In January, Apple Tv released the first episode “Masters of the Air”, a mini-series based on Donald L. Miller’s same titled book. The mini-series was created by the same people who produced the “Band of Brothers” mini-series 20 years ago. I don’t subscribe to Apple Tv, but now that all the episodes have been released, I intend to do so soon. I’ve heard good things about “Masters of the Air”.
I’d been meaning to read Mr. Miller’s book for some time. With the release of the TV show, I decided it was time to do so. And what a great read it is!
I’ve read several books on the European air war, but none that went into as much detail as this book has. Starting with Billy Mitchell, a strategic bombing visionary who believed aircraft would replace armies, the book proceeds to cover the men who had to implement this strategy. Carl Spaatz and Jimmy Doolittle (leader of the famed Doolittle attack on Tokyo) were a little more clear-eyed on the capabilities of strategic bombing. Their primary duty, in their view, was to resist the American Army Air Force from coming under the control of the British. The RAF bombing command gave up on daylight bombing early on in the war because of colossal losses in men and material, and they wanted the Americans to join them in nighttime bombing.
The Americans were determined to proceed with daylight bombing in the belief that only during the day could “pinpoint” bombing be accomplished. They made it work, but the toll was devastating. During the first year of the American bombing campaign, only 1 in 5 airmen made it to 25 missions. The rest were either killed, seriously wounded, became POWs or cracked under the immense strain. The USAAF sustained more casualties over Europe than the Marines did in the entire Pacific campaign.
And it’s when the book gets into the harrowing accounts of what these young airmen endured that we get a glimpse of the true cost of the air war.
Mr. Miller also goes into great detail about the moral and ethical issues surrounding “pinpoint” vs carpet bombing, the travails of the POWs, and the ever shifting strategic and tactical goals.
What really struck me hard was just how young these men tasked with taking on the Third Reich were. Pilots, navigators and bombardiers only 22 years old. Gunners in their teens. Men only 24 years old attaining the rank of Major and being put in charge of whole Bomb Groups! I knew this before, but now that I am an old Air Force vet, I only now truly understand what our country asked of these young men.
An excellent read. I highly, highly recommend it.
Now it’s time for me to subscribe to Apple Tv!
Intermission
On my nightstand
I’ve had “Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions” by Charles Gallenkamp on my shelf for several years. I picked it up because the book chronicles Roy Chapman Andrews, a real-life Indiana Jones (paleontology instead of archeology though), and his adventures searching for dinosaur fossils in the Gobi Desert.
Here is the blurb I stole from Amazon: “A journey through the tremendous discoveries and unforgettable adventures of the Central Asiatic Expeditions of 1922-1930 describes how a fossil-hunting team, led by Roy Chapman Andrews, braved raging sandstorms, murderous bandits, political intrigue, civil war, and conflicts between the United States and China as it searched for evidence of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures in the Gobi Desert”. Amazon.com: Dragon Hunter: Roy Chapman Andrews and the Central Asiatic Expeditions
Sounds pretty intriguing, yes? But it has been collecting dust ever since I brought it home. Once I finish Jim Butcher’s “The Olympian Affair”, this will be my next to-be-read book.
What about you? What books did you purchase that you thought sounding interesting at the time, only to abandon them once you got them home?
