American Bomber Crewman 1941-45

Description

Gregory Fremont-Barnes examines the lives of the American Bomber Crewmen of the Eighth Air Force, 'The Mighty Eighth', who manned, maintained and repaired the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and the B-24 Liberators that flew from the airfields of England. He highlights the physical and psychological strain placed on these men, who required brute strength to control the aircraft on long bombing missions and extraordinary endurance to fly for hours at 20,000 feet at temperatures below freezing in unpressurised cabins. In addition to this, with Luftwaffe fighters and anti-aircraft fire to contend with, it required incredible skill and some luck to return from a mission unscathed. This book is a fitting tribute to these often uncelebrated heroes who took the war deep into the Third Reich, as well as a fascinating historical account of their experiences.

Gregory Fremont-Barnes holds a doctorate in Modern History from the University of Oxford and serves as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of War Studies at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. A prolific author, his books include Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny and many others on military and naval subjects covering the 18th to the 21st centuries. Holding a particular interest in insurgency and counterinsurgency, his wider work for the UK Ministry of Defence on these subjects regularly takes him to Africa, the Middle East and South America. As an academic advisor, Dr Fremont-Barnes has accompanied many groups of British Army officers and senior NCOs in their visits to numerous battlefields of the Peninsular War, the Waterloo campaign, Normandy and the Falklands. Adam Hook studied graphic design, and began his work as an illustrator in 1983. He specializes in detailed historical reconstructions, and has illustrated Osprey titles on the Aztecs, the Greeks, the American Civil War and the American Revolution. His work features in exhibitions and publications throughout the world.

"US bomber crews flew a wide variety of aircraft in every theatre. Here is a good account of their experiences, from recruitment and training to combat missions. It contains quite a few quotations from the men themselves as well as contemporary photographs, some in colour... a good book for anyone interested in the bomber war over Europe." --John Prigent, Internet Modeler (April 2008) "Gregory Freemont-Barnes' American Bomber Crewman 1941-45 [covers] the lives and achievements of the American Bomber Crewman of the USAF and the physical and psychological requirements for their duty." --California Bookwatch (May 2008) "Experiences of battle covers a goodly section of the book. Here we hear from pilots, bombardiers, gunners and radio operators as to how they coped with the stresses of missions and in some cases, their capture and imprisonment after their planes have been shot down. All of this is superbly illustrated using period photos and the artwork of Sean O'Brogain." --Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (May 2008)