Author: Robert Hilton
Publisher: MMD-Squadron Signal
ISBN: 9780897476737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
With its pressurized cabins for high-altitude operation, its long range, large bomb capacity, and turbo-supercharged engines, the B-29 Superfortress was the epitome of cutting edge American air power during WWII. The author, a photographer with the 40th Bomb Group and a veteran of 83 Superfortress missions, offers a first-hand, eye-witness account and shares his experiences on reconnaissance and bombing missions, flying the 'Hump' and taking off from an advanced base in Sichuan, China, to pummel Japanese occupation forces throughout Asia. Then in early 1945, the 40th BG moved to newly-liberated Tinian from which they took part in the final chapter of WWII - the aerial assault on the Japanese home islands. Introduces you to fellow veterans of the 40th who relate their no-less extraordinary experiences - ditching in the Bay of Bengal, lost in the Siberian Taiga, downed behind enemy lines in China, taken prisoner after bailing out over Tokyo. Personal accounts from the men who served on the front lines of the air war in the Pacific, a unique primary historical source and a truly exciting read.
B-29 Superfortress Combat Chronicles
Author: Robert Hilton
Publisher: MMD-Squadron Signal
ISBN: 9780897476737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
With its pressurized cabins for high-altitude operation, its long range, large bomb capacity, and turbo-supercharged engines, the B-29 Superfortress was the epitome of cutting edge American air power during WWII. The author, a photographer with the 40th Bomb Group and a veteran of 83 Superfortress missions, offers a first-hand, eye-witness account and shares his experiences on reconnaissance and bombing missions, flying the 'Hump' and taking off from an advanced base in Sichuan, China, to pummel Japanese occupation forces throughout Asia. Then in early 1945, the 40th BG moved to newly-liberated Tinian from which they took part in the final chapter of WWII - the aerial assault on the Japanese home islands. Introduces you to fellow veterans of the 40th who relate their no-less extraordinary experiences - ditching in the Bay of Bengal, lost in the Siberian Taiga, downed behind enemy lines in China, taken prisoner after bailing out over Tokyo. Personal accounts from the men who served on the front lines of the air war in the Pacific, a unique primary historical source and a truly exciting read.
Publisher: MMD-Squadron Signal
ISBN: 9780897476737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Book Description
With its pressurized cabins for high-altitude operation, its long range, large bomb capacity, and turbo-supercharged engines, the B-29 Superfortress was the epitome of cutting edge American air power during WWII. The author, a photographer with the 40th Bomb Group and a veteran of 83 Superfortress missions, offers a first-hand, eye-witness account and shares his experiences on reconnaissance and bombing missions, flying the 'Hump' and taking off from an advanced base in Sichuan, China, to pummel Japanese occupation forces throughout Asia. Then in early 1945, the 40th BG moved to newly-liberated Tinian from which they took part in the final chapter of WWII - the aerial assault on the Japanese home islands. Introduces you to fellow veterans of the 40th who relate their no-less extraordinary experiences - ditching in the Bay of Bengal, lost in the Siberian Taiga, downed behind enemy lines in China, taken prisoner after bailing out over Tokyo. Personal accounts from the men who served on the front lines of the air war in the Pacific, a unique primary historical source and a truly exciting read.
B-29 Superfortress
Author:
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1681622033
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Contains stories of missions, details of squadrons that flew the B-29, as well as "then and now" photos of veterans of the B-29. Many photos.
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1681622033
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 360
Book Description
Contains stories of missions, details of squadrons that flew the B-29, as well as "then and now" photos of veterans of the B-29. Many photos.
Red Devils over the Yalu
Author: Stuart Britton
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1910294314
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 601
Book Description
The Korean War (1950-1953) was the first - and only - full-scale air war in the jet age. It was in the skies of North Korea where Soviet and American pilots came together in fierce aerial clashes. The best pilots of the opposing systems, the most powerful air forces, and the most up-to-date aircraft in the world in this period of history came together in pitched air battles. The analysis of the air war showed that the powerful United States Air Force and its allies were unable to achieve complete superiority in the air and were unable to fulfill all the tasks they'd been given. Soviet pilots and Soviet jet fighters, which were in no way inferior to their opponents and in certain respects were even superior to them, was the reason for this. The combat experience and new tactical aerial combat tactics, which were tested for the first time in the skies of Korea, have been eagerly studied and applied by modern air forces around the world today. This book fully discusses the Soviet participation in the Korean War and presents a view of this war from the opposite side, which is still not well known in the West from the multitude of publications by Western historians. The reason for this, of course, is the fact that Soviet records pertaining to the Korean War were for a long time highly classified, since Soviet air units were fighting in the skies of North Korea "incognito", so to speak or even more so to write about this was strictly forbidden in the Soviet Union right up to its ultimate collapse. The given work is in essence the first major work in the post-Soviet era. First published in a small edition in Russian in 1998, it was republished in Russia in 2007. For the first time, the Western reader can become acquainted with the most detailed and informative work existing on the course of the air war from the Soviet side, now in English language. The work rests primarily on the recollections of veterans of this war on the so-called 'Red' side - Soviet fighter pilots, who took direct part in this war on the side of North Korea. Their stories have been supplemented with an enormous amount of archival documents, as well as the work of Western historians. The author presents a literal day-by-day chronicle of the aerial combats and combat work of Soviet fighter regiments in the period between 1950 and 1953, and dedicates this work to all the men on both sides who fought and died in the Korean air war.
Publisher: Helion and Company
ISBN: 1910294314
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 601
Book Description
The Korean War (1950-1953) was the first - and only - full-scale air war in the jet age. It was in the skies of North Korea where Soviet and American pilots came together in fierce aerial clashes. The best pilots of the opposing systems, the most powerful air forces, and the most up-to-date aircraft in the world in this period of history came together in pitched air battles. The analysis of the air war showed that the powerful United States Air Force and its allies were unable to achieve complete superiority in the air and were unable to fulfill all the tasks they'd been given. Soviet pilots and Soviet jet fighters, which were in no way inferior to their opponents and in certain respects were even superior to them, was the reason for this. The combat experience and new tactical aerial combat tactics, which were tested for the first time in the skies of Korea, have been eagerly studied and applied by modern air forces around the world today. This book fully discusses the Soviet participation in the Korean War and presents a view of this war from the opposite side, which is still not well known in the West from the multitude of publications by Western historians. The reason for this, of course, is the fact that Soviet records pertaining to the Korean War were for a long time highly classified, since Soviet air units were fighting in the skies of North Korea "incognito", so to speak or even more so to write about this was strictly forbidden in the Soviet Union right up to its ultimate collapse. The given work is in essence the first major work in the post-Soviet era. First published in a small edition in Russian in 1998, it was republished in Russia in 2007. For the first time, the Western reader can become acquainted with the most detailed and informative work existing on the course of the air war from the Soviet side, now in English language. The work rests primarily on the recollections of veterans of this war on the so-called 'Red' side - Soviet fighter pilots, who took direct part in this war on the side of North Korea. Their stories have been supplemented with an enormous amount of archival documents, as well as the work of Western historians. The author presents a literal day-by-day chronicle of the aerial combats and combat work of Soviet fighter regiments in the period between 1950 and 1953, and dedicates this work to all the men on both sides who fought and died in the Korean air war.
Whirlwind
Author: Barrett Tillman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416585028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355
Book Description
WHIRLWIND is the first book to tell the complete, awe-inspiring story of the Allied air war against Japan—the most important strategic bombing campaign inhistory. From the audacious Doolittle raid in 1942 to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, award-winning historian Barrett Tillman recounts the saga from the perspectives of American and British aircrews who flew unprecedented missions overthousands of miles of ocean, as well as of the generalsand admirals who commanded them. Whether describing the experiences of bomber crews based in China or the Marianas, fighter pilotson Iwo Jima, or carrier aviators at sea, Tillman provides vivid details of the lives of the fliers and their support personnel. Whirlwind takes readers into the cockpits and gun turrets of the mighty B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber built up to that time. Tillman dramatically re-creates the sweep of wartime emotions that crews endured on fifteen-hour missions, grappling with the extreme tedium of cramped spaces and with adrenaline spikes in flak-studded skies, knowing that a bailout would put them at the mercy of a merciless enemy or an unforgiving sea. A major character is the controversial and brilliant General Curtis LeMay, who rewrote strategic bombing tactics. His command’s fire-bombing missions incinerated fully half of Tokyo and many other cities, crippling Japan’s industry while still failing to force surrender. Whirlwind examines the immense logistics and construction efforts necessary to support Superfortresses in Asia and the Mariana Islands, as well as the tireless efforts of engineers to build huge air bases from scratch.It also describes the unheralded missions that American bomber crews flew from the Aleutian Islands to Japan’s northernmost Kuril Islands. Never has the Japanese side of the story been so thoroughly examined. If Washington, D.C., represented a “second front” in Army-Navy rivalry, the situation in Tokyo approached a full-contact sport. Tillman’s description of Japan’s willfully inadequate approach to civil defense is eye-opening. Similarly, he examines the mind-set in Tokyo’s war cabinet, which ignored the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, requiring the emperor’s personal intervention to avert a ghastly Allied invasion. Tillman shows how, despite the Allies’ ultimate success, mistakes and shortsighted policies made victory more costly in lives and effort. He faults the lack of a unified command for allowing the Army Air Forces and the Navy to pursue parochial goals at the expense of the larger mission, and he questions the premature commitment of the enormously sophisticated B-29 to the most primitive theater in India and China. Whirlwind is one of the last histories of World War II written with the contribution of men who fought in it.With unexcelled macro- and microperspectives, Whirlwind is destined to become a standard reference on the war, on multiservice operations, and on the human capacity for individual heroism and national folly.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1416585028
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355
Book Description
WHIRLWIND is the first book to tell the complete, awe-inspiring story of the Allied air war against Japan—the most important strategic bombing campaign inhistory. From the audacious Doolittle raid in 1942 to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, award-winning historian Barrett Tillman recounts the saga from the perspectives of American and British aircrews who flew unprecedented missions overthousands of miles of ocean, as well as of the generalsand admirals who commanded them. Whether describing the experiences of bomber crews based in China or the Marianas, fighter pilotson Iwo Jima, or carrier aviators at sea, Tillman provides vivid details of the lives of the fliers and their support personnel. Whirlwind takes readers into the cockpits and gun turrets of the mighty B-29 Superfortress, the largest bomber built up to that time. Tillman dramatically re-creates the sweep of wartime emotions that crews endured on fifteen-hour missions, grappling with the extreme tedium of cramped spaces and with adrenaline spikes in flak-studded skies, knowing that a bailout would put them at the mercy of a merciless enemy or an unforgiving sea. A major character is the controversial and brilliant General Curtis LeMay, who rewrote strategic bombing tactics. His command’s fire-bombing missions incinerated fully half of Tokyo and many other cities, crippling Japan’s industry while still failing to force surrender. Whirlwind examines the immense logistics and construction efforts necessary to support Superfortresses in Asia and the Mariana Islands, as well as the tireless efforts of engineers to build huge air bases from scratch.It also describes the unheralded missions that American bomber crews flew from the Aleutian Islands to Japan’s northernmost Kuril Islands. Never has the Japanese side of the story been so thoroughly examined. If Washington, D.C., represented a “second front” in Army-Navy rivalry, the situation in Tokyo approached a full-contact sport. Tillman’s description of Japan’s willfully inadequate approach to civil defense is eye-opening. Similarly, he examines the mind-set in Tokyo’s war cabinet, which ignored the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, requiring the emperor’s personal intervention to avert a ghastly Allied invasion. Tillman shows how, despite the Allies’ ultimate success, mistakes and shortsighted policies made victory more costly in lives and effort. He faults the lack of a unified command for allowing the Army Air Forces and the Navy to pursue parochial goals at the expense of the larger mission, and he questions the premature commitment of the enormously sophisticated B-29 to the most primitive theater in India and China. Whirlwind is one of the last histories of World War II written with the contribution of men who fought in it.With unexcelled macro- and microperspectives, Whirlwind is destined to become a standard reference on the war, on multiservice operations, and on the human capacity for individual heroism and national folly.
Last to Die
Author: Stephen Harding
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306823381
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The remarkable untold story of how a young American airman became the last to die in World War II
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306823381
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
The remarkable untold story of how a young American airman became the last to die in World War II
F-51 Mustang Units of the Korean War
Author: Warren Thompson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472808681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
By the time the Korean War erupted, the F-51 Mustang was seen as obsolete, but that view quickly changed when the USAF rushed 145 of them to the theatre in late 1950. They had the endurance to attack targets in Korea from bases in Japan, where the modern F-86 fighters and other jets did not. Rather than the interceptor and escort fighter roles the Mustang had performed during World War 2, in the Korean War they were assigned to ground attack missions – striking at communist troop columns advancing south. This is the chronicle of the Mustang units that fought in the Korean War, detailing the type's involvement in a series of intense actions, its successes and its considerable losses. Drawing on meticulous research and gripping first-hand accounts from aircrew, this book explains how the faithful Mustang was able to roll back the years, fight, and prove itself in a new era of aerial warfare.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472808681
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212
Book Description
By the time the Korean War erupted, the F-51 Mustang was seen as obsolete, but that view quickly changed when the USAF rushed 145 of them to the theatre in late 1950. They had the endurance to attack targets in Korea from bases in Japan, where the modern F-86 fighters and other jets did not. Rather than the interceptor and escort fighter roles the Mustang had performed during World War 2, in the Korean War they were assigned to ground attack missions – striking at communist troop columns advancing south. This is the chronicle of the Mustang units that fought in the Korean War, detailing the type's involvement in a series of intense actions, its successes and its considerable losses. Drawing on meticulous research and gripping first-hand accounts from aircrew, this book explains how the faithful Mustang was able to roll back the years, fight, and prove itself in a new era of aerial warfare.
War's End
Author: Charles W. Sweeney
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510724737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a twenty-five-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion. In the belly of his bomber, Bock's Car, was a newly developed, fully armed weapon that had never been tested in a combat situation. It was a weapon capable of a level of destruction never before dreamed of in the history of the human race, a bomb whose terrifying aftershock would ultimately determine the direction of the twentieth century and change the world forever. The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Major General Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs. Now updated with a new epilogue from the co-author, his book is an extraordinary chronicle of the months of careful planning and training; the setbacks, secrecy, and snafus; and the nerve-shattering final seconds and the astonishing aftermath of what is arguably the most significant single event in modern history: the employment of an atomic weapon during wartime. The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Major General Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs. His book is an extraordinary chronicle of the months of careful planning and training; the setbacks, secrecy, and snafus; and the nerve-shattering final seconds and the astonishing aftermath of what is arguably the most significant single event in modern history: the employment of an atomic weapon during wartime.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510724737
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 299
Book Description
On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a twenty-five-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion. In the belly of his bomber, Bock's Car, was a newly developed, fully armed weapon that had never been tested in a combat situation. It was a weapon capable of a level of destruction never before dreamed of in the history of the human race, a bomb whose terrifying aftershock would ultimately determine the direction of the twentieth century and change the world forever. The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Major General Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs. Now updated with a new epilogue from the co-author, his book is an extraordinary chronicle of the months of careful planning and training; the setbacks, secrecy, and snafus; and the nerve-shattering final seconds and the astonishing aftermath of what is arguably the most significant single event in modern history: the employment of an atomic weapon during wartime. The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Major General Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs. His book is an extraordinary chronicle of the months of careful planning and training; the setbacks, secrecy, and snafus; and the nerve-shattering final seconds and the astonishing aftermath of what is arguably the most significant single event in modern history: the employment of an atomic weapon during wartime.
Thirty-Five Missions Over Japan
Author: 1st Lt. Philip D. Webster
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1365743241
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
These are the original, never-before-published notes penned in 1944 and 1945 by B-29 pilot 1st Lt. Philip D. Webster concerning the 35 missions he flew from Saipan to Tokyo during WWII. Two-time recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, every mission is described in detail -- the fighters they had to contend with, the hits they took and how many; the planes they shot down; the flak that was encountered and the damage it caused. Lt. Webster wrote about weather conditions and anything he thought the intelligence people would want to know about in a debriefing meeting upon landing. These notes were stored undisturbed in Phil's original, Army-issue briefcase for over 61 years -- from the time they were written until August, 2005, when the briefcase was finally opened. All major incidents are true and can be backed up by documentation.
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1365743241
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 178
Book Description
These are the original, never-before-published notes penned in 1944 and 1945 by B-29 pilot 1st Lt. Philip D. Webster concerning the 35 missions he flew from Saipan to Tokyo during WWII. Two-time recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross, every mission is described in detail -- the fighters they had to contend with, the hits they took and how many; the planes they shot down; the flak that was encountered and the damage it caused. Lt. Webster wrote about weather conditions and anything he thought the intelligence people would want to know about in a debriefing meeting upon landing. These notes were stored undisturbed in Phil's original, Army-issue briefcase for over 61 years -- from the time they were written until August, 2005, when the briefcase was finally opened. All major incidents are true and can be backed up by documentation.
With the Possum and the Eagle
Author: Ralph H. Nutter
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 1574411985
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
As told by ace navigator Ralph Nutter, this is the story of two of our country's leading airmen during World War II: Haywood "Possum" Hansell and Curtis "the Eagle" LeMay. 24 photos. 2 maps.
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
ISBN: 1574411985
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
As told by ace navigator Ralph Nutter, this is the story of two of our country's leading airmen during World War II: Haywood "Possum" Hansell and Curtis "the Eagle" LeMay. 24 photos. 2 maps.
Air Combat 1945
Author: Donald Nijboer
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811762424
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
The final year of World War II witnessed the decline of the piston-engine fighter and the beginning of the jet age. Taking to the skies were tried-and-true fighters, improved versions of old aircraft, and newly developed jets, including prototypes that flew for the first time just before the war ended.
Publisher: Stackpole Books
ISBN: 0811762424
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
The final year of World War II witnessed the decline of the piston-engine fighter and the beginning of the jet age. Taking to the skies were tried-and-true fighters, improved versions of old aircraft, and newly developed jets, including prototypes that flew for the first time just before the war ended.