Customer Reviews

B-17 at War

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Along with being the most famous bomber in history, the Boeing B-17 has been the subject of more books than probably all other bombers combined. Bill Yenne's 2006 B-17 tome for Zenith Press is one of the latest to pay tribute to Boeing's war winner.

After a brief chapter on the Flying Fort's development and introduction to service, Yenne devotes succeeding chapters to missions flown in 1941, 1942, 1943, etc. before concluding with a brief epilogue on the B-17 after World War II.

The book, part of the publisher's "At War" series, is very much the story of the machine and not the men who flew her. And therein lies my problem with it. Nowhere in Yenne's mission narratives are there any mention of specific units, specific crews, memorable events during the mission, etc. The book is basically 100+ pages of "On March 3rd 67 B-17s bombed Berlin and Dresden while another 59 hit Emden. The next day 118 B-17s hit Kiel..." and so on. Taking out the human element enables the author to condense the B-17's story to 100 or so pages but it also removes all the drama from the story. As a result, B-17 AT WAR is as dry as toast.

The book is illustrated with over 160 black & white and color photographs. About 1/2 have been previously published.

Check out the B-17 books done by Martin Bowman, Steve Birdsall or Roger Freeman for a more memorable look at the Flying Fort in action. Bomber completists may want to add Yenne's book to their collection but, sorry to say, I wouldn't rate it an essential purchase.

I was a crew member on a B-17 bomber during WWII and can appreciate the research that went into writing this book. Most B-17 books write only about the "Mighty Eighth" (The 8th Army Air Force in England) but this book covered it all, including the 15th Army Air Force in Italy, where I was stationed. An excellent book!

I was disappointed with the book. I was hoping to read, in detail, about the Bomb Squadrons attached to the 99th Bombardment Group (99th BG). Unfortunately the 99BG is mentioned only 3 times and not much was written with respect to the Bomb Squadrons attached to the 99th BG. If anyone is looking for real detailed information relative to the 99th Bombardment Group I highly recommend you obtain a copy of the book entitled "The Diamondbacks: The History of the 99th Bombardment Group."