Customer Reviews

Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories: Eye-Witness Accounts from American Airmen and British Civilians of the Perils of War

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

 

 

Eighth air force bomber stories is a collection of 50 B17 and B24 bomber crashes and the stories behind them. Russell Zorn was detailed to record 3 BD air crashes in the war and in 1945 kept some photographs for his personal memories,the rest of his work was destroyed. The majority of the work has been captured on high quality cameras, with excellent detail. The authors have sought out survivors and eyewitnesses to give a remarkable insight into the tragedy of war. A must have for any 8 air force veteran.

This excellent book contains the stories of about 35 8th AAF bombers that crashed in England, and has photographs of most of the wreckage. It makes clear that weather, crew training, and maintenance were every bit as deadly as combat. The text is marred by some typos (e.g., bale out) and some misspellings, but is otherwise OK.

I am going to disagree with the previous reviewers and state this book was only an average read. Why? Because the writing was marginal (with some mistakes) and most of the stories were of bombers crashing in WWII England. The pictures in this book were excellent. The photographer (one of the authors) snapped some great pictures on the death and destruction caused by the crash of these great bombers.
The book is good because it shows how even the bomber crews led very hazardous lives in their war with Nazi Germany. One can feel the tension in the lives of these crew members who risked all in their flights over enemy territory. Even over friendly territory, the bombers sometimes fell apart and crashed causing crew and civilian deaths. Indeed these fliers were very brave men.
This book has great pictures but only marginal writing. Check it out of the library, and look at the pictures.