight briefings, and off-duty activities of the airmen. No other memoir of World War II reveals so much about both the actual bombing runs against Nazi Germany and the management of personnel and material that made those airborne armadas possible.
Download or read book The Mighty Eighth written by Roger Anthony Freeman and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2001 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A must-have classic. Mostly taken by members of “Mighty” Eighth Air Force, this wonderful selection portrays the American aircraft and their crews deployed to Britain in 1942. The daring and danger of those days comes across in a uniquely personal perspective, in photos of bases, aircraft in action and on the ground, nose art, and airfields and countryside from high above. Nearly 600 photos, arranged alphabetically by home base. “A brilliant gallery of memories.”—Hobby Merchandiser.
Download or read book The Mighty Eighth written by Roger Anthony Freeman and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2000 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US 8th Air Force was based in the UK from 1942 onwards, spread exclusively across East Anglia and operating from over 40 locations. The remains of some of these sites can still be found and a few are still airfields. The 8th flew intensive bomber and fighter sorties over Europe. Over 2000 aircraft, mostly B-17s, B-26s and P-47s, involving 150,000 men and a vastly sophisticated supply chain, were engaged in a ceaseless war of high-altitude daylight precision bombing that did much to secure eventual Allied success.
Download or read book The Mighty Eighth written by Gerald Astor and published by Dutton Caliber. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the skies of World War II Europe, the Eighth Air Force was a defining factor in turning the tide against the Nazis. In these gripping oral histories, the sacrifice, savagery, and supremacy of the “Mighty Eighth” is described by those who experienced it...and survived it. At the outbreak of World War II, America was woefully unprepared for a fight, though Europe was already years into the battle. Soon, though, America’s war machine was rolling out pilots, engineers, planes, and materials in astounding numbers. It was called the Eighth Air Force—and it would hit the Nazi juggernaut like a lightning bolt. Launching a then-groundbreaking campaign of daylight bombing runs, the men of the Eighth would suffer more casualties than the entire Marine Corps in the Pacific theater. But they would also prove to be the most effective weapon against the enemy, taking out strategic targets such as munitions plants and factories that were vital to the German war effort and grinding them to a halt. In The Mighty Eighth, the men who fought in the greatest air war in human history tell their stories of courage and camaraderie as only those who were there can tell them.
Download or read book David the Mighty Eighth written by Marjorie Hodgson Parker and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When, during the London Blitz, he and his older sister are evacuated to go live on their grandparents' East Anglia farm, a young English boy finds it difficult to adjust to his new life until the arrival of the pilots and crews of the U.S. Eight Air Force at nearby airfields brings excitement, friendship, and hope for the future.
Download or read book A Wing and a Prayer written by Harry H. Crosby and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A compelling account of the air war against Germany” written by the navigator portrayed by Anthony Boyle in Apple TV’s Masters of the Air (Publishers Weekly). They began operations out of England in the spring of ’43. They flew their Flying Fortresses almost daily against strategic targets in Europe in the name of freedom. Their astonishing courage and appalling losses earned them the name that resounds in the annals of aerial warfare and made the “Bloody Hundredth” a legend. Harry H. Crosby—depicted in the miniseries Masters of the Air developed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg—arrived with the very first crews, and left with the very last. After dealing with his fear and gaining in skill and confidence, he was promoted to Group Navigator, surviving hairbreadth escapes and eluding death while leading thirty-seven missions, some of them involving two thousand aircraft. Now, in a breathtaking and often humorous account, he takes us into the hearts and minds of these intrepid airmen to experience both the triumph and the white-knuckle terror of the war in the skies. “Affecting . . . A vivid account . . . Uncommonly thoughtful recollections that address the moral ambiguities of a great cause without in any way denigrating the selfless valor or camaraderie that helped ennoble it.” —Kirkus Reviews “Re-creates for us the sense of how it was when European skies were filled with noise and danger, when the fate of millions hung in the balance. An evocative and excellent memoir.” —Library Journal “The acrid stench of fear and cordite, the coal burning stoves, the heroics, the losses . . . This has to be the best memoir I have read, bar none.” —George Hicks, director of the Airmen Memorial Museum
Download or read book Through These Eyes written by T/Sgt. James Lee Hutchinson, Ed.S. and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2005-10-05 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of Eighth Air Force bombing missions leaving England to blast targets in Hitler's Third Reich in 1944–45. Each clear day, the skies filled with hundreds of B17 Flying Fortress bombers and their escorts crossing the English Channel toward enemy targets protected by anti-aircraft batteries and German fighters waiting to attack the heavy bombers. The skies over the target were filled with black flak appearing to be so thick you could walk on it! The exploding shells filled the space with flying chunks of iron as bombers started their bomb run on the target. We often could hear the flak pelting our plance like a "buckshot" on a tin roof. This flak would often strike a vital part of the plane or wound a member of the crew! Our waist gunner was wounded on our tenth mission!Some missions we could count hundreds of holes in our plane after we landed safely in England! Bombers receiving a direct hit were blown out of the sky and another ten man aircrew was lost. Planes severely damaged had to drop out of formation and face enemy fighters alone unless some of our P-51 or P-47 escort fighters protected them. Bombers disabled or on fire had no choice but to order the crews to bail out. Airmen who survived the parachute jump were captured and placed into German prisoner of war camps (POW). They were classified as "missing in action". Forty-eight photos, some sixty years old are included in this 350 page book to illustrate the story of the author's childhood in the Great Depression through the great air war of World War II. A description of each mission from a sixty year old diary is included. I think you will enjoy the story of a teenage Radio-Gunner's experiences in the Mighty Eighth Air Force.
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 Jimmy Stewart written by Starr Smith and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2006-11-15 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II--and they were legion--Jimmy Stewart was unique. "Bomber Pilot" chronicles his long journey to become a bomber pilot in combat.
Download or read book The Mighty Eighth War Diary written by Roger Anthony Freeman and published by . This book was released on 1990-12-01 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book 8th Air Force written by Gregory Pons and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2006-07-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americas strategy for complete victory over Nazi Germany called for the utter destruction of major its major industrial areas. These raids were carried out as early as 1942 by hundreds of heavy bombers from the US 8th Air Force, based in England. The descriptions of combat missions flown by B-17 crews over occupied Europe and the Reich are illustrated with official and private pictures taken from the personal albums of pilots, crew members, mechanics and Air Force photographers.
Download or read book 35 Missions to Hell and Back written by Charles J "Chuck" Richardson and published by Page Publishing, Inc. This book was released on 2020-03-07 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty-plus years in the writing, and for an additional ten years, this gut-wrenching, heartwarming story has been silently biding its time, awaiting a channel for expression. A compelling story of young boys bound by faith, courage, blood, sweat, and tears, and how that bonding created the brave young men they became. Hopefully, all who read this account will feel the deep emotions of terror, disappointment, frustration, laughter, love, peace, and joy experienced by the author during his service as a radioman/gunner on a B17G during World War II. Some of the stories contained in this manuscript have never been published or made public. Stationed in the European Theater of Operations in Framlingham, England, Mr. Richardson, USAAF, 8th AF, 390th Bomb Group (H), 571st Squadron, was the recipient of numerous major awards and citations, including Distinguished Flying Cross; Air Medal with 4 Oak-Leaf Clusters; 2 Presidential Unit Citations; Russian Medal of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (on behalf of Boris Yeltsin); Certificate in Recognition of Contribution/Service in liberating France and participation in the Invasion of Normandy, signed by French Secretary of Defense John-Pierre Messeret; French Jubilee of Liberty Medal; and French Legion of Honor Medal.
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 Mighty Eighth in WWII written by J. Kemp McLaughlin and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-04-23 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Told by a ‘been there, done that’ combat commander, McLaughlin gives us precise accounts of such air battles as the devastating bombing of Schweinfurt.”—Gen. Philip P. Ardery, author of Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II On an early morning in the fall of 1942, McLaughlin’s group set out for a raid on a French target. Immediately after dropping its bombs, McLaughlin’s plane was hit. A huge fire burned a four-foot hole in his wing, his waist gunner bailed out, his radio operator was wounded, the plane lost all oxygen, and his pilot put on a parachute and sat on the escape hatch, waiting for the plane to explode. And this was only McLaughlin’s first sortie. He went on to pilot the mission command plane on the second raid against Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history, which resulted in the destruction of 70 percent of German ball bearing production capability. McLaughlin also participated in the bombing of heavy water installations in Norway. As a group leader, McLaughlin was responsible for the planning and execution of air raids, forced to follow the directives of senior (and sometimes less informed) officers. His position as one of the managers of the massive sky trains allows him to provide unique insight into the work of maintenance and armament crews, preflight briefings, and off-duty activities of the airmen. No other memoir of World War II reveals so much about both the actual bombing runs against Nazi Germany and the management of personnel and material that made those airborne armadas possible. “Well-written, fast-paced and filled with anecdotes.”—Bowling Green Daily News “He laces tense battle scenes with humorous anecdotes about the famous people we met along the way.”—Charleston Gazette
Download or read book Luck of the Draw written by Frank Murphy and published by St. Martin's Griffin. This book was released on 2023-02-28 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “In the pursuit of authenticity, of accurate history and undeniable courage, no words matter more than, ‘I was there.’ Read Luck of the Draw and the life of Frank Murphy and ponder this: how did those boys do such things?” —Tom Hanks The epic true story of an American hero who flew during WWII, as featured in the Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks TV Series, Masters of the Air. Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress. Now with a new foreword written by his granddaughter Chloe Melas, of NBC, and daughter Elizabeth Murphy. “A gripping, inspirational account of incredible bravery, resilience, and sheer will to survive. A truly extraordinary story!” —General David Petraeus, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Download or read book Masters of the Air written by Donald L. Miller and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-09-25 with total page 688 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler's doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes readers on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people. Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller's Air Force band, which toured U.S. air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943, an American bomber crewman stood only a one-in-five chance of surviving his tour of duty, twenty-five missions. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps. The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America -- white America, anyway. (African-Americans could not serve in the Eighth Air Force except in a support capacity.) The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the "King of Hollywood," Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland. Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: the British flew under the cover of night while American bombers attacked by day, a technique that British commanders thought was suicidal. Masters of the Air is a story, as well, of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed. Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world's first and only bomber war.
