Customer Reviews

The Cold Blue Sky: A B-17 Gunner in World War Two

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
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2 star:		(1)
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Thank you Jack Novey for giving us a chance to understand on a small scale what the "right stuff" really is. This book readily captures the war at the GI level - in this case via Jack's eyes 30,000 feet above Germany. Pleasantly void of strategic analogy, this book takes the reader through the day-in day-out fight for survival of a B-17 crew. This is a must-read for any serious WWII history buff - not for names , dates, campaigns, etc...but for a chance to try and fathom what hell the air war must have been.

There are some books that are written simply because there is an important story to tell. Novey's account of his experiences as a waist gunner in a B-17 heavy bomber with the Eighth Air Force is a book that gives us a real-life look at what it was to be young, terrified, brave, and caught up in a world war that quickly made boys of 17 and 18 age well beyond their years. A horde of books such as the Cold Blue Sky exist. Some are good, a few are great, but none captures the spirit, fears, and loyalty to their crew that Novey's book does. The author begins his book with a fine account of qualifying for gunnery school,which was not an easy process. From there it is on to England and the task of completing the required 25 missions to earn a trip home. It is easy for an author to write of tactics, leaders, and battles, but not as easy to convey what it is really like to be a soldier. Wars are fought by people, very young people. It is hard, very hard to risk your life each few days and maintain a sense of equilibrium. It is almost as hard to write about what is was like. Novey succeeded and all of us are the benefactor.

Cold Blue Sky is a book that focuses on the reality of combat. Novey shows the reader how one copes with the tragedy of war and pushes on to it's end. Novey is blunt and unabrigged in his coments and views of war. He recounts his arial combat with amazing detail and allows the reader to feel the experience. Novey takes the reader into his personal life as well, talking often of his friends and loves he had during the war. Overall this memoir provides a great medium for one to experience daily life through the eyes of a waist-gunner.

I just finished Jack's book last night, and contemplated staying up to write him a letter of thanks. 'The Cold Blue sky' brings us into the life of one of the few people to come out of the war over Europe with few injuries, let alone alive. We experience the author's struggle to maintain his role in the crew despite his physical aversion to flying... to the realms of high altitude where electric heat and bottled air are your only link to life, and a thin one at that, to a lonely gunner who hardens his heart against new faces after seeing his friends and companions die, or go missing, leaving only empty beds and a few personal effects in their wake.

The book is sometimes a little random, as if transcribed from a continous monologue, but I feel it is appropriate to the tale and not in the least bit distracting.

It's hard for us in this age to understand the horror, fear and ultimate _need_ for these men to do what they did... we are from an era of push-button war. The Cold Blue Sky is as much a lesson as a memoir, equally as enlightening as entertaining, but speaks a powerful message which I hope we, as a country and as a global community will hang on to.

What else can I say? Go out and read it. :)

I read anything I can find about the airwar over Europe. "The Cold Blue Sky" and "The Triumph and the Glory" are the latest books about the epic struggle in the skies over Germany that I've had the pleasure to read. Novey's excellent book is a memoir while Rustad's is a novel, but they both share an eloquent style and a deep respect for the sacrifices made so long ago. Great reading. I recommend them both!

My personal interest through the years for the men who fought the biggest and bloodiest air war in world history has just gotten more intersting. Mr. Novey's book should be required reading for history sudents. This isn't about the generals or even about the pilots, but by the guy who could have lived next door.

This isn't just about the shooting and action that so many seem to delve on, but the emotional turmoil that goes along with the knowledge that the odds of your going home aren't so good. His family history helps tremendously in giving a more human aspect to the book as well.

Thank you Jack Novey and all those who fought with you, especially the thousands who never made it back home.

I bought Jack Novey's book because all my life I have been remembering two air attacks by American bombers over Paris. I witnessed those from the garden of my parents in Marly-le-Roi, a small city, at the time, belonging to the west outskirts of the capital. The sight of the flying fortresses coming into view in droves, their being immediately under flak fire and fighters' attack, their attempts at dodging, their being set aflame or cut into bits and pieces, their dropping their bombs, the fall of the German planes, the parachutes, of which many did not fully open, all this left a permanent spur in the eleven year-old boy I was at the time. Another reason I remember these two raids, is that my father worked at the time at the Renault works, their primary target. (he came back in the evening and related the destructions to us). So it might very well be that I was a witness of Jack Novey's specific mission on September 15 1943 as he describes it on page 87 of his book. For many years I had been wondering about the kind of men who were willing to put their life on the line for such tasks. Jack Novey's book has answered my question: they certainly did not like what they did, but they did not want to fail before their comrades and, mostly, before themselves. Despite the long time that has elapsed since the events he relates, Novey's book conveys a feeling of authenticity. One feels the permanent fear and the unbearable conditions under which these young men fought in the cold blue sky with the dismal perspective of not making it to the magic 25th mission. But it is also honest: Novey conceals nothing of the human weaknesses that manifest themselves in such situations. After having read the book one can only marvel at what man can endure. Read Jack Novey's book. I personally will never forget.

This is the first book that I have read from the viewpoint of a WWII waistgunner on a B-17. Mr. Novey tells how it was to fly on a B-17 through 25 dangerous missions and survive. I can only imagine what it must have been like to fly these missions. You want to read about heros, read this book. You will not be disappointed. Mr. Novey, if you read this, thanks.

Mr Novey was one of the few lucky ones who survived 25 missions in a B-17 in the early days of the war. This is not a glorified account, but shows the truth, the brutality, and the reality of war in a B-17. This tells it as it was, with no exceptions from the need to pee and crap in your pants and the smell of men after a long mission, to the fear of freezing to death in the Cold Blue Skies. This may not be the best B-17 memoir I have read, there are a few I have liked more, but it will keep you interested and is well worth the time and money. Mister Novey is also honest when it comes to showing his war time love life, which appears to be get all the sex you can while you can. A ladies man (women were attracted to me.) He promises nothing, but takes what he can. This is not a love story, but more a tale of youthful need and desire. Somewhat understandable when you are 18, alone and scared, and every day could be your last. Mister Novey is brutally honest about taking advantage of British widows, wives, and girl friends left at home in England while their husbands were off to war. I guess many men and women were tempted to seek comfort where ever it could be found with death ever so near, and fear and the fight for survival a constant daily struggle. Sometimes you wished he would have gone into more detail on his conquests, but then that is not the main point of the book. More honest than most, Novey has done us a favor by sharing his memories of those dangerous days in the Cold Blue Sky. Buy the book, you will enjoy it.

Jack Novey's account of life as a waist gunner aboard the B-17 "Black Hawk" is incredible. He writes with such clarity that you'd swear he just arrived back from the war. The details of the people and things around him conjure up emotions of awesome fear, musty smells and high adventure. It was difficult to put the book down and I was often left sleepless thinking about what I had read. This is by far one of the most engrossing books about WW II I've ever read because it didn't glamorize the war but captured the real life struggles Mr. Novey encountered. Thanks Jack for such a wonderful account of your experience.