Black Thursday The Story Of The Schweinfurt Raid

Author : Martin Caidin
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 138769524X
Total Pages : 188 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid written by Martin Caidin and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-03-25 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Martin Caidin's Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid tells of the United States Air Force's massive bombing raid into Nazi Germany's industrial heartland on Thursday, October 14, 1943. On that fateful day two hundred and ninety one hulking B-17 Flying Fortresses - escorted by squadrons of nimble P-47 Thunderbolts - miraculously fought their way through swarms of Messerschmitt Me-109's, Focke-Wulf FW-190's, Heinkel He-113's and more on their way to cripple the enemy's vital ball-bearings plant at Schweinfurt.

Author : Martin Middlebrook
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1781598002
Total Pages : 633 pages
Book Rating : 4.09/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Schweinfurt-Regensburg Mission written by Martin Middlebrook and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-07-19 with total page 633 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A detailed history of the American World War II bombing mission over Nazi Germany, by the author of The First Day on the Somme. On August 17, 1943, the entire strength of the American heavy bomber forces in England set out to raid two major industrial complexes deep in southern Germany: the Messerschmitt aircraft factory and the KGF ball bearing plant. For American commanders, it was the culmination of years of planning, the day when their self-defending formations of the famous Flying Fortress could at last perform their true role, reaching out by daylight to strike at targets in the deepest corners of industrial Germany. The day ended in disaster for the Americans. Thanks to the courage of the aircrews, the bombers won through to the targets and caused heavy damage, but sixty were shot down and the hopes of the American commanders were shattered. Historically, it was one of the most important days for the American air forces during the Second World War. While researching this catastrophic raid, author Martin Middlebrook interviewed hundreds of the airmen involved, German defenders, “slave workers,” and eyewitnesses. The result is a mass of fresh, previously unused material with which the author finally provides the full story of this famous day’s operations. Not only is the American side elaborated upon, but the previously vague German side of the story—both the Luftwaffe action and the civilian experiences in Schweinfurt and Regensburg—is also now presented clearly and in detail for the first time. Middlebrook also covers the important question of why the RAF did not support the American effort and follow up the raid on Schweinfurt as planned.

Author : George C. Kuhl
Publisher : Schiffer Military History
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 312 pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Wrong Place! Wrong Time! written by George C. Kuhl and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 1993 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is true story of the second raid on Schweinfurt, Germany by the Eighth Air Force 1st and 3rd Bombardment Divisions on 14 October 1943. On this day, the Eighth Air Force lost air superiority to the German Luftwaffe in a continuous air battle that lasted over three hours. Many refer to it as the greatest one-day air battle of World War II. Wrong Place, Wrong Time is a study of the 1st Bombardment Division and specifically the 305th Bomb Group on that fateful day. Record numbers of German fighters swarmed over the unescorted B-17s and their crews. Compelling new evidence never before published indicates that mistakes and poor leadership by several air commanders within the 1st Division caused unnecessary losses for a number of bombers and their crews. This, together with major new revelations by crew members of the 305th who flew the mission, shed light on why the 1st Division lost 45 out of 60 B-17s that day. Information for this book comes from the National Archives, the US Air Force Historical Research Center, overseas sources, and 53 surviving 305th crew members who flew this mission.\nGeorge C. Kuhl was a pilot in the 305th Bomb Group during World War II. He lives in Augusta, Georgia.

Author : Gerald Astor
Publisher : Dutton Caliber
ISBN 13 : 0425281574
Total Pages : 514 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Mighty Eighth written by Gerald Astor and published by Dutton Caliber. This book was released on 2015-09 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the skies of World War II Europe, the Eighth Air Force was a defining factor in turning the tide against the Nazis. In these gripping oral histories, the sacrifice, savagery, and supremacy of the “Mighty Eighth” is described by those who experienced it...and survived it. At the outbreak of World War II, America was woefully unprepared for a fight, though Europe was already years into the battle. Soon, though, America’s war machine was rolling out pilots, engineers, planes, and materials in astounding numbers. It was called the Eighth Air Force—and it would hit the Nazi juggernaut like a lightning bolt. Launching a then-groundbreaking campaign of daylight bombing runs, the men of the Eighth would suffer more casualties than the entire Marine Corps in the Pacific theater. But they would also prove to be the most effective weapon against the enemy, taking out strategic targets such as munitions plants and factories that were vital to the German war effort and grinding them to a halt. In The Mighty Eighth, the men who fought in the greatest air war in human history tell their stories of courage and camaraderie as only those who were there can tell them.

Author : Martin Caidin
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 9780345283085
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.82/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Flying Forts written by Martin Caidin and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 1979-03-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the B-17, her prewar trials, the pilots who flew her and her action packed role in World War II

Author : Martin Caidin
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780553028560
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Whip written by Martin Caidin and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Major Don Salvatore Gentile
Publisher : Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782894489
Total Pages : 39 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book One-Man Airforce [Illustrated Edition] written by Major Don Salvatore Gentile and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 39 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Illustrated with 14 photos of the Author and the Aircraft he flew. Gentile was born in Piqua, Ohio. After a fascination with flying as a child, his father provided him with his own plane, an Aerosport Biplane. He managed to log over 300 hours flying time by July 1941, when he attempted to join the Army Air Force. The U.S. military required two years of college for its pilots, which Gentile did not have, so he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was posted to the UK in 1941. Gentile flew the Supermarine Spitfire Mark V with No. 133 Squadron, one of the famed "Eagle Squadron" during 1942. His first kills (a Ju 88 and Fw 190) were on August 1, 1942, during Operation Jubilee. In September 1942, the Eagle squadrons transferred to the USAAF, becoming the 4th Fighter Group. Gentile became a flight commander in September 1943, now flying the P-47 Thunderbolt. Having been Spitfire pilots, Gentile and the other pilots of the 4th were displeased when they transitioned to the heavy P-47. By late 1943, Group Commander Col. Don Blakeslee pushed for re-equipment with the lighter, more maneuverable P-51 Mustang. Conversion to the P-51B at the end of February 1944 allowed Gentile to build a tally of 15.5 additional aircraft destroyed between March 3 and April 8, 1944. After downing 3 planes on April 8, he was the top scoring 8th Air Force ace when he crashed his personal P-51, named "Shangri La", on April 13, 1944 while stunting over the 4th FG’s airfield at Debden for a group of assembled press reporters and movie cameras. Blakeslee immediately grounded Gentile as a result, and he was sent back to the US for a tour selling war bonds. In 1944, Gentile co-wrote with well-known war correspondent Ira Wolfert One Man Air Force, an autobiography and account of his combat missions.

Author : Martin Caidin
Publisher : Bantam
ISBN 13 : 9780553299267
Total Pages : 195 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Torch to the Enemy written by Martin Caidin and published by Bantam. This book was released on 1992 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of one of the most dangerous strikes against Japan during World War II describes how on March 9, 1945, 334 American long-range B-29 Superfortresses flew against Tokyo loaded with bombs but with no gunners. Reprint.

Author : Martin Caidin
Publisher : Lulu.com
ISBN 13 : 1387590723
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Thunderbolt! written by Martin Caidin and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2018-02-12 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thunderbolt! is the incredible true life story of Robert S. Johnson, one of America's leading fighter pilot aces in World War II. His memoir is an action-packed account of how a young man from Lawton, Oklahoma went on to amass 28 enemy kills, the first U. S. Army Air Force pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I tally of 26 enemy planes destroyed. Johnson's detailed, vivid descriptions of close-scrapes with Goering's elite fighters and his numerous other skirmishes makes Thunderbolt! essential reading for World War 2 buffs.

Author : Kevin Maurer
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1250274397
Total Pages : 273 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Damn Lucky written by Kevin Maurer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Kevin Maurer—the #1 New York Times bestselling, award-winning coauthor of No Easy Day—comes the true story of a World War II bomber pilot who survived twenty-five missions in Damn Lucky, “an epic, thrillingly written, utterly immersive account of a very lucky, incredible survivor of the war in the skies to defeat Hitler” (New York Times bestselling author Alex Kershaw). “We were young citizen-soldiers, terribly naive and gullible about what we would be confronted with in the air war over Europe and the profound effect it would have upon every fiber of our being for the rest of our lives. We were all afraid, but it was beyond our power to quit. We volunteered for the service and, once trained and overseas, felt we had no choice but to fulfill the mission assigned. My hope is that this book honors the men with whom I served by telling the truth about what it took to climb into the cold blue and fight for our lives over and over again.” —John “Lucky” Luckadoo, Major, USAF (Ret.) 100th Bomb Group (H) Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine. With a shrapnel torn Bible in his flight jacket pocket and his girlfriend’s silk stocking around his neck like a scarf as talismans, Luckadoo piloted through Luftwaffe machine-gun fire and antiaircraft flak while enduring subzero temperatures to complete twenty-five missions and his combat service. The average bomber crew rarely survived after eight to twelve missions. Knowing far too many airmen who wouldn’t be returning home, Luckadoo closed off his emotions and focused on his tasks to finish his tour of duty one moment at a time, realizing his success was more about being lucky than being skilled. Drawn from Luckadoo’s firsthand accounts, acclaimed war correspondent Kevin Maurer shares his extraordinary tale from war to peacetime, uncovering astonishing feats of bravery during the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history, and presenting an incredible portrait of a young man’s coming-of-age during the world’s most devastating war.