"The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe"

[jayastout]

I'm a writer and retired fighter pilot. Thought my latest book might be of interest to members here.

The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe is being released by Stackpole Books tomorrow. Colonel Walter Boyne, former director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, had this to say: "A marvelously written work! Stout, a former fighter pilot himself, presents stirring firsthand accounts of the stragies and doctrines that ultimately won the air war over Europe. Highly recommended!"

Anyway, if you're interested, here's a thumbnail of the cover as well as a link to Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Men-Who-Killed...sr=8-1-catcorr

Regards,
Jay

[Dénes Bernád]

Hello Jay,

Nice to meet you here, too. Congratulations for your new book. I will certainly check it out, when possible.

I've read in the last page that "nearly 34,000 Americans died in the war against Germany." This number surprised me, as it's much higher than I've ever imagined.
Were all of them airmen, i.e., aircraft crew? Or, were ground crewmembers included, too?

Thanks,

[jayastout]

Hello Denes!

A tiny, tiny fraction of ground crewmen were killed by enemy action during World War II. Among those, the greatest number of casualties probably came early in the war during the North African campaign when U.S. airpower was still nascent and the fight was more tactical than strategic.

Although I don't have data right in front of me to back it up, I'd guess that more groundmen were killed in accidents than by enemy action.

Regards,
Jay

[Jim Oxley]

Didn't the 8th and 9th Air Forces lose something in the vicinity of 4,000 bombers over Europe? Given that number it's surprising that the casuality figure isn't higher.

[jayastout]

More than 18,000 aircraft of all types were lost against Germany in the MTO and ETO.

Yes, between the Eight, Twelfth, Fifteenth and Ninth Air Forces, well more than 4,000 B-17s/B-24s were lost. But of course, not every crewman was killed when the aircraft went down.

[dianek]

Dear Jay,
I am always interested in new books about the 8th Air Force. My question is this: do you cover B-24's in your book? It gets a bit old always reading about B17's only. My father flew on B-24's out of Tibbenham, England and was, of course, part of the bombings of Germany, D-Day and more.

Thank you!

Diane

[jayastout]

Diane,

Thanks for your question. Absolutely, the book includes plenty of B-24 action. In fact...there may be more B-24 material than B-17. Of course, both were great airplanes.

And as far as heavy bomber action...I do include the 15th Air Force out of Italy as well (and just a bit of the 9th before it went to England).

Wishing you a great holiday and New Year!

Jay

[Larry deZeng]

I would like to plant a question here since this thread seems to include the 8th AAF. I'm looking for a book that summarized all of the VIII Fighter Command missions for each day it operated and includes details covering strafing attacks on Luftwaffe-occupied airfields. At a minimum, the details must give the date, name of the airfield, the number and type of German aircraft shot up and destroyed or damaged on the ground.

Believe it or not, after a half-day of searching on the net I cannot come up with a book that gives this information. There IS one for the tactical air forces ( American Fighter-Bombers in World War II, Schiffer, 2003), but not for the VIII Fighter Command that sent its P-47 and P-51 escorts down to the deck to beat up the German airfields during the great day missions over the Reich.

Can anyone help?

[hucks216]

Originally Posted by Jim Oxley

Didn't the 8th and 9th Air Forces lose something in the vicinity of 4,000 bombers over Europe? Given that number it's surprising that the casuality figure isn't higher.

According to the American memorial at IWM Duxford in Cambridgeshire the 8 AF lost 6346 aircraft, the 9 AF lost 692 and the US Navy lost 24 aircraft flying from the UK.

[jayastout]

If you're interested, the publisher (Stackpole) is offering the Kindle version of The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe for free on Amazon for the next few days.