Ever present in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to VJ-Day, the B-24 Liberator proved to be the staple heavy bomber of the campaign. From its ignominious beginnings in the Allied rout in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, the bomber weathered the Japanese storm with a handful of bomb groups, which played a crucial role in checking the enemy's progress firstly in New Guinea, and then actively participating in the 'island hopping' campaign through the south-west Pacific.
Robert F. Dorr, 71, is an author (1955- ); an Air Force veteran (1957-60); and a retired senior Foreign Service officer (a diplomat; 1964-89). He has three books currently in print. The newest is "MISSION TO BERLIN,":about the Americans who fought in one of the largest aerial battles of World War II.
He is the author of 70 books and thousands of magazine articles about the Air Force, aviation and military affairs. He writes a weekly opinion column for Air Force Times, monthly columns for Combat Aircraft, Air International and Aerospace America magazines, and a quarterly column for Air Power History, which he helped create. His first paid magazine article was in the November 1955 Air Force magazine when he was fifteen. He wrote 1,700 history columns for all four Military Times newspapers from 2000 to 2009.
Bob Dorr's other books in print are "HELL HAWKS,"" co-authored with Thomas D. Jones, a history of a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter group in World War II and "AIR FORCE ONE," a history of presidential aircraft.
He is a private pilot and parachutist and has flown aboard most current Air Force aircraft. Bob Dorr lives in Oakton, Virginia with his wife Young Soon, a career government worker, and their Labrador retriever, Autumn. They have two grown sons with families.
