I Took the Sky Road [Paperback]

Norman M. Miller (Author), Hugh B. Cave (Author, Contributor), Hugh Cave (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001

Captain Norman Mickey Miller spent more than six thousand hours at the controls of airplanes. The Navy was his life. A legend began to grow up around him during his combat cruise in the Central Pacific as commanding officer of Bombing Squadron 109. Even to seasoned airmen his personal exploits were breathtaking, and under his leadership his squadron established the best record of destruction against enemy shipping and island bases of any land-based Navy search squadron in the Pacific. This is his story.

Product Details

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Borgo Press (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587154307
• ISBN-13: 978-1587154300
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,538,328 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Oldie but a Goodie, March 14, 2001

By 

Charles P. Flick (Miami, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: I Took the Sky Road (Hardcover)

Commander Miller lays out in considerable detail his experiences as the skipper of the Navy's Bombing Squadron 109. This unit flew in the central Pacific area in WWII in aircraft normally thought of as an Air Force aircraft: The B-24 Liberator known in Navy parlance as the PB4Y-1. In single and 2-plane formations, the wideranging bombers of VB-109 carried the war to Japanese island bases like Truk, attacking by surprise and getting results far out of proportion to the size of their forces. While written before the War ended in 1945, Miller's personal account gives first-hand information on VB-109's tactics, operations and losses. A noteworthy addition to Naval Aviation historiography and one that focuses on a little known aspect of the air war in the Pacific.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My Grandfather's Squadron, August 23, 2006

By 

Samuel B. Pierson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: I Took the Sky Road (Paperback)

An excellent book, which I just learned is still around. I have treasured my copy, especially because my Grandfather F.T. Pierson Lt.USNR served with the unit as an Air Combat Intelligence Officer and took many of the photos in the book. Many of these were also in the Squadron Yearbook.

Buzz Miller was a Straight Ahead, Record Breaking, Naval Aviator with a wild side. At the onset of the war he sucessfully travelled around the Pacific in a Huge protype Flying Boat. As the Commander of VB 109, a PB4Y-2 squadron rushed into combat in 1942, he invented skip bombing, terrifying Japanese Defender's on various atolls by flying 200 feet off the ground at 200 knots, pouring the six forward firing.50 caliber Brownings like a hose before them as they roared overhead.
Despite the privations it was he Best time of my Grandfather's life, sadly He passed away in 1957, a year before my birth, but my Father and late Grandmother regaled me with tales growing up.

This book conveys the story of these early Navy Pilots in a smooth and enjoyable manner. If I didn't know of the stroy, I'd still reommend it to Students of Military History.