Customer Reviews

Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer: B-17s over Germany

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1972, at the age of ten, I was first exposed to historic World War 2 aircraft in flight. In that moment, a lifelong fascination with the history represented by these planes was born. There were many planes present that day, bombers, fighters, transports and trainers; but for me, none of them captured my attention or my imagination like the majestic B-17 Flying Fortress. Since then, I have read books, watched movies and documentaries, spoken with veterans of the World War 2 air forces, walked through and even flown in a B-17. It's been almost like a desperate search to find some kind of comprehension or understanding of the magnitude of the commitment, dedication and sacrifice made by the men who fought in this unique theater of operations. Even though I know I can never truly relate to the experiences of these heroes, I keep trying.

Half A Wing, Three Engines And A Prayer by Brian D. O'Neill, is an amazing book. Through apparently exhaustive research and cross-referencing of records, and veteran recollections, Mr. O'Neill has given us an experience of actually flying daylight bombing raids over Europe that is unparalleled in depth and in its' multi-dimensional nature, conveying the spatial relationships of activity within the bomber combat formations. While following one particular crew through a 25 mission (late '43-early '44) tour, with the 303rd Bomb Group, "Hell's Angels", he visits other crews, corroborating combat events from differing points of view in the bomber formation. While one man, in one plane, in one position in the formation might've been looking up and to his left, when he saw a particular bomber explode in the midst of a formation; the same explosion was seen by a tail-gunner in another plane, looking down and right. Yet another airman, a co-pilot, watched the same plane disappear in a blinding explosion right off his right wing. With this type of spatial cross-referencing and "story-triangulation", the complex flight formations suddenly become three-dimensional. Fully-fleshed out and given personality in the non-flying moments of the book, the pilots, crews and even the individual aircraft, are then glimpsed, from all sides, as they go about their grim task.

I have spent the majority of my life, reading books on this one subject. I have, long since, had an organizational understanding of how "elements" are comprised of planes, "squadrons" are comprised of elements, "groups" are comprised of squadrons, "wings" are comprised of groups, and so on. For the first time, a book has given me some physical understanding of the movement of these huge numbers of combat aircraft through the European skies; as well as numerous harrowing, hair-raising, tragic and sometimes even humorous tales of the men manning those planes. From take-off, and assembly, over the IP (Initial Point) and target and through the agonizing, clock-dragging return home, this is one of the very best books ever written on this subject. Buy it.

This is an excellent account of the American Air effort over Europe during 1943-44. The author follows the wartime experiences of one crew from the 303rd "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group using personal accounts and official records. This book is very much like Gerald Astor's 'The Mighty Eight' and is as just as good, if not better. The story of Sgt Joseph Sawicki, pages 207 to 217, brings home the horror and absolute bravery of these men. I would hope that one day soon Sgt Sawicki's exceptional bravery is recognised and he receives the medal of Honour, even though its over 50 years too late! Recommended to all who enjoy this period of history and well done to the author!

I want to publicly thank Brian O'Neill for the time he took in developing the "Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer". For my father, Sgt Edward Ruppel (my he rest in peace) this was very difficult for him to talk about the war. Over the years he would talk to me from time to time about some of the things that happened, but as a rule he wouldn't say very much about the war. Brian was able to get alot of the stories to print. I remember something my dad said to Brian," your asking me to bring back memories that has taken me almost 40 years of my life to forget" Maybe the true inner stories can never be told, but Brian you have shown at least the what really happened. May he truely rest in pease now that his story has been told.

Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer , written by Brian O'Neal, is the historical account of a B-17 Bomb Wing in Europe during the Second World War. Though many crews and other wings are followed in the book, the central story is that of the 303rd "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group and the B-17 crew of Lt. Bob Hullar. The period covered is from training in 1942 to combat over Europe from 1943 to 1944.

Though several previous histories of Air Combat in World War II had been written, few had given the full perspective of the individual bomber crew. For B-17s, this consisted of 10 men, 3 of whom were officers and the rest enlisted. Together they flew the airplane, operated navigation instruments and radios, sighted and dropped the payload, and used machine guns to fend off attacks from enemy aircraft along the way. Often noted by the book was the fact that nearly 25% of these air crews would never return from the European Theater of Operations.

The crews of the 303rd Bomb Group began their training for the most part in 1942, following the American entry into World War II. These men came from all walks of life and trained at bases all across the country before being assembled at a base in Washington for their final phase of training, where they trained as the crew they'd be a part of in Europe. From there, they were sent to England, where the 303rd was based as part of the strategic bombing campaign of the 8th Air Force against occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. The Group operated the four-engined B-17 "Flying Fortress", and crews typically flew different airplanes during their tour in Europe, which required 25 missions to be completed. Bob Hullar's crew would fly no less than 10 different aircraft during their tour, several of which were later destroyed, rendered irreparable by damage, and one of which had to be ditched in the English Channel.

O'Neal relied heavily on interviews from members of the crews, particularly that of Bob Hullar. Each chapter of the book is devoted to a mission flown during the Hullar crew's tour, their targets ranging from coastal towns in France to large industrial cities deep in the heart of Germany. Likewise, the missions varied from somewhat un-remarkable to enormous aerial battles and fierce anti-aircraft fire. Regardless of the target, however, every mission posed extraordinary danger to the crews who flew on them. They remained in constant fear of their own destruction, and this perhaps played a role in how well the individual crew members could remember the particulars of each mission decades after it occurred. When events could not be correlated with the accounts of the crew's, O'Neal turned to the official records of the 303rd Bomb Group and even those of the German Luftwaffe to determine what actually occurred during the air battles documented in the book.

The story of the American Amry Air Force in Europe was first made famous by the story of the crew of the Memphis Belle, which was the first B-17 to complete 25 missions and served as the platform for a now famous documentary on the subject, made during the war. Since that time numerous documentaries and books have been produced on the subject, making it one of the more well understood aspects of the war in Europe.

Overall, one learns a great deal from the individual accounts that are contained in the book. They give an eye-witness view to the carnage and fast-paced action that occurred thousands of feet above the earth during the air war, and offer a glimpse into how it actually felt to be caught in the middle of this. One is surprised to learn the ineffectiveness that often plagued American bombing missions, which frequently missed their intended target or did little damage, despite the involvement of hundreds of airplanes for each mission. At times there were well over a thousand aircraft, both bombers and fighters, engaged in accomplishing these missions. The crew of Bob Hullar , one finds out, was lucky to survive the slaughter that took place at 25,000 feet on an almost daily basis, and the story of the air war in Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer is forever memorable because of it.

My grandfather, Colonel Ford J. Lauer, established the 303rd Bomb Group and served as its first commanding officer in 1942. He did not deploy overseas with the group however, rather he was transfered to establish another group. I have read countless histories of the air war and this is one of the best. It is impossible to publish too much about the sacrifices and valor of the men who fought in the skies of World War II. Those men flew before the cockpit was a video game. Colonel Lauer deployed overseas in March of 1943 with the 15th Air Force. He commanded the 99th Bomb Group throughout 1944. Colonel Lauer was one of the pioneer B-17 pilots at Langly Field in the late '30s.

O'Neill has provided an excellent history of B-17 operations in the European Theatre of Operations during WWII. Admittedly, this books is a bit dry in the beginning, and many times I thought that the missions all sounded the same. But slowly, the book gripped me and I was soon caught up in the danger and courage the crews experienced.

Detailed oral accounts from the actual combatants is what makes this book enjoyable. If you are looking for a book to give you a feel for what B-17 crews went through during WWII, this is it!

The author has done a great job of making us feel as if the reader is also in the freezing air over europe with these brave men. However the start of each chapter begins with a confusing array of sqaudron numbers and aircraft.
Although they provide the facts behind the stories of each mission, it is hard to feel a relation between them and the real people who fought and died on those planes. The personal stories of the suvivors and the incredible bravery of those who did not return makes up for this small problem.
The Photographs and artwork throughout provide faces to go with the names of the airmen. A very hard to put down book once you start a chapter (mission) with a crew. Sometimes as clinical and cold as a reference book, other times humorous, sad or frightening as any work of fiction.

A first-hand look at the war, from a warrior who saw a lot. At times a slow read due to diary tone of the work, "Wing" leaves a vivid impression of the details and daily turmoil of daylight bombing. So many things could go wrong, and that was before there was long-range fighter protection. Just surviving the trip to the target could be a miracle.

Discipline and training matter. Commitment to the cause matters more. Courage helps, but it's not enough. This book understands the small, human parts that go into a large, heroic effort.

I have read about 6 books from Amazon on B-17's over Europe to date and this book is easily the most detailed. While reading this book I couldn't help but to be amazed by the amount of research that went into the books writing. This is not to say, however, that this book is only factual and not emotional. While it is full of statistics, documents, and photos, one cannot help but to create an emotional bond with the crews who share their experiences, both from personal interviews, and from actual diaries kept during the events. This book is also a wonderful source of follow up information with its other publishing's, and web sites listings in the back. If you are looking for a factual, educational, as well as emotional read, this book is for you. Again I say to all those who actually fought and flew, thank you! We can never even begin to understand your sacrifices; yet every day we live what you gave us. Freedom!

Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer: B-17s over Germany

Although the story presented in this book is both moving and very interesting, I found the quality of the Kindle Version very distracting. The book had been captured in a way that would not allow any changes to the Character Font or Style as is normally the case in other Kindle books.

What is worse is that throughout the book, the character size changed constantly, and in many cases within a sentence or line.

This made the book very difficult to read and unfortunately smacks of very poor proof reading and quality control before releasing the book for publication in its electronic form.

This problem also cannot be detected when looking at a sample of the book before buying.

Please address this issue as this is not the first Kindle version I have found with this problem but this is the worst case so far.