Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power [Paperback]

Curtis E. LeMay (Author), Bill Yenne (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Drawing on Air Force and Boeing archives plus conversations between LeMay and Yenne ( Boeing ), this is an account of the military/civilian effort that brought forth in record time the second-most formidable weapon of World War II. LeMay, the first combat commander of the B-29 force and later head of Strategic Air Command, has a few churlish remarks to make about the Army's tardiness in recognizing the value of Gen. Billy Mitchell's early vision of strategic air power. He credits Gen. Henry Arnold, wartime Air Force chief-of-staff, with providing the inspiration and direction of the B-29 project. The book is an eloquent tribute to the unity of purpose displayed by a handful of Air Force officers, Boeing executives and engineers and thousands of plant workers across the country. LeMay incidentally remarks in passing that the Superfortress became operational, from drawing board to flight line, in about a quarter of the time it would take for today's equivalent. In noneuphemistic language, the general describes how he deployed his B-29s over Japan during the final year of the war. Photos. Military Book Club selection.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Ret. Air Force General LeMay offers an informal account of the B-29 bomberfrom its ambiguous genesis to its successful integration into World War II, from the disastrous Seattle test flight to the epochal flight over Hiroshima in 1945. It is an interesting storyespecially at the point where the general becomes personally involved. Yet the tone is hopelessly macho and the protagonist shows no remorse over the enormous civilian death toll caused by his incendiary bombings of major Japanese cities. These aren't exactly revelations, however; it has only been two decades since LeMay was George Wallace's running mate and talked of bombing the North Vietnamese back into the Stone Age. For public libraries. Mark R. Yerburgh, Trinity Coll. Lib., Burlington, Vt.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Berkley (December 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425118800
• ISBN-13: 978-0425118801
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,772,256 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Account of B-29 Crews' Contribution to Victory, November 18, 2005

By 

Colonel's Kid (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power (Hardcover)

Gen. LeMay gives a well-written, accurate history of how it was in the WWII Mariana Islands for the young crews and newly designed Superfortress. The first part of the book is a bit slow, but the description of the missions and battle strategies over Japan in the latter days of the war are enthralling. My dad, a B-29 bombardier and navigator based on Tinian, confirmed Gen. LeMay's account of the challenges they faced, their sincere appreciation of the Marines' contribution to securing the Islands which saved many airmen's lives, and their dedication to duty above all else.

My personal thanks to Gen. LeMay and Gen. Arnold for their leadership in making my Dad's and many other Americans' dad's efforts well worth the sacrifice.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Unusually educational history of a super-weapon., August 30, 2008

By 

Arthur Kimes (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power (Paperback)

I read more books about the WW2 in the Pacific than any other military topic so I was impressed that I learned so much about the B-29 and the Pacific War from this history.

The only real flaw is a common one in this type of book. Where the writer (LeMay) laments that everthing would have worked so much better if they had only done things HIS way.

I like this book on many levels.
_ History of the B-29 and development of US Heavy Bombers in general.
_ History of the later stages of the War against Japan and how heavy bombers would have been used in an invasion.
_ Great Anecdotes.
_ Very useful tables at the end including a list of every significant B-29 combat mission in WW2.

5.0 out of 5 stars Content, November 28, 2011

By 

Charles M - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power (Hardcover)

Here's a good look into the purposeful development and use of this magnificent airplane. The book provides a good overview of the nature of the challenges of the Pacific theatre in WW2. In this book, I learned for the first time about Operation Air Show, a flight of 435 B-29 over Tokyo Bay during the surrender proceedings. In other readings since, I have learned that there were also (at least) another 450 carrier based fighter aircraft in Operation Air Show.