Masters of the Air, Donald L. Miller
Masters of the Air, Donald L. Miller
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Masters of the Air
Americas Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War against Nazi Germany

Bestseller

Author: Donald L. Miller

Narrator: Robertson Dean

Unabridged: 25 hr 16 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 11/21/2011


Synopsis

This is the dramatic story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitlers doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, this is a harrowing ride through the firefilled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden. Fighting at twentyfive thousand feet in thin, freezing air no warriors had 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 music of Glenn Millers Air Force Band. But they had a much greater chance of dying than ground soldiers. In 1943 an American bomber crewman stood only a oneinfive chance of surviving his tour of duty. The Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the US Marine Corps. The bomber crews were an elite group of warriors. Actor Jimmy Stewart was a bomber boy, as was King of Hollywood Clark Gable. The air war was filmed by Oscarwinning director William Wyler and covered by reporters like Andy Rooney and Walter Cronkite, all of whom flew combat missions with the men. The AngloAmerican 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. Strategic bombing did not win the war, but the war could not have been won without it. American airpower destroyed the rail facilities and oil refineries that supplied the German war machine. The bombing campaign was a shared enterprise: The British bombed at night while American bombers attacked by daya technique that British commanders thought was suicidal. Drawn from interviews, oral histories, and American, British, German, and other archives, this is an authoritative, deeply moving account of the worlds first and only bomber war.

About Donald L. Miller

Donald L. Miller is the John Henry MacCracken Professor of History Emeritus at Lafayette College and author of ten books, including Vicksburg, and Masters of the Air, currently being made into a television series by Tom Hanks. He has hosted, coproduced, or served as historical consultant for more than thirty television documentaries and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other publications.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Boudewijn on October 07, 2023

This is an extensive read regarding the guys that were in the 8th air force and helped liberate Europe, including my country. I was awed by their adventures, stories and experiences that they had to endure in order to defeat the German Reich, particular the Luftwaffe. Donald L. Miller writes about a......more

Goodreads review by Melindam on February 21, 2025

Audio ARC received from the Publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. "Don't get the notion that your job is going to be glorious or glamorous. You've got dirty work to do. And you might as well face the fact: you are going to be baby-killers and women-killers." "There were two......more

Goodreads review by A.L. on June 08, 2013

This book did an impressive job of covering the air war in Europe, focusing on the US Eighth Air Force, based in England. The parts I most enjoyed were the experiences of the bomber crews, but he also covered strategic air theory going into the war, the debates and decisions of those higher up, Amer......more

Goodreads review by Hermien on April 02, 2019

The losses of men and aircraft and the destruction of cities is incredible. Hindsight is of course a wonderful thing but some of the tactical decisions made are troubling.......more

Goodreads review by Kuszma on January 13, 2022

A levegő urai a háborús szakmunkák azon csoportjába tartozik, amelyek a háború egy erősen behatárolt szeletét veszik górcső alá, de azt aztán végtelenül kimerítően. Miller kötete az amerikai 8. Légi Hadsereget vizsgálja, a szövetséges haderő legnagyobb légi csapásmérő egységét, amelynek feladatai kö......more