Author: Philip Kaplan
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781841881287
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Book Description
Round the Clock is about the combined Anglo-American day-night bombing offensive against Nazi Germany in World War II. It is about the men who made up the aircrews that flew the bombers of the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Forces in that epic campaign. RAF Bomber Command under Air Chief Marshal Arthur ('Bomber') Harris was deeply involved in the concept and practice of wide-pattern attacks on principal German targets, attacks carried out in the dark of night. RAF Bomber Command had tried the more accurate daylight precision bombing method and had found the losses in men and aircraft unacceptably high. The Americans of the fledgling Eighth Air Force arrived in England early in 1942. They were determined to do by day what the British had deemed impossible, and the policy battlelines were drawn between these allies. In time, the Americans won the chance to prove, ultimately with success, the case for daylight bombing - though at enormous cost in equipment and lives.Those who flew the bombing missions of the RAF and USAAF from British airfields in World War II lived through an utterly unique time and experience, incomparable to any before or since. That experience, both in and out of combat, is the essence of Round the Clock.