Customer Reviews

Hell Hawks!: The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht

5 star:		(22)
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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As the owner of many of Bob Dorr's books, I have come to expect that anything he produces will be well-researched, well-presented, and very well-written. "Hell Hawks!" is right up there not only with Dorr's other works but with the best in Be There combat writing. Here's an example: "The German pilot ran flat-out low...threading the needle between a church steeple and tall brick smokestack. Narrow streets raced under the wings of Kraman's P-47 as he engaged the throttle button triggering emergency water injection. His Pratt & Whitney surged as Kraman squeezed off short bursts at his quarry, the enemy banking abruptly left and right to throw off the American's aim. Across the Rhine, farther into Germany, the pair raced east..."

Dorr and co-author Thomas D. Jones (USAF Academy grad, ex-B-52 driver, veteran of four NASA space shuttle flights) also rightly recognize the guys who weren't strapping into the 365th Fighter Group's P-47s: "The men with stripes on their arms didn't pilot Jugs, but they made warfare in the Jug possible." We tend to forget that the aircraft of WW II, after all, were just 15 years removed from Lindbergh's Ryan NYP of 1927 but were very complex machines. The authors salute the men with the stripes well.

The results of close to 200 interviews of 365th FG veteans, other combat vets, family members, and more, plus four years of research, "Hell Hawks!" is loaded with the day-to-day details of fighting a tenaciously fierce enemy, demonstrating throughout the book that ground attack combat was a deadly way to earn your flight pay. The authors bring the personalities of the young pilots alive as well as provide a big picture of Allied strategy and the pace of war from D-Day to victory. This is an excellent book not only for military historians but for anyone who enjoys aviation writers at the top of their game. Splendid!

Hell Hawks! brings to life the air war in Europe, using daily missions of the 365th Fighter Group, 9th US Air Force. My dad flew a P-47 Thunderbolt with the 371st FG, and was lost on a mission over Cherbourg two weeks after the D-Day Normandy Landings. There are many books out that tell the story of our heroes on the beaches. We thirsted for one that describes the "band of brothers" who took part in the Liberation of Europe from the air. Now we have one! Anyone interested in a detailed history of one group that was so typical of all should have this tome!

365th veteran Charles Johnson wrote his comprehensive "History of the Hell Hawks" in the early '70s but only a limited number were published and if a copy can be found, it is very expensive. This new look at the group reasserts the history of this important outfit into the public eye. More importantly, the authors captured more personal stories of the 365th members that otherwise would soon be lost forever. For those who don't want to read through a long boring group history, this is the book for you! It is very well written and fast paced. I thank the authors for this wonderful work. Jay Jones, author of "The 370th Fighter Group in World War II".

The P-47 fighter-bomber story and all that surrounds it -- the plane and the men that it served -- are brought to life in Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones's new book, "Hell Hawks!" Mr. Jones, a veteran astronaut, B-52D pilot, on Kindle see his Marine Air: The History of the Flying Leathernecks in Words and Photos, and Mr. Dorr, a former senior diplomat, are veteran authors in the field of aviation history and space exploration. In this book, they give us drama and emotion, a powerful sense of history combined with illuminating action.

Dorr and Jones's well-told story belies the cliche about Flying Fortresses and Mustangs winning the war: Their narrative is absorbing and enjoyable to read.

Introducing the voices of numerous pilots, ground crewmen, and enemies, Dorr and Jones blend a trove of original interviews to create an air men's history of the 365th Fighter Group and the vast destruction it wrought.

Chronicling the Thunderbolt's interdiction war makes for an exciting narrative. It brings new light to the historical importance of ground attacks by fighter-bombers that wielded great devastation on German military forces.

The term for fighter-bombers -- or what authors Dorr and Jones, using the German's own coinage, have called "Jabos" -- are tactical ground attack aircraft such as the Soviet Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik, RAF Hawker Typhoon, and the USAAF Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

But, for all its familiarity and indisputable greatness, the P-47 Thunderbolt's beginnings and the development of its mission are not generally understood in comparison to the glamous North American P-51 Mustang.

The P-47's calling as a fighter-bomber spanned thousands of missions against Hitler's armies. But three episodes stand out as decisive in the victorious campaign: The breakout in Normandy, the race to the Rhine, and the Battle of the Bulge.

Riddled with anecdote, fortified by detailed accounts of exciting air action stories, "Hell Hawks!" is an enthralling read, equal parts victory and defeat. Dorr and Jones's writing is sharp, their approach sharper: they write "All too often, they saw their planes return with bent propellers, holes in wings and fuselage, and traces of the battlefield, dirt, stones, shrapnel, branches, leaves -- embedded in the wings and cowling. But it was precisely the P-47's ability to limp back to base with seemingly fatal damage that made it the ideal aircraft for ground attack."

For those who find comfort in believing a fighter pilot's role in western Europe was noble, impersonal, and detached -- mainly machine against machine -- or at the least a gentleman's duel, like the First World War's classic dogfights, this book will disappoint, indeed, its look at ground attacks carried out by the Hell Hawks offers no glamor for the readers. The authors counter, "The pilots took a fatalistic attitude toward the work, which was gritty, dangerous, and frequently terrifying."

It is important to understand, as Dorr and Jones do, that the Allied armies' role in defeating Hitler's panzers would not have been possible without the Ninth Air Force's relentless tactical ground attacks.

When Dorr and Jones make the statement, "The 365th pilots were justifiably confident in their ability to deal with whatever opposition the Luftwaffe might throw at them," they have the evidence to back it up -- Their kill ratio was 8 to 1 in air-to-air combat.

What makes this book worth reading is the author's compilation of vivid Ninth Air Force experiences. However, also of importance to the reader is the realization that: "Few if any of the men in the Hell Hawk's group relished being in the war, but circumstances beyond their control made them participants."

In the book's concluding chapter, "Final Mission," Dorr and Jones salute the achievement of Hell Hawks: "The combination of skilled pilots, a rugged, capable aircraft, close and reliable communications between the air and ground teams, and the courage to fight a brutal, dangerous war at close quarters created an irresistible force that overwhelmed one of the most successful armies in history."

"Hell Hawks!" pays tribute to an iconic beast of a fighter. As crew chief Charles Johnson, states, "That P-47 was one tough airplane, and I guess so were we."

A former Hell Hawk proudly states, "Our pilots never got the credit they deserved. In my opinion, going down to fifty feet, at 350 miles per hour, and putting two five-hundred-pound bombs on a Tiger tank was a greater contribution to the war effort than shooting down an Fw-190."

"Hell Hawks!" contains a gallery of forty-seven interesting photographs, two ETO maps, and a Ninth Air Force Fighter-Bomber Organization Chart.

Back in 1975, Charles Johnson wrote/published THE HISTORY OF THE HELL HAWKS, a massive, well-illustrated 620+ page chronicle of the 9th AF's 365th Fighter Group in WWII. That book is THE definitive history of the "Hell Hawks" but Bob Dorr and Thomas Jones' new HELL HAWKS book makes a nice complement to Johnson's book. And, since Johnson's book is long out of print with copies selling for $350.00(!), the Dorr/Jones book should fill the bill nicely.

HELL HAWKS is certainly well-written and does a good job of relating the combat activities of the 365th. According to the book, over 80 Hell Hawks personnel or family members were interviewed for the book and it shows in the vivid descriptions of air combat found in the book.

To be honest, I would have given HELL HAWKS 4 1/2 stars if that was possible. It did a marvelous job of relating the Group's combat achievements but didn't have as much information on behind-the-scenes/life-in-the-squadron matters, etc. which I personally enjoy reading about.

The book has an 8-page photo insert and, as others have mentioned, a cover photograph showing an 8th AF 78th FG ace!

HELL HAWKS will do just fine for air combat enthusiasts. It's a well-written, fast-paced account of air combat and equally thrilling ground attack missions 9th AF-style. Recommended.

****

Damn, Am I sorry I sold my copy of Johnson's book years ago...$350.00!?!

Hell Hawks provides well documented, first hand accounts of P-47 crews on the front lines of World War II from D-Day to V-E Day. It is as much a collection of individual stories as it is a chronological account of their (and the Allied Army) march through Europe.

Mssrs. Dorr and Jones retell these stories eloquently, not holding back on the emotional state of pilots and the ugliness of war. We see the consequences of inexact targeting among civilian and military targets, the detachment pilots had to maintain in order to focus on their jobs, German citizens taking retribution out on downed pilots, distain for incompetence of ranking officers and the sheer heroism displayed by the pilots and ground crews as they trudged through the mud and inhospitable living/operating conditions to complete their missions.

This book provided me a much better understanding of a less recognized but critically important aspect of the war.

As a collection of stories, the book was at times disjointed. More detailed maps and a glossary of protagonists would have helped me to keep track of the story. All in all, this is a great book and an appropriate tribute to those men of the 365th FG.

Hell Hawks! is a Stephen Ambrose-style history of a "band of brothers with planes" --- a recounting in their own words by Americans who serviced and flew the P-47 Thunderbolt in the European theater of WWII.

The rugged, heavily armed P-47, affectionately known as "the Jug," was built in greater numbers than any other American fighter, but rarely receives recognition. (The Pima Air Museum, for example, doesn't have one to display.) The men of the 365th Fighter Group, who supported, maintained and flew the P-47 across the Continent, waged a grim, gritty, mostly air-to-ground war in which the enemy was personal, the fighting point-blank. Viewed from above, one appreciates what a crucial role air power played in the Allied victory.

The pilots' description of their aerial life-and-death dogfights against skilled German fliers is gripping reading, backed up with gun camera shots of winged prey in their sights. More often, however, they were bombing and strafing military targets on the ground: vehicle convoys, railroads, strategic buildings and German tanks attacking Allied forces.

Co-authors Jones and Dorr spent five years researching and interviewing 171 of these ordinary men who became heroes. Jones is an Air Force Academy distinguished graduate, a former B-52 pilot, and an astronaut who flew four shuttle missions. Dorr is an Air Force veteran, a retired U. S. diplomat, and an author.(Disclosure: I met Bob Dorr when he was a diplomat in Seoul in the 1960s.)

Hell Hawks! uses never-before-published photos and first-hand personal accounts to create a fascinating narrative of WWII. As the 365th leapfrogs its temporary airfields eastward across Europe - from France to Belgium and right into Germany - one watches the war progress like a giant chess game, much as General Eisenhower must have seen it on his tactical maps.

Hell Hawks! is recommended for any military history buff, or any student of the 20th century.

Reviewed by John Stickler.

Although I am only halfway through this book I am really enjoying it. I deals with American P-47 fighter bombers in the European theater. I never realized before how much more dangerous air-to-ground combat is compared to air-to-air. Pretty exciting stuff and very well written. (P.S. I do not live in Rock Hill, SC. I live in Denton, TX)

A very enjoyable book concerning the 365th Fighter Group, IX Tac, 9th AF. The author does an excellent job of covering the unit's campaign throughout the ETO, blending both the "big picture" and personal experiences nicely. My only complaints are that the time line seemed to jump around quite a bit in places and a tendency to throw quite a few names at you in short order, so I found myself re-reading paragraphs to make sure I knew what was going on and who was doing what. But this was a very minor distraction from an overall excellent book that I would recommend highly to anyone interested in the bloody air-to-mud war conducted by the 9th AF... a war that has for far too long been hidden in the shadow cast by the "Mighty Eighth".

As a WWII aviation buff I bought this book based on the excellent reader reviews it received so I am a bit surprised. I have started the book twice and still can not get into it. The stories are disjointed and after 50 or so pages I am still trying to understand the format. And the print is amazingly small and that in itself makes it difficult to get through. So I will set it aside again.