366th FG history

[John Beaman]

A history of the 366th Fighter Group, 9th AAF has just been published. It is hard-bound, 328 pages, 8½ X 11 inches. There is no color. There are lots of photos, mostly from private collections.

It is a narrative of day to day operations from time forming in the US through the 1945/46 occupation duty. There is a name index, but there is no victory list or loss list. The book was compiled by 3 former 366th people.

The book is $65.00 ( a run of 500 copies only). May be ordered from John B. France, 366th Fighter Association, 2301 St. Claire Drive, Arlington, TX 78012-2262, tele. (817)860-2780, Email luv_2_fly@sbcglobal.net

[David P. Williams]

Hi John,

Thanks for the 'Heads Up'. This sounds as if it is a large, heavy book. Any idea how much airmail and surface mail would cost to Europe respectively?

Many thanks in advance, David.

[Jukka Juutinen]

I´d estimate the shipping to be arounf 30-37 USD, airmail. Since May this year, surface mail no longer exists from the States to Europe. Now, pay attention: if you can e.g. combine orders with your friends for the same book, you can have 2-3 copies (3 will fit if the paper is not very thick. John, how thick is the book?) of this shipped for the same price of $37 using the Flat Rate Priority box measuring 11" x 13" 3 3/8". Weight is not a problem as the max weight for the box is 20 lbs.
I´d recommend the latter option.

[Frank Olynyk]

I don't know what, if any, arrangements have been made for overseas shipping of the book, but I emailed John France, and he informed me that the price was $65 plus $5 postage within the United States.

Frank.

[David P. Williams]

Hi John,

Have you been able to see a copy of this book yet? and could you tell us whether it is worth the investment.

I am probably luckier that most, in that i can have it shipped to a friend in Minneapolis and have it brought over as and when. Would be nice to know if the publishing company have a distributor in Europe. Thanks again, David.

[John Beaman]

The book weighs about 1.5 pounds and is about ¾ inch thick. I suggest you email John France and see if he is willing to ship overseas. Recall this is a privately published, and limited book.

I do have a copy, courtesy of a friend, and as for value, that depends on what you want it for. It is a good narrative of training and operations, but it is not precise if you are looking for details of claims and losses. These are interwoven into the text, not in tables. There are good tables on who flew, and what times, on multiple missions on a particular day.

[Jukka Juutinen]

Are there pilot first person accounts in it? Are you sure about the weight? NO way a large format book of 300+ plus pages going to weigh 1.5 lbs! E.g. Schiffer´s 272-page B-32 book weighs over 3 lbs.

[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by Jukka Juutinen

Are there pilot first person accounts in it? Are you sure about the weight? NO way a large format book of 300+ plus pages going to weigh 1.5 lbs! E.g. Schiffer´s 272-page B-32 book weighs over 3 lbs.

Hmmm...Jukka: how dare you doubt a moderator! But, you are correct. My wife's food scale says it weighs 4 pounds.

The book is narrative, assembled, apparently, from reports and dairies. There are very few "first person" reports, per se, and those few are woven into the narrative. It does have a day-by-day, mission by mission narrative with pilots listed, time of TO and time of Landing, their targets and results. They often flew several missions per day.

[John Beaman]

OK, guys, here is a deal.

John France will sell 2 of the 366th books at $50 each to either purchasers in England or Europe. Shipping to Europe or England is $34.00 cheapest from the US. If 2 buyers could agree to buy at this price, the cost on the postage to getting the books to one of the 2 would be $17.00 each. That's 25% of list and almost pays for the postage.

This goes back to the original email which lists John's (not Beaman) email and address. The trick is to work out how to pay, and you need to ask John France about that.

[SteveR]

Reviving an old thread...

I'd been looking for this book for some time, with no success, from all of the "usual" used book sites.

It turns out that there are still new copies available from the 366th Fighter Group Association:

https://www.366thgunfighters.org/book.html

Received my copy about a week and a half after mailing my check.

I'm not in any way affiliated with the Group Association, just thought there might be other people (besides myself) still interested in getting this book.