The Fall of Fortresses
The Classic Account of One of the Most Daring and Deadly Air Battles of WWII
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Narrated by:
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Shawn Compton
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By:
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Elmer Bendiner
About this listen
On an August morning in England in 1943, a group of American airmen were told that before the day was out they would deliver the blow that would win the war.
Flying the legendary B-17 Flying Fortress, their mission was to destroy the industrial facilities that kept the Nazi war machine in business-Schweinfurt's ball-bearing factories.
But a determined and ferocious defense awaited the bomber crews of the USAAF's Mighty 8th.
Somehow, navigator Elmer Bendiner and his crew survived, their faithful B-17, Tondelayo, carrying them home. Hundreds of their young compatriots did not.
Vivid, powerful, and often viscerally engaging, The Fall of Fortresses is a stunning testament to the skill, courage, and sacrifice of the men who fought in World War II's deadliest campaign.
©1980 Elmer Bendiner (P)2021 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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Race of Aces
- WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
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Boring, confusing storyline, some technical details wrong
- By ATM on 04-09-20
By: John R. Bruning
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Dead Reckoning
- The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: Dick Lehr
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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Half Soap Opera, target audience 20 something male
- By Donald L. Hogan on 03-20-21
By: Dick Lehr
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Deadly Sky
- The American Combat Airman in World War II
- By: John C. McManus
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 17 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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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.
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Twelve O'Clock High Unabridged
- By Chiefkent on 05-23-17
By: John C. McManus
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Luck of the Draw
- My Story of the Air War in Europe
- By: Frank Murphy, Chloe Melas, Elizabeth Murphy
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Murphy, Jonas Moore, Chloe Melas
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return; nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. Luck of the Draw is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp.
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Personal Accounting that the Narrator Destroyed
- By David Sajben on 03-09-23
By: Frank Murphy, and others
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Beyond Valor
- A World War II Story of Extraordinary Heroism, Sacrificial Love, and a Race Against Time
- By: Jon Erwin, William Doyle
- Narrated by: Zach Hoffman, Jon Erwin
- Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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On April 12, 1945, a fleet of American B-29 bombers flew toward Japan. Their mission was simple: Stop World War II by burning the cities, factories, and military bases of the Japanese empire, thereby forcing an unconditional surrender. But it didn't go as planned. Onboard one of the B-29s, the City of Los Angeles, a phosphorus bomb detonated inside the plane. Staff Sergeant Henry E. "Red" Erwin absorbed the blast of burning phosphorus and managed to throw the still-flaming bomb overboard before collapsing from the third-degree burns that covered his body.
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One of the best books I’ve ever listened to!!!
- By katherine on 09-15-20
By: Jon Erwin, and others
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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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Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II
- By: Philip Ardery
- Narrated by: James Killavey
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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"The sky was full of dying airplanes" as American Liberator bombers struggled to return to North Africa after their daring low-level raid on the oil refineries of Ploesti. They lost 446 airmen and 53 planes, but Philip Ardery's plane came home. This pilot was to take part in many more raids on Hitler's Europe, including air cover for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. This vivid firsthand account records one man's experience of World War II air warfare.
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Fascinating...and true story
- By Loretta on 06-24-15
By: Philip Ardery
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The First Heroes
- The Extraordinary Story of the Doolittle Raid
- By: Craig Nelson
- Narrated by: Raymond Todd
- Length: 17 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Immediately after Japan's December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt sought to restore the honor of the United States with a dramatic act of vengeance: a retaliatory bombing raid on Tokyo itself. In those early days of World War II, America was ill-prepared for any sort of warfare. But FDR was not to be dissuaded, and at his bidding a squadron of scarcely trained army fliers, led by the famous daredevil Jimmy Doolittle, set forth on what everyone regarded as a suicide mission.
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Heroic Attempt
- By William on 07-20-04
By: Craig Nelson
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Inferno
- By: Joe Pappalardo
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Joe Pappalardo's Inferno tells the true story of the men who flew the deadliest missions of World War II, and an unlikely hero who received the Medal of Honor in the midst of the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history.
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Great listen I
- By Amazon Customer on 06-21-21
By: Joe Pappalardo
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Of Another Time and Place
- By: Brad Schaeffer
- Narrated by: Angelo Di Loreto
- Length: 12 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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While on a brief leave home from the deadly skies of World War II, a decorated German flying ace must decide between conscience and country when his courageous fiancé reveals her potentially deadly secret she's been keeping right under the nose of the SS. Rachael Azerod, a New York reporter, flies to London to interview Harmon Becker, the former German WW II hero whom Hitler himself awarded the highest honors - but she has her own reasons for meeting.
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Really enjoyed this one!
- By S. Ford on 12-26-19
By: Brad Schaeffer
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Jayhawk
- Love, Loss, Liberation and Terror over the Pacific
- By: Jay A. Stout, George L. Cooper
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper is one of the few surviving veteran pilots who saw action over such fearsome targets as Rabaul and Wewak. Not just another flag-waving story of air combat, Jayhawk describes the war as it really was - a conflict with far-reaching tentacles that gripped and tore at not only the combatants, but also their families, friends, and the way they lived their lives.
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An absolute must for any student of the Pacific Air War
- By Ginger on 10-07-20
By: Jay A. Stout, and others
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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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Countdown 1945
- The Extraordinary Story of the Atomic Bomb and the 116 Days That Changed the World
- By: Chris Wallace, Mitch Weiss
- Narrated by: Chris Wallace
- Length: 8 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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April 12, 1945: After years of bloody conflict in Europe and the Pacific, America is stunned by news of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death. In an instant, Vice President Harry Truman, who has been kept out of war planning and knows nothing of the top-secret Manhattan Project to develop the world’s first atomic bomb, must assume command of a nation at war on multiple continents—and confront one of the most consequential decisions in history. Countdown 1945 tells the gripping true story of the turbulent days, weeks, and months to follow.
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Chris Wallace killed it!
- By Gaming Pancakes on 06-11-20
By: Chris Wallace, and others
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Highly recommended I couldn't stop listening!
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Excellent balance
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The career of the USS Wahoo in sinking Japanese ships in the farthest reaches of the Empire is legendary in submarine circles. Christened three months after Pearl Harbor, Wahoo was commanded by the astonishing Dudley W. "Mush" Morton, whose originality and daring new techniques led to results unprecedented in naval history; among them, successful "down the throat" barrage against an attacking Japanese destroyer, voracious surface-running gun attacks, and the sinking of a four-ship convoy in one day.
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story is excellent...narrator...aarrgg
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great details behind the flying
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A little dry but informative
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A Wing and a Prayer
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They began operations out of England in the spring of '43. They flew their Flying Fortresses almost daily against strategic targets in Europe in the name of freedom. Their astonishing courage and appalling losses earned them the name that resounds in the annals of aerial warfare and made the "Bloody Hundredth" a legend. Harry H. Crosby—soon to be portrayed by Anthony Boyle in the miniseries Masters of the Air developed by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg—arrived with the very first crews, and left with the very last.
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love love love the history
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Storm over Leyte
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As Allied ships prepared for the invasion of the Philippine island of Leyte, every available warship, submarine, and airplane was placed on alert while Japanese admiral Kurita Takeo stalked Admiral William F. Halsey's unwitting American armada. It was the beginning of the epic Battle of Leyte Gulf - the greatest naval battle in history.
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Startling revelations to a 72 year battle!
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Great History - Hard Listen.
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The Big Show
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Performance
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Story
Pierre Clostermann DFC was one of the oustanding Allied aces of the Second World War. A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over 420 operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe. The Big Show, his extraordinary account of the war, has been described as the greatest pilot's memoir of WWII.
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Simply one of the best all time books on air combat ever written.
- By S. H. Moore on 12-08-20
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Strong Men Armed
- The United States Marines Against Japan
- By: Robert Leckie
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- Unabridged
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Written by Robert Leckie, whose wartime exploits are featured in the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg HBO miniseries The Pacific, Strong Men Armed is the perennial bestselling classic account of the U.S. Marines' relentless drive through the Pacific during World War II.
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The best book on the subject
- By j on 12-10-13
By: Robert Leckie
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World War II: Air War
- American Heritage Series
- By: Stephen W. Sears
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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The air war over Europe during World War II proved that combat in the sky can be even more devastating than combat on the ground. When the war ended, every major city in Germany was virtually destroyed. A German writer admitted that his own nation, in taking up the sword to conquer the world, had "summoned up those bands of furies which raced across the German skies".
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Too limited
- By Bruce Cline on 05-02-24
By: Stephen W. Sears
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Battle Hardened
- An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to V-E Day
- By: Craig S. Chapman
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Battle Hardened: An Infantry Officer's Harrowing Journey from D-Day to VE Day tells the story of an American soldier's growth from a Second Lieutenant eager to prove his worth in battle to a skilled and resolute commander over the course of the Northern European Campaign. Craig Chapman delves deep into the personal recollections and mental state of Bill Chapman as he fought against the Nazis, enduring frontline combat and witnessing horror on a massive scale.
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The last line of the book by the Doctor domes up a veterans service still today.
- By JDG on 04-25-24
By: Craig S. Chapman
What listeners say about The Fall of Fortresses
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- Rauch's Bops
- 04-10-24
Very personal memoir of combat.
Much better memoir of air combat and airbase life, then masters of the air and other such books.
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- James
- 11-20-22
Very good telling of stories like I grew up with.
I grew up hearing stories such as told here. Very entertaining, clarifying, eye opening and stiring. A very worthy listen if you are so inclined.
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- Anonymous User
- 07-12-24
First hand perspective
Really enjoyed how you were in the shoes of the flyer
Also liked how they mixed in the back stories of the whole air war strategy
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- Don Rottiers
- 08-06-24
Great stories about, crews, family’s and our friends the Brits and sometimes the Germans.
Great read if you like WW2 aircraft stories you will enjoy this book about B-17 aircraft and crews. Lots of humor so not boring.
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- Anonymous User
- 06-10-23
Excellent!!!
This is a new favorite of mine! Excellent writing and narration. Well done. Highly recommended
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- lishdavid
- 01-23-24
Very good story
What a awesome journey through war! Risked everything for freedom. Such a great generation of people. I wish that spirit was true now days. Strongly recommend this book!
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- Richard C Bennett
- 03-28-24
Story
Best book ever it like I was there and with them I love it!
WW2
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