Customer Reviews

Bomber Pilot: A Memoir of World War II

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This outstanding autobiographical recount of Ardery's WW2 experiences ranks amongst the top in this genre. Follow his career through flight training and initial assignments, trials, tribulations and finally, a combat assignment. Ardery, his crew, and their B24 participated in several critical and unprecedented bombing missions during the war, including the infamous Ploesti raid. His recount of flying into a virtual "wall of fire", which was the defensive flak being levelled at their bomber, is one of the most horrowing experiences written to date. In addition to this book, those interested in the B24 should definately read Thomas Childer's "Wings of Morning : The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down over Germany in World War II" which stands alone as the absolute finest piece of literature written to date on this subject.

This is an account of Col. Philip Ardery's experiences of flying with the 389th Bomb Group in WWII. He gives you the view of an ordinary man doing his duty in a time of war. This story also includes his account of the low level raid on the Ploesti oil fields of Romania by B-24s of the Eighth and Twelfth air forces. This is truly a must-read book for those who have limited knowledge of what pilots of the B-24 had to go through! Check it out!

Ardery's account of his life as a B-24 pilot is excellent. From all the training it took to simply get into the planes, to combat in the skies over the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, Ardery's account is an even-handed account of what a bomber pilot's life was like.

The chapter about Ploesti is especially fascinating. James Dugan and Carrol Stewart used Ardery as a source for their book on the subject, and the details of Ardery's part in the raid offer some really interesting stuff. Especially intruiging is the background and fate of Medal of Honor winner Lloyd Hughes, who was flying on Ardery's wing when when he perished.

This book is really good stuff; Steven Ambrose's "Wild Blue" pales in comparison. Ardery doesn't place himself on a hero pedestal, he merely tells of his experiences in a very interesting and easy-to-digest style.

Mr. Ardery has written a superb account of an Army Air Corps pilot's experience starting from his days as a "cadet" training at Randolph and Kelly Fields in Texas through his combat experience flying B-24s from North Africa and England. His narrative illustrates that the threat of injury or death was constant for every member of the crew and that either was just as likely to happen whether one was in training, flying through flak, trying to avoid German fighters or avoiding mid-air collisons while flying in tight formation with your squadron mates. Readers will have an excellent idea of what our airmen endured during World War II.

The cover of Bomber Pilot displays a photograph of a Liberator skimming the ground on a low level attack on the Ploesti raid. This photograph alone makes you want to reach out to grab Bomber Pilot assured that you will have an exciting read. And you won't be disappointed. Pilot Phil Ardery won a Silver Star, two DFCs, four Air Medals and the French Croix de Guerre with palm. He didn't get those sitting around some Officers' Club.

He flew 24s on missions ranging from icy Norway to baking North Africa. Some Eighth Air Force crews were detached to Libya to join in the fight to drive the Axis from Bengasi, Tripoli and all of the Mediterranean. You'll be able to compare bombing in hot and dusty Libya and lurching through the Norwegian sky trying to find any identifiable landmark.

Ardery flew missions to eastern Mediterranean islands. He says when he was stationed in Bengasi with Ninth Bomber Command there was no Protestant Chaplain and no Jewish one but there was a remarkable Catholic chaplain who was capable of conducting services for Jewish personnel. Ardery, a Protestant, notes that Fr. Beck could conduct a Jewish funeral with perfect form and dignity. He never missed an opportunity to give all possible aid and comfort to the Protestant boys. He never pushed his religion on any of them.

Fr. Beck actually flew on combat missions from time to time . Crews thought it was lucky to have him aboard. One day the Group Commander found out and grounded him. He apparently feared having to explain what the chaplain was doing up in the air if he got wounded, taken prisoner or shot out of the sky.

Read this book. My library got it for me which means most Massachusetts's libraries should be able to get it for you. Ardery, who later became a successful attorney, will take you on raids as far north as Oslo as well as deep into Naziland. He describes the buzz bombing of London, flying over the D-Day beaches, the courage of the British civilians. He dedicates this book to the officers and men of the 564th Bomb Squadron, the 389th Bomb Group and the Second Combat Wing. Do these outfits sound familiar to any of you? Bet they do!

BOMBER PILOT is a gripping account of World War II heroism in the skies over Europe. I'd just finished reading the fine new WWII novel, THE TRIUMPH AND THE GLORY, about a B-17 pilot, when a friend suggested this book to me. I am impressed. The author's experiences during the epic low level raid on Ploesti was especially interesting. Great job!

Mr. Ardery lays out an excellent recounting of his WWII experience is a frank, open style. I enjoyed this book very much.

I have to say that I was disappointed in this book. It is one of the weakest memoirs of the air war that I have read. Mr. Ardery is not a born story-teller and writes drily, generally, and mechanically in the first 40% or so of the book, when I felt as I read that I was listening to someone speak in a monotone. His tone improved as I read on, but the reading was not a pleasure. His account is virtually devoid of humor and, at times, he sounded as if he took himself way too seriously. He seems to have gone through the war in a cocoon, with almost no relating to the world around him. Towards the end of the book he did relate some his experiences in London during the V-1 raids, though this trip was taken more as a research effort to see how the Brits were bearing up and comparing the coping skills of Americans in London at the same time. I cannot recommend this book, although the author was obviously a very accomplished and conscientious pilot and commander. Its focus is too narrow, being almost entirely restricted to missions, and personal command and control issues. On the other hand...

I can recommend 'A Thousand Shall Fall' by Murray Peden, which is at the other end of the spectrum from 'Bomber Pilot' as a war-time memoir. Simply an excellent, entertaining and very informative read (3 times for me). Although a Canadian bomber pilot, he flew Fortresses towards the end of the war. The forewords are written by Lt. Gen. Ira Eaker, USAF (Ret.) and Robert J. Dixon, General, USAF (Ret.) In his Dedication, Mr. Peden states, "...Night after night the battle was joined. In the morning the swelling roar of hundreds of Cyclones and Twin Wasps heralded the start of the complementary operations of the Combined Bomber Offensive flown by Fortress and Liberator crews of our redoubtable partners, the US Eighth Army Air Force. Those daylight operations were carried out only at the price of a matching tax in blood levied against the American air crew. I remember them all, with pride, respect and enduring affection." General Eaker states, "...This is an unusually entertaining and factual account of the air war which Britain and her principal ally, the U.S., waged against the vaunted German Luftwaffe." General Dixon states, "...to relive that experience in the words of Murray Peden's superbly written classic..."; and "All those wonderful minutes, hours, days are brought back by the clear, bright recollections of Murray Peden...and whose book, even in its tragic moments, attests to the free spirit that characterizes airmen the world over."

This book is written with a very humanistic approach. His life, thoughts, trials, failures, successes, concern for the missions and others, his thoughts on his superiors and those below him, and the realities made it so I didn't want to put it down. I'm looking for more bomber pilot books.
Anyone?

JLM

This was purchased as a gift for someone who had seen the book at the library. He was very pleased and felt it was both accurate and interesting. It lived up to his expectation of being an accurate true story.