The Cruel Sky: A Heavy Bomber Group in World War II

The men who flew American heavy bombers over Europe in World War II were very young—most were either in their late teens or early twenties. Before they deployed overseas, they were military amateurs who knew nothing of the violent, dangerous world of air warfare. Heavy bombers flew over Europe in steady formations at high altitudes. There they faced a gauntlet of razor sharp antiaircraft artillery bursts and fighter aircraft firing cannons that shattered Plexiglas, metal, engines, and bone....