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Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany Paperback – September 25, 2007

by Donald L. Miller (Author)

333 customer reviews

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The riveting history of the American Eighth Air Force in World War Two, the story of the young men who flew the bombers that helped bring Nazi Germany to its knees, brilliantly told by historian Donald Miller and soon to be a major HBO series.

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.

Fighting at 25,000 feet in thin, freezing air that no warriors had ever encountered before, bomber crews battled new kinds of assaults on body and mind. Air combat was deadly but intermittent: periods of inactivity and anxiety were followed by short bursts of fire and fear. Unlike infantrymen, bomber boys slept on clean sheets, drank beer in local pubs, and danced to the swing music of Glenn Miller’s Air Force band, which toured US air bases in England. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers.

The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors who were a microcosm of America—white America, anyway. The actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, and so was the “King of Hollywood,” Clark Gable. And the air war was filmed by Oscar-winning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The Anglo-American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany was the longest military campaign of World War II, a war within a war. Until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war, it was the only battle fought inside the German homeland.

Masters of the Air is a story of life in wartime England and in the German prison camps, where tens of thousands of airmen spent part of the war. It ends with a vivid description of the grisly hunger marches captured airmen were forced to make near the end of the war through the country their bombs destroyed.

Drawn from recent interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, Masters of the Air is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the world’s first and only bomber war.

Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Historian Miller (D-Days in the Pacific) chronicles the story of the U.S. Eighth Air Force in this sprawling, authoritative narrative of the "largest aerial striking force in the war." The Eighth arrived in England in 1942 to engage in "a new kind of warfare": unescorted "high-altitude strategic bombing." In addition to destroying Germany's war-making capacity, the Eighth hoped to validate its "extravagant claim that air power alone would bring down the Reich" and to win autonomy for the air force. As Miller demonstrates, the "hubris of the bomber barons" was misplaced, and the "record of the Eighth Air Force is mixed." Not only did victory require boots on the ground but the air war became a bloody "war of attrition." The Eighth suffered 26,000 combat deaths, a 12.3% fatality rate topped only by submarine crews. Drawing on exhaustive research in oral histories, diaries and government documents, Miller evenhandedly recounts the Eighth's successes and failures, emphasizing the stoic heroism of the crews who flew the missions. That diverse lot included celebrities like the actors Jimmy Stewart and Clark Gable and anonymous fliers like 21-year-old Lt. Chuck Yeager. This eloquent tribute to America's bomber boys should prove popular among fans of military history. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Miller's massive, readable volume may prove to be the standard history of the Eighth Air Force. From 1942 to 1945, the men and planes of the Eighth fought the Luftwaffe, English weather, shortages of men and material, and the flaws in the original concept of strategic bombing. Only when fighter escorts all the way to the targets became available did the Eighth and its "little friends" perform the vital task of defeating German airpower. The book pays detailed tribute to the men, from movie stars like Clark Gable to ordinary mechanics, who performed the thousand-and-one tasks, from piloting to cooking, that kept the Eighth flying. It also offers a view from the other side, that of the Germans under the bombs, although in so doing it may not (still!) please obstinate foes of strategic bombing or of the "Greatest Generation" concept. Everyone else may rank this book with Roger Freeman's The Mighty Eighth (1970; rev. ed., 1986) as definitive about its subject. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product details

Paperback: 688 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0743235452
ISBN-13: 978-0743235457
Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.8 x 9.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 333 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #74,163 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #117 in Books > History > Military > Aviation
- #158 in Books > History > Europe > Germany
- #650 in Books > History > Military > World War II

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The American involvent in the air war over Europe during WW II written in detail that you will not believe possible.

ByGerald J. Vogton April 20, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This is the most amazing book you will ever read regarding the WW II European air war from the American side. There are detailed stories in this book, from both the American, British and German side that many people, I am sure, never heard of before. Service in the Eighth Air Force over Europe was a dangerous assignment that required courage, stamina, and skill that I never realized. Skill that was often exhibited by young men in their late teens and early twenties. Many men that were away from home for the first time. Most that had never even flown in an airplane, let alone fly one in combat.

In the future, when I look at bombers from WW II that are still flying at air shows that I visit, I will look at them with an entirely different view than I did in the past. The romance of flying those planes has been replaced with the stark reality of the hell those flight crews went through, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

I knew some of those men intimately when I was growing up as a boy having been born after WW II. Some were my relatives and it is interesting to me that not one of those men ever told me about the horror they went through serving in the air crews over Europe during WW II. Not one mentioned anything about their experiences. I used to ask the former air crew members I met why they did not keep involved in flying after the war. Only my cousin answered me when he said that he associated flying with death and he had had enough of it. After reading this book, I realized what he was talking about.

Buy and read this book. You owe it to the men that were there. Many did not come home again. The author makes this era come so alive that I had to stop reading and take a break at some of the vivid detailed scenes he captured on the page of what it was like to fly over Europe for the USA
during WW II. I liked this book so much that I bought additional copies and gave them to people I know that are interested in the subject.

0Comment 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Unvarnished history of the US Army's Eighth Air Force

ByARHTOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE VOICEon September 16, 2008

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Donald Miller produced a well-documented and frequently harrowing account of the history of the US Army 8th Air Force, the first US Army unit to engage in combat with elements of Nazi Germany during WWII. When the vanguard of the 8th Air Force arrived in Britain the RAF was carrying out a night bombing campaign against targets in Nazi occupied Europe.

In this book you will read about strategic and tactical differences of opinion between the RAF and leadership of the US Army 8th Air Force. The 8th came to Britain to join in the fight with Germany, but in a way that had never before been attempted - high-level, precision, daylight, strategic bombing designed to deliver a knock-out blow to the industrial and economic centers of Nazi occupied Europe.

If you are like me, and have read different accounts of the war in Europe in WWII including accounts of the air war, you, like me, may have accepted the general conclusion that the daylight bombing campaign of the 8th was not only effective, but decisive. Miller's account, however, provides a rich and focused account of the risks, challenges, successes, and failures of the 8th which provide readers with a reason to revisit their opinions about the 8th's ability to carry out precision bombing.

Miller uses many, many personal accounts from individuals who were members of flight crews, ground crews, and members of command staffs as he weaves his historical account of the 8th. I was repeatedly impressed, deeply impressed, by the heroism, grit, and determination of men who climbed again and again into bombers heading to the air war over continental Europe. Time and again I had to stop reading and re-read passages of the book out loud to my wife who was likewise awed by the terrible conditions of battle and inspired by the bravery of the men in those bombers.

In the heading for this review I use the word "unvarnished." That's not because there is undue use of profanity, but because the account presented by Miller details the conditions encountered in the air: fighter attacks, flack, extreme cold, constant stress, and other challenges associated with the WWII bomber air war. The account is also "unvarnished" because of the direct and candid description of the challenges in carrying out precision bombing...which from many accounts was not as precise as we may have been led to believe.

This book was outstanding. If you are interested in the military history of WWII in general, and of the air war in specific, then you will greatly enjoy this book.

5 stars all the way!

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

A thorough description of the most massive use of air power in the history of the world.

ByHarry F. Clewon October 15, 2016

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

A wonderful history for my experience as a B-17 bombardier flying 15 missions in the 8th AF. I was captured at Regensburg after 15 missions and became a POW at Stalag Luft I for 15 months. Masters of the Air filled in gaps of knowledge and the gave me an understanding of the strategic and political events relating to my experience.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

He brings well known figures of the past like Clark Gable

ByCarl DalBonon March 10, 2015

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

An outstanding account of the creators and heroes of the 8th Air Force. What sets this apart is the balanced approach the author takes.He brings well known figures of the past like Clark Gable, Jimmy Stewart and others out front and explains their exploits in detail.
Miller takes you through harrowing missions without belaboring them or trivializing them. Sometimes in graphic detail he explains that being on a bomber crew was not necessarily the glamour job of the war. The reader will appreciate how the author delves into the area of strategic bombing and its effectiveness. It reveals much about the controversy and attempts to settle the need to bomb the designated targets that some historians and revisionists feel were unnecessary and cruel.
A thoroughly enjoyable and informative book. A must for those who appreciate what was done for us by the Greatest Generation, as well as for aircraft and air war enthusiasts.

0Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

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Most recent customer reviews

Five Stars

A fantastic, in-depth history of an effort never mounted in warfare before. Can't put it down!

Published 9 days ago by Amazon Customer

Excellent Book

Excellent book that details the air war in Europe during World War 2. The author incorporates first hand accounts in the narrative which enlivens the text.Read more

Published 22 days ago by TVB

Five Stars

Very pleased.

Published 23 days ago by John

On hbo soon

Soon to be an HBO series!

Published 23 days ago by gordon l baldwin

funny, motivating

Just incredible, and with so many personal stories...heart'wrenching, inspiring, funny, motivating. In depth and even some great stories of Jimmy Stewert, Clark Cable, and...Read more

Published 1 month ago by OnTheBeat

it reads like a novel

For a history book, it reads like a novel. The realities of fighting a war at 25 thousand feet comes alive and the horrifying hardships these men endured scares you.

Published 1 month ago by Peter Turano

Five Stars

enjoyable

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer

One of the best!

If you are going to read about the air war in Europe, then this is the book to read. I love history and Miller is a master of the written word to describe the awful air war in...Read more

Published 1 month ago by Vincent J.

As good a WW2 bill as there is

As good a WW2 bill as there is. The sacrifice and courage of our American airmen cannot be praised enough. They saved the day.

Published 1 month ago by John

A great story poorly told.

This book is to be made into a TV mini-series by Spielberg and Hanks. I hope the series is done with greater care than the book, which is full of inaccuracies, myths,...Read more

Published 1 month ago by Nacreous

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