America's Top WWII Aces in Their Own Words: Eighth Air Force

by William N. Hess

Book Overview

After each mission, American pilots in World War II were required by armed forces regulation to submit a report, written in their own words, of that days events in the wartorn skies over Europe or the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760310742
• ISBN13: 9780760310748
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Motorbooks International
• Length: 191 Pages
• Weight: 0.82 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

"A Neat Little Book"

At 190 pages, maybe it's not so little. However "Aces" is packed with short biographies and many actual "combat reports" of 26 fighter pilots in the Eighth Air Force who achieved "Ace" status while protecting B-17s and B-24s flying out of England. It does not include "Aces" of other theaters of World War II. This is not fine literature and was not intended to be. The combat reports are reproduced "as written" by the pilots and were considered when determining "kill" credits. This book also has many great old photographs of the pilots with their trusted fighter planes. When reading these combat reports one starts to get a feel for the wonderful capabilities of the old P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs. Our fighter technology back then in these particular ships was superior to the enemy's until the Germans came out with the Me 262 jet. I recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of the United States Army Air Force during World War II.