Deadly Sky
The American Combat Airman in World War II
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Narrated by:
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Jonathan Davis
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By:
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John C. McManus
About this listen
This insightful chronicle takes listeners inside the experiences of America's fighter pilots and bomber crews, an incredible assortment of men who, in nearly four years of warfare all over the globe, suffered over 120,000 casualties, with over 40,000 killed.
Their stories span the Earth, into every corner of the combat theaters in both Europe and the Pacific. And the aircraft explored are as varied, tough, and legendary as the men who flew them - from the indomitable heavy-duty warhorse that was the B-17 Flying Fortress to the sleek, lethal P-51 Mustang fighter.
In Deadly Sky, master historian John C. McManus goes beyond the familiar tales of aerial heroism, capturing the sights and sounds, the toil and fear, the adrenaline and the pain of the American airmen who faced death with every mission. In this important, thoroughly-researched work, McManus uncovers the true nature of fighting - and dying - in the skies over World War II.
©2000 John C. McManus (P)2016 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill Him
- By: Stephen Frater
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Hell Above Earth tells an unforgettable story of two World War II American bomber pilots who forged an unexpected but enduring bond in the flak-filled skies over Nazi Germany. But there's a twist: one of them was related to the head of the Luftwaffe, Reich Marshal Herman Goering, and the other had secret orders from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to kill him if anything went wrong during their missions.
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A very unusual story
- By David on 10-15-12
By: Stephen Frater
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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The German Aces Speak
- World War II Through the Eyes of Four of the Luftwaffe's Most Important Commanders
- By: Anne-Marie Lewis, Jon Guttman, Brigadier General Robin Olds USAF - Ret., and others
- Narrated by: P.J. Ochlan
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Few perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the World War II fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the 65-plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots' heroics have never been in short supply. But what about their adversaries - the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat?
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Not what I hoped for
- By Michael Jacobi on 09-01-20
By: Anne-Marie Lewis, and others
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The Wrong Stuff
- The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator
- By: Truman Smith
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Between April and July 1944, Truman Smith flew 35 bombing missions over France and Germany. He was only 20 years old. Although barely adults, Smith and his peers worried about cramming a lifetime's worth of experience into every free night, each knowing he probably would not survive the next bombing mission. Written with blunt honesty, wry humor, and insight, The Wrong Stuff is Smith's gripping memoir of that time.
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Why I got it...and glad I did.
- By Marie on 11-27-14
By: Truman Smith
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Damn Lucky
- One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
- By: Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, John Luckadoo
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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must read
- By td godfrey on 10-06-22
By: Kevin Maurer
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Air Apaches
- The True Story of the 345th Bomb Group and Its Low, Fast, and Deadly Missions in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 15 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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The American 345th Bomb Group - the Air Apaches - was legendary in the war against Japan. The first fully trained and fully equipped group sent to the South Pacific, the 345th racked up a devastating score against the enemy. Armed to the teeth with machine guns and fragmentation bombs, and flying their B-25s at impossibly low altitudes - often below 50 feet - the pilots and air crews strafed and bombed enemy installations and shipping with a fury that helped cripple Japan.
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Boring and unorganized unit history
- By R. Denton on 04-25-19
By: Jay A. Stout
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Indestructible
- One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur.
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You will love Pappy's story
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: John R. Bruning
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Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle
- By: Robert Morgan, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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As a young man growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Robert Morgan was a fast-driving party boy - a hell-raiser. But when his mother committed suicide upon learning she had inoperable brain cancer, Morgan's life changed dramatically. He was no longer a carefree playboy; he was a man searching for meaning. He found that meaning at the controls of an airplane, and in the flak-and fighter-filled skies over Occupied France and Nazi Germany.
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Abridged Version = Butchered
- By Kyle on 01-03-17
By: Robert Morgan, and others
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Finish Forty and Home
- The Untold World War II Story of B-24s in the Pacific
- By: Phil Scearce
- Narrated by: Danny Campbell
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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During the early years of World War II in the Pacific theatre, against overwhelming odds, young American airmen flew the longest and most perilous bombing missions of the war. They faced determined Japanese fighters without fighter escort, relentless anti-aircraft fire with no deviations from target, and thousands of miles of over-water flying with no alternative landing sites.
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Pretty Good!
- By Robert on 02-01-13
By: Phil Scearce
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Big Week
- The Biggest Air Battle of World War II
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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During the third week of February 1944, the combined Allied air forces based in Britain and Italy launched their first round-the-clock bomber offensive against Germany. Their goal: to smash the main factories and production centers of the Luftwaffe while also drawing German planes into an aerial battle of attrition to neutralize the Luftwaffe as a fighting force prior to the cross-channel invasion, planned for a few months later. Officially called Operation ARGUMENT, this aerial offensive quickly became known as “Big Week,” and it was one of the turning-points of World War II.
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War in the Air: Sets stage with gripping narrative
- By Nashville Cat on 11-17-18
By: James Holland
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Once They Were Eagles
- The Men of the Black Sheep Squadron
- By: Frank Walton
- Narrated by: David Randall Hunter
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Marine Corps Fighter Squadron 214 was hastily organized in the field during World War II to meet the urgent need for another combat squadron in the South Pacific. The squadron, self-named the "Black Sheep", went on under the leadership of the swashbuckling "Pappy" Boyington to become the most famous in Marine Corps history. Now comes the true story of the Black Sheep Squadron and the men who wrote its record in the Pacific skies.
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great insight at the leyendary squadron
- By Ernesto morales on 04-28-18
By: Frank Walton
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Vanished Hero
- The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet compelling, colorful, and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status.
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Great Performance for a Great Story!
- By Carter L. on 11-03-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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hard to listen to this great story
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loved it
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Detailed Account of D-Day
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June 6, 1944, was a pivotal moment in the history of World War II. On that day the climactic and decisive phase of the war in Europe began. Those who survived the intense fighting on the Normandy beaches found their lives irreversibly changed. That day ushered in a great change for the United States as well, because on D-day America began its march to the forefront of the Western world. By the end of the Battle of Normandy, almost one out of every two soldiers involved was an American.
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Great Book
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Island Infernos
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After some two years at war, the Army in the Pacific held ground across nearly a third of the globe, from Alaska’s Aleutians to Burma and New Guinea. The challenges ahead were enormous: supplying a vast number of troops over thousands of miles of ocean; surviving in jungles ripe with dysentery, malaria, and other tropical diseases; fighting an enemy prone to ever-more desperate and dangerous assaults. Yet the Army had proven they could fight. Now, they had to prove they could win a war.
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Wonderful book, but incomplete and poorly narrated.
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hard to listen to this great story
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loved it
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Detailed Account of D-Day
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The dawn of 1945 finds a US Army at its peak in the Pacific. Allied victory over Japan is all but assured. The only question is how many more months—or years—of fight does the enemy have left. John C. McManus’s magisterial series, described by the Wall Street Journal as being “as vast and splendid as Rick Atkinson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Liberation Trilogy,” returns with this brilliant final volume.
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More repetition and more gore than necessary
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The Twilight Warriors
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April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of pilots in their early 20s who were trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they'll never actually see real action and will go home without having a chance to face the enemy.
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Excellent Selection: One of the Best in this Genre
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The Battle for Hell's Island
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From the author of Pacific Payback comes the gripping true story of the Cactus Air Force and how this rugged crew of dive bombers helped save Guadalcanal and won the war. November 1942: Japanese and American forces have been fighting for control of Guadalcanal, a small but pivotal island in Japan's expansion through the South Pacific.
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agonizing audiobook full of facts
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Pacific Payback
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Sunday, December 7, 1941, dawned clear and bright over the Pacific....
But for the Dauntless dive-bomber crews of the USS Enterprise returning to their home base on Oahu, it was a morning from hell. Flying directly into the Japanese ambush at Pearl Harbor, they lost a third of their squadron and witnessed the heart of America's Navy broken and smoldering on the oil-slicked waters below.
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Excellent companion to Dawn like Thunder
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By Tank into Normandy
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Stuart Hills embarked his Sherman DD tank on to an LCT at 6:45 a.m., Sunday, June 4th, 1944. He was 20 years old, un-blooded, fresh from a public-school background, and officer cadet training. He was going to war. Two days later, his tank sunk; he and his crew landed from a rubber dinghy with just the clothes they stood in. After that, the struggles through the Normandy bocage in a replacement tank, engaging the enemy in a constant round of close encounters, led to a swift mastering of the art of tank warfare and remarkable survival in the midst of carnage and destruction.
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First “The Big Show” now this?!
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The Battle of Britain
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The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world, including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.
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The battle up to The Battle of Britain
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The Vietnam War
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In The Vietnam War, you will learn about the causes and consequences of the war in Vietnam. You will explore the scope of American intervention from air campaigns to large-scale military operations on the ground. You will survey the history of Vietnam from colonial Indochina onward, getting to know the homegrown ideas, personalities, and politics that would come to shape the conflict. You will reconstruct major military operations like the Tet Offensive and Rolling Thunder.
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information
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D-Day Revisited: The Invasion of Normandy
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World War II is the defining conflict of the 20th century, one that created a line in the sands of history dividing the pre-war and post-war eras. In this epoch-defining conflict lies another definitive moment: the invasion of a 50-mile stretch of coast in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. This battle, also known as D-Day, was the pivot point of the war in Europe. Its success led to a nearly yearlong, bloody campaign that saw the liberation of France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands, followed by the final defeat of Hitler’s Third Reich.
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Poor narration
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Company Commander
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Story
In this plainspoken but eloquent narrative, we live each minute at MacDonald's side, sharing in all of combat's misery, terror, and drama. How this green commander gains his men's loyalty in the snows of war-torn Europe is one of the most unforgettable war stories of all time.
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A Real Look At Combat Command
- By Pat Ryan on 02-19-21
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Thunder Below!
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- By: Eugene B. Fluckey
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- Unabridged
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Under the leadership of her fearless skipper, Captain Gene Fluckey, the Barb sank the greatest tonnage of any American sub in World War II. At the same time, the Barb did far more than merely sink ships-she changed forever the way submarines stalk and kill their prey.
This is a gripping adventure chock-full of "you-are-there" moments. Fluckey has drawn on logs, reports, letters, interviews, and a recently discovered illegal diary kept by one of his torpedomen.
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Action, Excitement, & History. A great read!
- By Boone on 09-28-13
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Sea of Thunder
- By: Evan Thomas
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- Unabridged
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The book focuses on four naval commanders, two American, two Japanese, whose lives collided at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944 - a clash involving more ships (almost 300), more men (nearly 200,000) and covering a larger area (more than 100 thousand square miles, roughly the size of the British Isles) than any naval battle in recorded history.
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Good
- By Hika on 12-28-09
By: Evan Thomas
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Fire and Fortitude
- The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941-1943
- By: John C. McManus
- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
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- Unabridged
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John C. McManus, one of our most highly acclaimed historians of World War II, takes listeners from Pearl Harbor - a rude awakening for a military woefully unprepared for war - to Makin, a sliver of coral reef where the Army was tested against the increasingly desperate Japanese. In between were nearly two years of punishing combat as the Army transformed, at times unsteadily, from an undertrained garrison force into an unstoppable juggernaut, and America evolved from an inward-looking nation into a global superpower.
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Excellent Work In Spite of A Woke Author
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What listeners say about Deadly Sky
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Christian Cunningham
- 09-09-17
good book one of my favorite
love this book. The book will go into the lives of airman in combat and tell you how they felt. and some crazy and sad story's I would tell everyone to listen to it
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Overall
- jeff moser
- 02-10-18
interesting
this book covers in detail topics not covered much in most stories about the air war that I've always been curious about such as answering nature's call 5 miles up!
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- Thomas Coy
- 06-06-23
The Air War as Experienced
I am deeply impressed with this book. The author has managed to provide a broad overview of what our soldiers/ airmen experienced in WWII. This story is about their lives and experiences rather than the battles and it is very moving. It made me laugh and cry and I am glad that I read it.
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- Chiefkent
- 05-23-17
Twelve O'Clock High Unabridged
While the book purports to cover all American combat fliers of WWII, but about 80% is anecdotal coverage of the European heavy bomber campaign. HAP Arnold demanded the highest scorers on the military entrance exams for manning his airplanes. The USAAF was a major believer in standardized and psychological testing and screening. This process is covered in some detail in the book along with the selection process for the various billets in a bomber, and/or a fighter pilot.
If one has seen the movie "Twelve O'Clock High", it's a nutshell of the book's 17 hours. Arnold's missive of, "Why you are about to die...", to his airmen was a nice touch. There is quite a bit of questioning by the airmen of whether or not the killing of the some 353,000 German civilians and the 300,000 - 900,000 Japanese civilians was really moral or legal. Surprisingly, most really didn't and don't care, they left that up to the REMF's. But they were asking the questions.
If this was the basis for the founding of the USAF, then we have a problem because what happened during WWII can never be replicated. The heavy bomber aircrews had about a 20% chance of completing a tour of duty. Censors kept the actual numbers secret, but these were bright guys. The REMF's kept increasing the lengths of their tours for a reason.
Mr. Davis does yeoman service to the material.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-05-17
A Fine Work
One of the most informative works on WWII air combat I've read. This covers it all.
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- Spencer
- 02-29-20
Gripping!
My father in law was taken as a POW in Ploesti Romania and liberated in ‘45. This was a gripping book that helped me see some of what he saw. 9/10. Some repetition, but tolerable.
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- Susan
- 07-23-17
How did they do it?
I often wonder how so many young, brave men answered the call of their country and went to fight a war they had no part in starting. I hear and read how we shouldn't have been so aggressive and cruel in that war. But we did not start that war and yet so many young Americans, many still teenagers, went to foreign lands to fight for justice, to liberate people from their captors, from torture and death. This book explores the feelings of some of those young men. It shares their experiences, their thoughts and feelings both at the time and years later. It is a great book and I believe every one should read it. We owe so much to those who fought for the allied cause.
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- Nat
- 09-09-18
a story that makes you if you have what it takes.
I love this but very much really tells the story of the American fighter pilots in World War II. You go through their struggles, their high and lows. During this audio I found myself thinking if I really have what it takes to measure up to these Great Men whether I was smart enough whether I was brave enough and whether or not I had the courage and the will to see the missions that they went through through to the end of the war.
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- Long Story
- 03-29-24
John McManus has done his work
Very fine history of the subject aimed at a general audience. McManus bases his observations of primary sources, largely the letters and diaries of US bomber and fighter pilots, crews, and ground crews.
The narration by Jonathan Davis is excellent.
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- David Firebaugh
- 06-17-17
It's was good,not great but good
I have read a lot of books of WW2. This was one of the first I was glad when it was over. I won't be listening to it again.
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