Unsung Eagles Audiobook By Jay A. Stout cover art

Unsung Eagles

True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Unsung Eagles

By: Jay A. Stout
Narrated by: Traber Burns
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $13.97

Buy for $13.97

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories.

Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who - in the aggregate - actually won it. They are the recollections of your Uncle Frank who shared them only after having enjoyed a beer, of your old girlfriend’s grandfather who passed away about the same time she dumped you, and of the craggy guy who ran the town’s salvage yard, a dusty, fly-specked B-24 model hung over the counter. These are “everyman” accounts that are important but fast disappearing.

Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific Ocean by a heavy cruiser’s main battery during the second battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker, a displaced dive-bomber pilot, tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German anti-aircraft fire: “I could see the inside of the airplane - and I could see Nordstrom’s eyes. He looked confused...and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down.”

The combat careers of 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this book that captivates the listener not only as an engaging oral history but also by putting personal context into the great air battles of World War II.

©2013 Jay A. Stout (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing
Air Forces Armed Forces Military Military & War Wars & Conflicts World War II Transportation Aviation War Veteran US Air Force Inspiring Aviation History
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
Interesting Stories • Personal Accounts • Ordinary Heroes • Unvarnished Tales • Varied Roles • Working-class Heroes
Highly rated for:
All stars
Most relevant  
A great collection of war stories from mostly unheralded fliers from WWII. Unlike so many other books, this includes fairly raw and unvarnished tales of ordinary men doing often extraordinary things. Thoroughly enjoyed the wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and post-war lives of the fliers.

Loved it

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Has excellent stories of American pilots who survived WWII and what happened to them after the war.

Stories. of Brave Men

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Basically a bunch of short stories about the people that helped win the air war. A lot of parts had to be played, and sacrifices made by a lot of folks that won’t have movies or airports named after them. These are those guys.

This story is a hidden gem 👍

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I love memoirs, bios, non-fiction, war stories, drama, friendships, heroism for the right reasons, and war aviation. This book rang all my bells and blew all my whistles! It is a collection of non-fiction short bios of common young men in WWII aviation, many enlisting before Pearl Harbor was bombed. Many started via civilian pilot training programs designed to find and train the best young men out there. The author follows each one from early interest to the epilogue of their post-service years. The men tell of their hopes, fears, gaffes (many hilarious, some tragic) and their war struggles and victories. This audioreader took on just the hint of an accent with each new character/chapter. It is excellent. With every putting down of the book, I was eager to pick it up again.

True touching & gripping stories of young aviators in WW2

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

I was fortunate to meet and talk to somewhere around a dozen veterans and hear there stories.

Great personal histories.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Excellent read, the book allows you to read at your own speed, since each chapter is a short story.

so glad I read this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Narrator started to bother me. Battles descriptions were great and aircraft types like the Mustang F-51 were right on.

Various battles

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

The author repeated already stated facts. It was very interesting to hear these heroes talk about going from their ordinariness to the greatest generation. Acknowledging their fear unlike movie portrayals of heroes.

Good Stories

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Very good very good. You will enjoy it a lot. It is reaches the heart of the other song.

Very good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Appropriately I finished this book on Veterans Day. As an American we should never forget the sacrifices made by so many to fight a this war. Thank you to every veteran. Thank you for collecting these stories before they are lost forever.

Thank you

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

See more reviews