“Told by a ‘been there, done that’ combat commander, McLaughlin
gives us precise accounts of such air battles as the devastating
bombing of Schweinfurt.”—Gen. Philip P. Ardery, author of Bomber
Pilot: A Memoir of World War II On an early morning in the fall of
1942, McLaughlin’s group set out for a raid on a French target.
Immediately after dropping its bombs, McLaughlin’s plane was hit. A
huge fire burned a four-foot hole in his wing, his waist gunner bailed
out, his radio operator was wounded, the plane lost all oxygen, and
his pilot put on a parachute and sat on the escape hatch, waiting for
the plane to explode. And this was only McLaughlin’s first sortie.
He went on to pilot the mission command plane on the second raid
against Schweinfurt, the largest air raid in history, which resulted
in the destruction of 70 percent of German ball bearing production
capability. McLaughlin also participated in the bombing of heavy water
installations in Norway. As a group leader, McLaughlin was
responsible for the planning and execution of air raids, forced to
follow the directives of senior (and sometimes less informed)
officers. His position as one of the managers of the massive sky
trains allows him to provide unique insight into the work of
maintenance and armament crews, preflight briefings, and off-duty
activities of the airmen. No other memoir of World War II reveals so
much about both the actual bombing runs against Nazi Germany and the
management of personnel and material that made those airborne armadas
possible. “Well-written, fast-paced and filled with
anecdotes.”—Bowling Green Daily News “He laces tense battle
scenes with humorous anecdotes about the famous people we met along
the way.”—Charleston Gazette
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780813145747
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
The University Press of Kentucky
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter