Central Coast Aviators in World War II

Central Coast Aviators in World War II PDF Author: Jim Gregory
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439664285
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
A tribute to the heroism shown by military pilots and aircrew from rural California towns who risked their lives and made their mark on American history. During World War II, thousands of volunteer combat aviators trained at places like Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Hancock Field in Santa Maria. Some air cadets and WASPs—young women pilots—lost their lives in training accidents. The graduates would go on to fight in both the Pacific and European theaters. They faced flak bursts and collisions that resulted in horrifying explosions and were sent on strafing runs that made them targets in a lethal shooting gallery. Downed airmen encountered both unexpected kindness and cruel deprivation as prisoners of war. Through interviews and official records, Jim Gregory tells the stories of heroic Central Coast veterans who fought a war that stretched from New Guinea to North Africa.

Central Coast Aviators in World War II

Central Coast Aviators in World War II PDF Author: Jim Gregory
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1439664285
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 146

Get Book

Book Description
A tribute to the heroism shown by military pilots and aircrew from rural California towns who risked their lives and made their mark on American history. During World War II, thousands of volunteer combat aviators trained at places like Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo and Hancock Field in Santa Maria. Some air cadets and WASPs—young women pilots—lost their lives in training accidents. The graduates would go on to fight in both the Pacific and European theaters. They faced flak bursts and collisions that resulted in horrifying explosions and were sent on strafing runs that made them targets in a lethal shooting gallery. Downed airmen encountered both unexpected kindness and cruel deprivation as prisoners of war. Through interviews and official records, Jim Gregory tells the stories of heroic Central Coast veterans who fought a war that stretched from New Guinea to North Africa.

World War II Arroyo Grande

World War II Arroyo Grande PDF Author: Jim Gregory
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1625857470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
On December 7, 1941, war came to Arroyo Grande when two local sailors were killed on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. People from the small town were thrust into great circumstances and quickly answered the call for action. A local storekeeper's son won the Silver Star after he brought his flaming B-17 safely back to base. A valley farmworker served with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, largely composed of soldiers of Japanese descent. Chinese guerrillas commanded by Mao Zedong--the future Chairman Mao--threw a birthday party for an Arroyo Grande soldier. At home, community groups like the Arroyo Grande Women's Club brought packed lunches for their Japanese American neighbors on the morning they were forced to leave for the internment camps. Local author Jim Gregory brings to life the sorrows and triumphs of a dramatic period in local history.

Famous Aviators of World War II

Famous Aviators of World War II PDF Author: James B. Sweeney
Publisher: Franklin Watts
ISBN: 9780531103029
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 94

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Book Description
Presents biographical sketches of five American fighter pilots and aviation heroes of World War II. Includes descriptions of the types of aircraft, a glossary of aviation terms, and explanations of military ranks and command structure in the U.S. Air Force.

Air Force Combat Units of World War II

Air Force Combat Units of World War II PDF Author: Maurer Maurer
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915850
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 520

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Book Description


Wings of Gold

Wings of Gold PDF Author: Gerald Astor
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 0307417778
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
From critically acclaimed military historian Gerald Astor comes Wings of Gold, the first account of how the airplane transformed the U.S. Navy and paved the way to victory in the Pacific in World War II. Astor tracks that fateful journey from its humble beginnings in 1910 when Eugene Ely flew the very first plane off the deck of a U.S. Navy ship to the unprecedented air combat missions that helped defeat the Japanese. Few naval aviators in World War II realized that when they earned their wings of gold they were about to become test pilots for a whole new kind of combat. In their own words, these courageous fliers describe the life-and-death air battles that defined the revolution in naval strategy that rose from the ashes of Pearl Harbor, when fighter pilots watched in horror as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft bombed their planes and airfields into smoking rubble. While following the pilots’ firsthand reports of air strikes and blazing dogfights across the islands and atolls of the Pacific, Astor explores the ways the U.S. Navy began its momentous transformation before the war. Later, the critical role of aircraft carriers in the stunning U.S. victory at Midway sounded the death knell for conventional naval warfare, yet the public, the press, the Army, and even the president’s advisors refused to recognize the new reality. In fact, only a few in the Navy understood that a new era had begun that would change the face of war forever. The young Americans who fought the deadly duels against Imperial Japanese forces high over the Pacific gave everything they had to the war effort, and many made the supreme sacrifice. Wings of Gold pays tribute to their courage, daring, and selfless dedication. Vividly told, thoroughly researched, and filled with stirring accounts of the Pacific War’s greatest air battles, Wings of Gold is an important addition to the annals of World War II aerial combat.

Heroes in the Skies

Heroes in the Skies PDF Author: Ian Darling
Publisher: Union Square + ORM
ISBN: 1454936185
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A gripping collection of true stories that capture the bravery of American pilots who helped win WWII. American pilots fought fierce and often deadly battles in every theater of the Second World War, and many overcame incredible obstacles to survive. Meet some of these courageous aviators, including George McGovern, who survived enemy fire that left 110 holes in his aircraft; George H. W. Bush, shot down in the Pacific; Jim Landis, a naval flyer stationed in Pearl Harbor who returned fire even after sustaining a bullet through his hand; Alex Jefferson, a Tuskegee airman shot down over France and taken prisoner; and Betty Blake, one of the little-known women pilots who aided the war effort. Clifton Truman Daniel, a grandson of President Truman, provides the foreword to this collection of carefully researched and vividly told profiles in courage that will transport you to the bullet-ridden, bomb-laden skies of the early 1940s.

Great American Fighter Pilots of World War II

Great American Fighter Pilots of World War II PDF Author: Robert D. Loomis
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 218

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Book Description


Fighter Pilots of World War II

Fighter Pilots of World War II PDF Author: Robert Jackson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description


Time of the Aces

Time of the Aces PDF Author: Peter B. Mersky
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Government publications
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


Fighter Pilot

Fighter Pilot PDF Author: William R. Dunn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
At the age of twelve, American William R. Dunn decided to become a fighter pilot. In 1939 he joined the Canadian Army and was soon transferred to the Royal Air Force. He was the first pilot in the famous Eagle Squadron of American volunteers to shoot down an enemy aircraft and later became the first American ace of the war. After joining the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943, he saw action in the Normandy invasion and in Patton's sweep across France. Twenty years later he fought again in Vietnam.