Flying Fortress Gunner

Flying Fortress Gunner PDF Author: Bill Cullen
Publisher: Schiffer + ORM
ISBN: 1507303319
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The biography of Bob Harper, a B-17 ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force who survived 35 combat missions over Germany in WWII, and was shot down twice. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 110 pounds, Bob Harper was below the minimum size requirements for US military service. As the demand for manpower increased, rules were bent, Harper’s deferment was retracted, and he was drafted into the Army. Harper was deployed to the European front and survived 35 combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. Based at airfields in England, Bob and the 381st Bomb Group flew brutal missions over heavily defended industrial centers in Germany. Harper was shot down twice and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Harper describes his harrowing experiences on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force. Cullen’s interviews with Harper took place over a period of years, and it is the anecdotes from the interviews that drive the majority of the narrative. The ball turret was located underneath the aircraft and was a confined, intense, and unique environment from which to experience combat during the Second World War. Readers will find Harper, who went on to a successful business career after the war, to be an insightful, witty, and engaging storyteller.

Flying Fortress Gunner

Flying Fortress Gunner PDF Author: Bill Cullen
Publisher: Schiffer + ORM
ISBN: 1507303319
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The biography of Bob Harper, a B-17 ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force who survived 35 combat missions over Germany in WWII, and was shot down twice. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 110 pounds, Bob Harper was below the minimum size requirements for US military service. As the demand for manpower increased, rules were bent, Harper’s deferment was retracted, and he was drafted into the Army. Harper was deployed to the European front and survived 35 combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. Based at airfields in England, Bob and the 381st Bomb Group flew brutal missions over heavily defended industrial centers in Germany. Harper was shot down twice and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Harper describes his harrowing experiences on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force. Cullen’s interviews with Harper took place over a period of years, and it is the anecdotes from the interviews that drive the majority of the narrative. The ball turret was located underneath the aircraft and was a confined, intense, and unique environment from which to experience combat during the Second World War. Readers will find Harper, who went on to a successful business career after the war, to be an insightful, witty, and engaging storyteller.

The Belly Gunner

The Belly Gunner PDF Author: Dale Aldrich
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
ISBN: 9780761318736
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
Presents the experiences and memories of Dale Aldrich, an American ball turret gunner in World War II, from the day he was drafted through his release from a German POW camp to the end of the war.

Finding a Fallen Hero

Finding a Fallen Hero PDF Author: Bob Korkuc
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN: 0806185848
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
To all appearances, Anthony “Tony” Korkuc was just another casualty of World War II. A gunner on a B-17 Flying Fortress, Korkuc was lost on a bombing mission over Germany, and his family believed that his body had never been recovered. But when they learned in 1995 that Tony was actually buried at Arlington National Cemetery, his nephew Bob Korkuc set out on a seven-year quest to learn the true fate of an uncle he never knew. Finding a Fallen Hero is a compelling story that blends a wartime drama with a primer on specialized research. Author Bob Korkuc initially set out to learn how his Uncle Tony came to rest at Arlington. In the process, he also unraveled the mystery of what occurred over the skies of Germany half a century ago. Korkuc dug up military documents and private letters and interviewed people in both the United States and Germany. He tracked down surviving crewmembers and even found the brother of the Luftwaffe pilot who downed the B-17. Dozens of photographs help readers envision both Tony Korkuc’s fateful flight and his nephew’s dogged search for the truth. A gripping chronicle of exhaustive research, Finding a Fallen Hero will strike a chord with any reader who has lost a family member to war. And it will inspire others to satisfy their own unanswered questions.

The B-17 Flying Fortress

The B-17 Flying Fortress PDF Author: Steve Birdsall
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : B-17 (Airplanes)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Tailspin

Tailspin PDF Author: John Armbruster
Publisher: Ten16 Press
ISBN: 9781645383147
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
A rookie social studies teacher overhears a conversation about a World War II tail gunner who survived a four-mile fall from the sky. When the elderly Gene Moran finally shares his saga, John has no idea of the wounds he's reopening.

Under the Tulip Tree

Under the Tulip Tree PDF Author: Michelle Shocklee
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 1496446070
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Sixteen-year-old Lorena Leland's dreams of a rich and fulfilling life as a writer are dashed when the stock market crashes in 1929. Seven years into the Great Depression, Rena's banker father has retreated into the bottle, her sister is married to a lazy charlatan and gambler, and Rena is an unemployed newspaper reporter. Eager for any writing job, Rena accepts a position interviewing former slaves for the Federal Writers' Project. There, she meets Frankie Washington, a 101-year-old woman whose honest yet tragic past captivates Rena. As Frankie recounts her life as a slave, Rena is horrified to learn of all the older woman has endured--especially because Rena's ancestors owned slaves. While Frankie's story challenges Rena's preconceptions about slavery, it also connects the two women whose lives are otherwise separated by age, race, and circumstances. But will this bond of respect, admiration, and friendship be broken by a revelation neither woman sees coming?

Gunner

Gunner PDF Author: Donald Nijboer
Publisher: Erin, Ont. : Boston Mills Press
ISBN: 9781550464863
Category : Aerial gunnery
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Through Patterson's remarkable photography and Nijboer's interviews with veterans, "Gunner" allows readers to imagine what it must have been like to be an air gunner in the Second World War. 150 color photos plus historical b&w photos.

Bloody Biscay

Bloody Biscay PDF Author: Chris Goss
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fighter planes
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description


B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO

B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the MTO PDF Author: William N Hess
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782008373
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
Having been a part of the Fifteenth Air Force in 1944, author Bill Hess has written the definitive account on 'his air force', featuring photographs and illustrations throughout. Although the Fifteenth Air Force was dismissed as 'minor leaguers' by the Eighth Air Force, strategic bombers from this outfit had done a 'major league' job on Axis targets in southern Europe following its formation in Italy in November 1943. And the heavy bombers employed by the Fifteenth were of course the venerable B-17 and B-24. At its peak strength, the Fifteenth's B-17 force comprised six groups of four squadrons each, all controlled by the 5th Bomb Wing.

B-17 Flying Fortress

B-17 Flying Fortress PDF Author: Frederick A. Johnsen
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The B-17 pioneered the concepts of strategic bombardment. This work gives technical detail along with little-known facts and stories, as well as accounts of missions, production, avionics, development and the people behind the development of the B-17.