Author: Periscope Film Com
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 141161321X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator first saw combat in June of 1942, making a daring raid into Nazi-occupied Romania to bomb the oil fields at Ploesti. Nearly 18,500 Liberators were built during the war years, making it by far the most-produced American combat aircraft. It served in many roles beyond heavy bomber, transport, and anti-submarine patrol, and flew in Africa, Europe, India, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific Theatre. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in 1942, the B-24 Liberator Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Originally classified "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
B-24 Liberator Bomber Pilot's Flight Manual
Author: Periscope Film Com
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 141161321X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator first saw combat in June of 1942, making a daring raid into Nazi-occupied Romania to bomb the oil fields at Ploesti. Nearly 18,500 Liberators were built during the war years, making it by far the most-produced American combat aircraft. It served in many roles beyond heavy bomber, transport, and anti-submarine patrol, and flew in Africa, Europe, India, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific Theatre. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in 1942, the B-24 Liberator Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Originally classified "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 141161321X
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 156
Book Description
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator first saw combat in June of 1942, making a daring raid into Nazi-occupied Romania to bomb the oil fields at Ploesti. Nearly 18,500 Liberators were built during the war years, making it by far the most-produced American combat aircraft. It served in many roles beyond heavy bomber, transport, and anti-submarine patrol, and flew in Africa, Europe, India, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific Theatre. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in 1942, the B-24 Liberator Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Originally classified "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
B-29 Bomber Pilot's Flight Operating Manual
Author: Film Com Periscope Film Com
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411687795
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
The Boeing B-29 was one of the most sophisticated aircraft of WWII. It featured many innovations including guns that could be fired by remote control and pressurized crew compartments. It was also the heaviest production plane of the war with terrific range and bomb carrying capabilities. Carrying a crew of ten, the Superfortress devastated Japan in a series of gigantic raids in 1944-45. In the end it would be the B-29s "Enola Gay" and "Bock's Car" that dropped the atomic bombs and effectively ended the conflict. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in January of 1944, the B-29 Bomber Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know about the "Superfort" Originally classified "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411687795
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 102
Book Description
The Boeing B-29 was one of the most sophisticated aircraft of WWII. It featured many innovations including guns that could be fired by remote control and pressurized crew compartments. It was also the heaviest production plane of the war with terrific range and bomb carrying capabilities. Carrying a crew of ten, the Superfortress devastated Japan in a series of gigantic raids in 1944-45. In the end it would be the B-29s "Enola Gay" and "Bock's Car" that dropped the atomic bombs and effectively ended the conflict. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in January of 1944, the B-29 Bomber Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know about the "Superfort" Originally classified "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
The B-24 Liberator Haulers
Author: William Wolf
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399031651
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
With iconic images depicting it in the skies over Occupied Europe or the Far East, the B-24 Liberator is remembered for its part in the Allies bombing campaigns during the Second World War. But there was another part to this famous four-engine aircraft one that is less well known. While the Douglas C-47 Dakota is deservedly celebrated as the most important twin-engine transport aircraft of the war, the early use of the four-engine Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber as a passenger carrier is virtually unknown but was as important. Since the B-24 had more interior room than the B-17, it could be more easily be converted into a personnel carrier. These early Liberators operated Americas and Britains early diplomatic missions and then were to be extensively flown by the Atlantic Ferry Organization and the Transport Commands on missions that opened the world to air transport as never before. Several B-24s were converted for VIP personal and diplomatic use, which included Harrimans Moscow and round-the-world diplomatic mission, and those used by Churchill and Eisenhower to get around. To meet the need for a cargo and personnel transport which had longer transoceanic range and improved high-altitude performance than the C-47, in early 1942 the C-87, a hastily designed B-24 derivative, was placed into production. By installing a built-up floor section that replaced the bomb bay doors, the C-87 could carry six tons of cargo loaded through a cargo door cut into the side of its fuselage or through a special hinged door in its nose. Most C-87s were operated by the US Ferrying Command and Air Transport Command; by the late summer of 1943, they were extensively operating regular routes from the United States to the worlds most remote areas. To meet this increased requirement for air transport, the ATC was forced to turn to four civil commercial airlines for help operating the system. Of the 287 purpose-built C-87s, 24 were transferred to the RAF under Lend-Lease for RAF Ferry and Transport Command. The C-87 would remain as a prime mover until the dedicated C-54 Skymaster four-engine transport came into service. The 218 C-109s were fuel tanker conversions of completed B-24 bombers which had all armament removed and extra fuel tanks added to carry fuel from India for B-29s based in China. Due to the lack of C-47s after D-Day, conventional B-24s were again converted for transporting vital supplies and bulk fuel to troops in France. Once Allied troops broke out of the Normandy beachhead, converted Liberators flew Trucking supply drop operations delivering emergency fuel and supplies to Pattons fuel-starved armies racing across France. Later these B-24s supplied the ill-fated Operation Market Garden at Arnhem.
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399031651
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
With iconic images depicting it in the skies over Occupied Europe or the Far East, the B-24 Liberator is remembered for its part in the Allies bombing campaigns during the Second World War. But there was another part to this famous four-engine aircraft one that is less well known. While the Douglas C-47 Dakota is deservedly celebrated as the most important twin-engine transport aircraft of the war, the early use of the four-engine Consolidated B-24 Liberator bomber as a passenger carrier is virtually unknown but was as important. Since the B-24 had more interior room than the B-17, it could be more easily be converted into a personnel carrier. These early Liberators operated Americas and Britains early diplomatic missions and then were to be extensively flown by the Atlantic Ferry Organization and the Transport Commands on missions that opened the world to air transport as never before. Several B-24s were converted for VIP personal and diplomatic use, which included Harrimans Moscow and round-the-world diplomatic mission, and those used by Churchill and Eisenhower to get around. To meet the need for a cargo and personnel transport which had longer transoceanic range and improved high-altitude performance than the C-47, in early 1942 the C-87, a hastily designed B-24 derivative, was placed into production. By installing a built-up floor section that replaced the bomb bay doors, the C-87 could carry six tons of cargo loaded through a cargo door cut into the side of its fuselage or through a special hinged door in its nose. Most C-87s were operated by the US Ferrying Command and Air Transport Command; by the late summer of 1943, they were extensively operating regular routes from the United States to the worlds most remote areas. To meet this increased requirement for air transport, the ATC was forced to turn to four civil commercial airlines for help operating the system. Of the 287 purpose-built C-87s, 24 were transferred to the RAF under Lend-Lease for RAF Ferry and Transport Command. The C-87 would remain as a prime mover until the dedicated C-54 Skymaster four-engine transport came into service. The 218 C-109s were fuel tanker conversions of completed B-24 bombers which had all armament removed and extra fuel tanks added to carry fuel from India for B-29s based in China. Due to the lack of C-47s after D-Day, conventional B-24s were again converted for transporting vital supplies and bulk fuel to troops in France. Once Allied troops broke out of the Normandy beachhead, converted Liberators flew Trucking supply drop operations delivering emergency fuel and supplies to Pattons fuel-starved armies racing across France. Later these B-24s supplied the ill-fated Operation Market Garden at Arnhem.
Beneath Haunted Waters
Author: Peter Stekel
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493025325
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Drama. Tragedy. Irony. Unsolved mysteries. And throw in a little greed. Beneath Haunted Waters is not a ghost story; it’s not that kind of “haunted” at all. These are waters haunted by generations of people who cannot forget the story of how two B-24 Liberator bombers disappeared in 1943 and what happened to the boys on board. During the World War II years, the convention was to call young men in their late teens to their late 20s, “boys.” The boys who piloted bombers and fighter aircraft during World War II were 19 or 20 years old - barely out of their childhood. Imagine boarding a 737 today and seeing a teenager at the controls instead of a person with greying temples. That was the situation during the war. Beneath Haunted Waters is a story about that era, when children flew large airplanes equipped with enough firepower to destroy cities. And yet, boys they were, and boys they will always be. But it’s primarily a story of how they died, not in combat, but by accident. During World War II the USA lost 7100 combat aircraft and 5300 trainers, along with 15,530 pilots, crew members, and ground personnel in over 52,000 domestic accidents. These statistics don’t compare to the huge numbers of RAF, 8th Air Force, and Luftwaffe losses during the European air war but the numbers are still frightening: Between 1942-1945, US aviation losses to accidents (12,400) exceeded combat losses (4500) to the Japanese. For every plane shot down in the South Pacific there were three lost to accidents within the United States. While memoirs of those who served, histories of military and political leaders, and books about combat abound, very little has been written about the terrible toll of aviation training accidents during the war. Beneath Haunted Waters is unique because it tells this hardly known and little appreciated story. Most information on this subject is covered in official reports. It appears in a casual way in many memoirs. There are a few histories of the air war during World War II that mention aviation accidents during training or once the boys were in theater. There has been no popular, academic, or comprehensive book on the subject. I propose to cover this subject within the more personal story of what happened to the two Liberators that wound up in Huntington Lake and Hester Lake. Usually, pilots and crews of World War II aircraft were neither old enough to vote nor to drink. Many had never driven a car or taken a train ride much less been in an airplane. Nine months after enlistment they were flying the most technologically advanced, high performance, machines ever built. The same could be said for their navigation equipment and radio gear. But aviation had been around for only 40 years! Aircraft design was still in its infancy. Engines failed, pilots flew into mountains, navigators got lost, radios broke, and weather forecasts were frequently and fatally wrong.
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1493025325
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 329
Book Description
Drama. Tragedy. Irony. Unsolved mysteries. And throw in a little greed. Beneath Haunted Waters is not a ghost story; it’s not that kind of “haunted” at all. These are waters haunted by generations of people who cannot forget the story of how two B-24 Liberator bombers disappeared in 1943 and what happened to the boys on board. During the World War II years, the convention was to call young men in their late teens to their late 20s, “boys.” The boys who piloted bombers and fighter aircraft during World War II were 19 or 20 years old - barely out of their childhood. Imagine boarding a 737 today and seeing a teenager at the controls instead of a person with greying temples. That was the situation during the war. Beneath Haunted Waters is a story about that era, when children flew large airplanes equipped with enough firepower to destroy cities. And yet, boys they were, and boys they will always be. But it’s primarily a story of how they died, not in combat, but by accident. During World War II the USA lost 7100 combat aircraft and 5300 trainers, along with 15,530 pilots, crew members, and ground personnel in over 52,000 domestic accidents. These statistics don’t compare to the huge numbers of RAF, 8th Air Force, and Luftwaffe losses during the European air war but the numbers are still frightening: Between 1942-1945, US aviation losses to accidents (12,400) exceeded combat losses (4500) to the Japanese. For every plane shot down in the South Pacific there were three lost to accidents within the United States. While memoirs of those who served, histories of military and political leaders, and books about combat abound, very little has been written about the terrible toll of aviation training accidents during the war. Beneath Haunted Waters is unique because it tells this hardly known and little appreciated story. Most information on this subject is covered in official reports. It appears in a casual way in many memoirs. There are a few histories of the air war during World War II that mention aviation accidents during training or once the boys were in theater. There has been no popular, academic, or comprehensive book on the subject. I propose to cover this subject within the more personal story of what happened to the two Liberators that wound up in Huntington Lake and Hester Lake. Usually, pilots and crews of World War II aircraft were neither old enough to vote nor to drink. Many had never driven a car or taken a train ride much less been in an airplane. Nine months after enlistment they were flying the most technologically advanced, high performance, machines ever built. The same could be said for their navigation equipment and radio gear. But aviation had been around for only 40 years! Aircraft design was still in its infancy. Engines failed, pilots flew into mountains, navigators got lost, radios broke, and weather forecasts were frequently and fatally wrong.
Fighting from the Heavens
Author: Chris McNab
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1636243835
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Presents information from a wealth of training manuals and tactical documents, including diagrams and illustrations. During World War II, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) projected American military might across distances and with destructive force unimaginable just a decade previously. The B-17s and B-24s of the US Eighth Air Force, for example, turned much of Germany’s infrastructure to twisted steel and burnt rubble between 1943 and 1945. B-29 Superfortresses unleashed conventional raids on Japan of even greater area destruction than that created by the atomic bomb attacks (also delivered by USAAF crews). Beyond heavy strategic bombing, US bombers performed a multitude of other tactical roles, including hunting Axis submarines, bombing enemy shipping, low-level runs against precision targets, and providing heavy air support to advancing infantry and armor. While the US bombers dealt out violence, however, they were also prey to a terrifying spectrum of antiaircraft threats, and by the end of the war 88,119 US airmen had died in service. Bomber crews were a world unto themselves, composed of pilots, co-pilots, engineers, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and bombardiers. And each aircraft type had its own unique characteristics and capabilities, from twin-engine B-25 Mitchells designed for strafing and skip-bombing to the four-engine workhorses of the strategic bombing campaign: the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and B-29 Superfortress. Fighting from the Heavens: Tactics and Training of USAAF Bomber Crews, 1941–45 presents an invaluable collection of material from US wartime manuals, including doctrinal, training, technical, aircraft-specific, and position-specific publications. Through these manuals, the reader gains an insider’s insight into the demands of US bomber warfare, including long-distance navigation, gun-turret operation, formation flying, bomber start-up procedures, and bomb aiming.
Publisher: Casemate
ISBN: 1636243835
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Book Description
Presents information from a wealth of training manuals and tactical documents, including diagrams and illustrations. During World War II, the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) projected American military might across distances and with destructive force unimaginable just a decade previously. The B-17s and B-24s of the US Eighth Air Force, for example, turned much of Germany’s infrastructure to twisted steel and burnt rubble between 1943 and 1945. B-29 Superfortresses unleashed conventional raids on Japan of even greater area destruction than that created by the atomic bomb attacks (also delivered by USAAF crews). Beyond heavy strategic bombing, US bombers performed a multitude of other tactical roles, including hunting Axis submarines, bombing enemy shipping, low-level runs against precision targets, and providing heavy air support to advancing infantry and armor. While the US bombers dealt out violence, however, they were also prey to a terrifying spectrum of antiaircraft threats, and by the end of the war 88,119 US airmen had died in service. Bomber crews were a world unto themselves, composed of pilots, co-pilots, engineers, navigators, wireless operators, gunners, and bombardiers. And each aircraft type had its own unique characteristics and capabilities, from twin-engine B-25 Mitchells designed for strafing and skip-bombing to the four-engine workhorses of the strategic bombing campaign: the B-17 Flying Fortress, B-24 Liberator, and B-29 Superfortress. Fighting from the Heavens: Tactics and Training of USAAF Bomber Crews, 1941–45 presents an invaluable collection of material from US wartime manuals, including doctrinal, training, technical, aircraft-specific, and position-specific publications. Through these manuals, the reader gains an insider’s insight into the demands of US bomber warfare, including long-distance navigation, gun-turret operation, formation flying, bomber start-up procedures, and bomb aiming.
Grumman Tbm Avenger Pilot's Flight Manual
Author: Periscope Film Com
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411693876
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 110
Book Description
En instruktionsbog (Flight Manual) for TBF/TBM-3 Avenger.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1411693876
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 110
Book Description
En instruktionsbog (Flight Manual) for TBF/TBM-3 Avenger.
The Final Mission of Bottoms Up
Author: Dennis R. Okerstrom
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826272673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
On November 18, 1944, the end of the war in Europe finally in sight, American copilot Lieutenant Lee Lamar struggled alongside pilot Randall Darden to keep Bottoms Up, their B-24J Liberator, in the air. They and their crew of eight young men had believed the intelligence officer who, at the predawn briefing at their base in southern Italy, had confided that their mission that day would be a milk run. But that twenty-first mission out of Italy would be their last. Bottoms Up was staggered by an antiaircraft shell that sent it plunging three miles earthward, the pilots recovering control at just 5,000 feet. With two engines out, they tried to make it to a tiny strip on a British-held island in the Adriatic Sea and in desperation threw out everything not essential to flight: machine guns, belts of ammunition, flak jackets. But over Pula, in what is now Croatia, they were once more hit by German fire, and the focus quickly became escaping the doomed bomber. Seemingly unable to extricate himself, Lamar all but surrendered to death before fortuitously bailing out. He was captured the next day and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at a stalag on the Baltic Sea, suffering the deprivations of little food and heat in Europe’s coldest winter in a century. He never saw most of his crew again. Then, in 2006, more than sixty years after these life-changing experiences, Lamar received an email from Croatian archaeologist Luka Bekic, who had discovered the wreckage of Bottoms Up. A veteran of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Bekic felt compelled to find out the crew’s identities and fates. Lee Lamar, a boy from a hardscrabble farm in rural northwestern Missouri, had gone to college on the GI Bill, become a civil engineer, gotten married, and raised a family. Yet, for all the opportunity that stemmed from his wartime service, part of him was lost. The prohibition on asking prisoners of war their memories during the repatriation process prevented him from reconciling himself to the events of that November day. That changed when, nearly a year after being contacted by Bekic, Lamar visited the site, hoping to gain closure, and met the Croatian Partisans who had helped some members of his crew escape. In this absorbing, alternating account of World War II and its aftermath, Dennis R. Okerstrom chronicles, through Lee Lamar’s experiences, the Great Depression generation who went on to fight in the most expensive war in history. This is the story of the young men who flew Bottoms Up on her final mission, of Lamar’s trip back to the scene of his recurring nightmare, and of a remarkable convergence of international courage, perseverance, and friendship.
Publisher: University of Missouri Press
ISBN: 0826272673
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 267
Book Description
On November 18, 1944, the end of the war in Europe finally in sight, American copilot Lieutenant Lee Lamar struggled alongside pilot Randall Darden to keep Bottoms Up, their B-24J Liberator, in the air. They and their crew of eight young men had believed the intelligence officer who, at the predawn briefing at their base in southern Italy, had confided that their mission that day would be a milk run. But that twenty-first mission out of Italy would be their last. Bottoms Up was staggered by an antiaircraft shell that sent it plunging three miles earthward, the pilots recovering control at just 5,000 feet. With two engines out, they tried to make it to a tiny strip on a British-held island in the Adriatic Sea and in desperation threw out everything not essential to flight: machine guns, belts of ammunition, flak jackets. But over Pula, in what is now Croatia, they were once more hit by German fire, and the focus quickly became escaping the doomed bomber. Seemingly unable to extricate himself, Lamar all but surrendered to death before fortuitously bailing out. He was captured the next day and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at a stalag on the Baltic Sea, suffering the deprivations of little food and heat in Europe’s coldest winter in a century. He never saw most of his crew again. Then, in 2006, more than sixty years after these life-changing experiences, Lamar received an email from Croatian archaeologist Luka Bekic, who had discovered the wreckage of Bottoms Up. A veteran of the Balkan wars of the 1990s, Bekic felt compelled to find out the crew’s identities and fates. Lee Lamar, a boy from a hardscrabble farm in rural northwestern Missouri, had gone to college on the GI Bill, become a civil engineer, gotten married, and raised a family. Yet, for all the opportunity that stemmed from his wartime service, part of him was lost. The prohibition on asking prisoners of war their memories during the repatriation process prevented him from reconciling himself to the events of that November day. That changed when, nearly a year after being contacted by Bekic, Lamar visited the site, hoping to gain closure, and met the Croatian Partisans who had helped some members of his crew escape. In this absorbing, alternating account of World War II and its aftermath, Dennis R. Okerstrom chronicles, through Lee Lamar’s experiences, the Great Depression generation who went on to fight in the most expensive war in history. This is the story of the young men who flew Bottoms Up on her final mission, of Lamar’s trip back to the scene of his recurring nightmare, and of a remarkable convergence of international courage, perseverance, and friendship.
B-24 Liberator Pilot's Flight Operating Instructions
Author: U. S. Army Air Force
Publisher: Periscope Film LLC
ISBN: 9781935327882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator first saw combat in June of 1942, making a daring raid into Nazi-occupied Romania to bomb the oil fields at Ploesti. Nearly 18,500 Liberators were built during World War II, making it by far the most-produced American combat aircraft. It served in many roles beyond heavy bomber, transport, and anti-submarine patrol, and flew in Africa, Europe, India, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific Theatre. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in 1942, the B-24 Liberator pilot's flight manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Originally "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
Publisher: Periscope Film LLC
ISBN: 9781935327882
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160
Book Description
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator first saw combat in June of 1942, making a daring raid into Nazi-occupied Romania to bomb the oil fields at Ploesti. Nearly 18,500 Liberators were built during World War II, making it by far the most-produced American combat aircraft. It served in many roles beyond heavy bomber, transport, and anti-submarine patrol, and flew in Africa, Europe, India, the Atlantic, India and the Pacific Theatre. Originally printed by the United States Army Air Force in 1942, the B-24 Liberator pilot's flight manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit. Originally "Restricted," the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.
Unbroken
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0679603751
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption. “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0679603751
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 497
Book Description
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The incredible true story of survival and salvation that is the basis for two major motion pictures: Unbroken and Unbroken: Path to Redemption. “Extraordinarily moving . . . a powerfully drawn survival epic.”—The Wall Street Journal Hailed as the top nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine • Winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for biography On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared. It was that of a young lieutenant, the plane’s bombardier, who was struggling to a life raft and pulling himself aboard. So began one of the most extraordinary odysseys of the Second World War. The lieutenant’s name was Louis Zamperini. In boyhood, he’d been a cunning and incorrigible delinquent, breaking into houses, brawling, and fleeing his home to ride the rails. As a teenager, he had channeled his defiance into running, discovering a prodigious talent that had carried him to the Berlin Olympics and within sight of the four-minute mile. But when war had come, the athlete had become an airman, embarking on a journey that led to his doomed flight, a tiny raft, and a drift into the unknown. Ahead of Zamperini lay thousands of miles of open ocean, leaping sharks, a foundering raft, thirst and starvation, enemy aircraft, and, beyond, a trial even greater. Driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor; brutality with rebellion. His fate, whether triumph or tragedy, would be suspended on the fraying wire of his will. Laura Hillenbrand writes with the same rich and vivid narrative voice she displayed in Seabiscuit. Telling an unforgettable story of a man’s journey into extremity, Unbroken is a testament to the resilience of the human mind, body, and spirit.
PILOT LOGBOOK LIES AND MORE
Author: Lester M. Zinser
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1493185357
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
"Once upon a time . . ." How else do you start a story on a white blank screen? Do you open the tale with some far-out statement that you, the author, have to maintain chapter by chapter? or do you leave the writer some leeway to spin his or her story? Once upon a time gives the author that privilege. Let's start with a life that began because of some quirk of nature. Normally, when the many halves of a new life struggle their way up the warm, moist channels to meet the other half of a new life, one new life-form develops. However, in this particular sexual encounter, two spermatozoa overcame the odds and managed to penetrate a pair of ovum. Now two new life-forms begin their migration down the channel to fasten their growing cell bodies to the nourishing walls of the womb. Nine months later, two baby boys were born (a traumatic event probably best not remembered) and began their life journey. In the evolving tale, it will be up to the reader to determine if this is a compilation of fact, a mixture of fact and fi ction, or just pure fi ction. the fraternal twins grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and some of the rigors of farm living in the 1920s are part of the tale. However, it is used only to set the stage for one twin's story. But wait! the twins were not alone. Two brothers preceded them so closely in this family that only two years separated the youngest from the oldest. A sister was born when the twins were fi ve. the mother of these fi ve children died shortly after the fi fth baby was born. the father's mother stepped in to care for the newborn and at the same time tackled the task of raising and infl uencing the lives of four rambunctious boys. Five years later, the father remarried, and fi ve children were born to this second marriage, but so much later that they had little to no infl uence on the character of the elder fi ve. the fi rst four were close enough in age to present the same parental challenge as quadruplets. Each brother probably infl uenced another; however, the story is not about some personality trait caused by the close association with one another. A graduate student in psychology could write an A+ term paper on the interaction of the four completely different personalities. No doubt the many daily routines of maintaining a general-purpose farm infl uenced the path each brother would follow in later life. As soon as each boy was big enough (age six or seven), they were assigned chores--that is, feed the chickens, feed and milk the cows, slop the pigs, clean the barn, and so on--to do all the daily menial jobs it takes to operate a small farm stead. the tasks grew harder as the brothers aged and grew stronger. Farming in the early years of the twentieth century required input from every able-bodied individual needing the life-supporting sustenance provided by the land and animals. the father, the Old Man, on this farm had a constant battle to keep everyone carrying their share of the workload.
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1493185357
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 430
Book Description
"Once upon a time . . ." How else do you start a story on a white blank screen? Do you open the tale with some far-out statement that you, the author, have to maintain chapter by chapter? or do you leave the writer some leeway to spin his or her story? Once upon a time gives the author that privilege. Let's start with a life that began because of some quirk of nature. Normally, when the many halves of a new life struggle their way up the warm, moist channels to meet the other half of a new life, one new life-form develops. However, in this particular sexual encounter, two spermatozoa overcame the odds and managed to penetrate a pair of ovum. Now two new life-forms begin their migration down the channel to fasten their growing cell bodies to the nourishing walls of the womb. Nine months later, two baby boys were born (a traumatic event probably best not remembered) and began their life journey. In the evolving tale, it will be up to the reader to determine if this is a compilation of fact, a mixture of fact and fi ction, or just pure fi ction. the fraternal twins grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and some of the rigors of farm living in the 1920s are part of the tale. However, it is used only to set the stage for one twin's story. But wait! the twins were not alone. Two brothers preceded them so closely in this family that only two years separated the youngest from the oldest. A sister was born when the twins were fi ve. the mother of these fi ve children died shortly after the fi fth baby was born. the father's mother stepped in to care for the newborn and at the same time tackled the task of raising and infl uencing the lives of four rambunctious boys. Five years later, the father remarried, and fi ve children were born to this second marriage, but so much later that they had little to no infl uence on the character of the elder fi ve. the fi rst four were close enough in age to present the same parental challenge as quadruplets. Each brother probably infl uenced another; however, the story is not about some personality trait caused by the close association with one another. A graduate student in psychology could write an A+ term paper on the interaction of the four completely different personalities. No doubt the many daily routines of maintaining a general-purpose farm infl uenced the path each brother would follow in later life. As soon as each boy was big enough (age six or seven), they were assigned chores--that is, feed the chickens, feed and milk the cows, slop the pigs, clean the barn, and so on--to do all the daily menial jobs it takes to operate a small farm stead. the tasks grew harder as the brothers aged and grew stronger. Farming in the early years of the twentieth century required input from every able-bodied individual needing the life-supporting sustenance provided by the land and animals. the father, the Old Man, on this farm had a constant battle to keep everyone carrying their share of the workload.