Hell Hawks!: The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht

Hell Hawks is exciting history!

This book was even better than I was hoping for. Definitely one you are sad to put down when you finish it. It is a great combination of history and pilot stories weaved together. They take you from Normandy all the way to Berlin.

Few historians give the P47 "Jug" and their pilots their due. Less glamorous plane than the P51 Mustang, but had the ability to withstand unbelievable damage.

The P47 was to WWII what the A10 Warthog is to modern combat. Neither are the prettiest airplanes, but definitely the one ground troops wanted flying cover.

The is a fine tribute to the bravery citizen-soldiers could display, while fighting battle hardened German Army and the Luffwaffe. WWII pilots wrote the book for the close-air-support flying that still is in use today.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

A 'Must Read' and great tribute

In Hell Hawks!, a project four years in the making, Bob Dorr and Tom Jones have crafted a page-turning story of the P-47's indispensable role in winning the war in Europe. It doesn't matter if your interest is strategic, tactical, or personal. It doesn't matter if you're a military historian or if your interest in World War II has recently been sparked by watching Ken Burns' PBS masterpiece, The War. Each perspective, from the names you probably know 'Eisenhower, Vandenberg, and perhaps Quesada', to those you don't 'Steckel, Charles R. Johnson, and a host of pilots and enlisted men' is brought to light with burning clarity, amazing accuracy, and moving narrative. With the 'big picture' always in mind, the reader can find out what was happening on the flight-line, in the cockpit, and behind the scenes as the 365th Fighter Group moved constantly across the continent to plow the way for the allied advance. The courage and valor of the Greatest Generation is brilliantly brought forward to a new generation. You may already know a lot about the big picture but Hell Hawks! tells you why Major David N. Harmon, the assistant group ops officer has added 'The Luckiest Man Alive' beneath his signature for 63 years. You may have heard that the 'Jug' was a tough airframe In this book you will witness a P-47 cartwheel across a field losing the tail, engine, and both wings in a crash landing less than a quarter mile from the fluid German-American lines in October, 1944. After observing this crash learn why the GIs in a nearby Jeep motioned for the stunned and injured pilot, Lieutenant Bob Hagan, to come to them about 100 yards across a field instead of driving over to pick him up. This book is a must read and a great tribute.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

The Ariel Band of Brothers

Before reading this book I thought I knew much about World War two, I knew the main causes of the war, most of the generals' names and many of the unit's names. I knew where all the major battles of WWII were fought and could draw most of the allied troop movements on a map. However, I never new much about how important close air support was to the war effort.
The book mostly fallows a P47 fighter bomber division called the Hell Hawks. They lead a merciless campaign in Europe against Hitler's Whermacht forces from before D day, to the battle of the Bulge, and eventually even the destruction of the Reich. The book depicts the gritty and lackluster lifestyle that the pilots had as well as outlines major Allied plans and the roll of the Hell Hawks in those plans. Most importantly however, it talks about how the pilots and mechanics formed bonds and eventually became an "Ariel Band of Brothers".
The books main themes are how horrific war is and the importance of the Hell Hawks. It shows these themes by providing graphic accounts of the destruction left by the planes quick and accurate bombing as well as providing quotes from Germans showing how terrifying and deadly a P47 attack was and the how it overall affected the German tactics. As you read further and further you eventually began to feel the rushes of dog fighting and strafing as well as feel the horror and pain of seeing mutilated horses and men. This book does a very effective job of showing how terrible war really is.
This book is very good for Historians and people who like to learn about WWII but I would not recommend it for people who casually read non fiction. You have to have a want to learn about WWII because the book can become dry in some parts when relating to generals and overall plans of the war. It is also very hard to fallow all the pilots in the story because so many names are thrown out at once the reader can really only focus on the action of the group as a whole. On a better note, the historical accuracy and the amount of research in this book is absolutely AMAZING! There are so many quotes from men in the Hell Hawks as well as their German counterparts that really brings to life the devastation and terror caused by the Hell Hawks, and how gritty World War Two was for fighter bomber pilots.
Overall, if you love heroic war stories of WWII as much as I do this book is for you! You will be blown away by its accounts of strafing and bombing runs as well as add knew knowledge about commanders and tactics used in WWII.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The greatest bunch of guys you would ever meet.

I'm still waiting for this book to come out. But I was there when Tom was interviewing all these great old timers. At one of there reunions. We plan on being at there next reunion this August 2008. We hope to see Tom and his book there. Then we'll write to you all again. I'm sure it will be very good. Tom knows his stuff.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Excellent account of a Jug Pilots experience

Well written account. Hard to put it down. Only wish there was more!

Great book about my favorite plane

By far, one of the best books I ever read. Very detailed and descriptive. The book starts right in the action when they were bombing Normandy in preperation for D-Day and goes through to VE Day.

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