Dimensions
253 x 250 x 16mm
The Experience of the Allied Bomber Crews Who Flew by Day and Night from England in the Second World War.
This book is about the combined Anglo-American day and night bombing offensive against Nazi Germany in World War II. It is about the air-crews that flew the bombers of the Royal Air Force and the US Eighth Air Force in that epic campaign.
The British RAF Bomber Command under Air Chief Marshal Arthur "Bomber" Harris, carried out sustained night-time raids over Germany, inflicting wide-pattern, but not dependably accurate, destruction on the enemy. The Americans of the fledgling Eighth Air Force, having arrived in England early in 1942, took on the challenge of precision daylight bombing, ultimately with great success, but at a huge cost of lives and equipment.
Those who flew the bombing missions of the RAF and USAAF from British airfields in World War II lived through an utterly unique time and experience, incomparable to any before or since. That experience, both in and out of combat, is the essence of this book.
In words and photographs from then and now, the entire experience of everyday life on the airfields of World War II is depicted in vivid detail. We ride with the crews on their dangerous raids over Nazi territory, living the chilling reality of the air war through their diaries and memoirs. We also return to the airfields as they are now, derelict but poignant reminders of such a tempestuous time in world history.