An Emotional Gauntlet: From Life in Peacetime America to the War in European Skies

Rating:
Summary: One Crew, One Plane At War Against Germany
Review: A long look at one airplane, one crew involved in the air war against Germany during World War II. The airplane is the Corky, a B-24 Liberator. The story starts with the people the made up the crew before they entered the military service. Finally on Tuesday 7 September 1943 the crew met together as Crew 25, 734th Squadron, 453 Bomb Group. Five months later on the 5th of February the first of a couple of milk runs over France, within a week they were over Germany. By the 25th of June the crew, not without loss, had completed their combat tours. Their war was over.

Stuart Wright is from the small village in England where the 453rd was stationed. He grew up on stories about the Yanks in and around the village. A chance meeting when he was fourteen began a friendship and collaboration with Bill Eagleson, the pilot of Crew 25. Years of research later, this book is the result. As Mr. Wright says: "This is not so much a book about airplanes or war; but a book about people." One crew of people that made a difference.

Rating:
Summary: A B-17 pilot looks at how "the other guys lived (and died)"
Review: Stuart Wright owes m several hours of sleep that I missed because I had a very hard time putting the book down. The style is fascinating and compelling. Even though I was a B-17 driver, even though I went to the Eighth on a replacement crew (not original cadre), even though I never had the pain of losing a crewmember, teh book riveted my attention because of the resonance it established between me and the characters of the book's crews. This book is a towering addition to the literature of the Eighth Air Force. Thank you.
Craig Harris B-17 pilot 457th BG, Station 130 Glatton.
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