
eBook - ePub
Flying Fortress Gunner
B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper's 35 Combat Missions over Germany
- 176 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Flying Fortress Gunner
B-17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper's 35 Combat Missions over Germany
About this book
The biography of Bob Harper, a B-17 ball turret gunner with the 8th Air Force who survived 35 combat missions over Germany in WWII, and was shot down twice. At 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing just 110 pounds, Bob Harper was below the minimum size requirements for US military service. As the demand for manpower increased, rules were bent, Harper's deferment was retracted, and he was drafted into the Army. Harper was deployed to the European front and survived 35 combat missions as a B-17 ball turret gunner. Based at airfields in England, Bob and the 381st Bomb Group flew brutal missions over heavily defended industrial centers in Germany. Harper was shot down twice and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Through his letters home, combat reports, and extensive interviews with author Bill Cullen, Harper describes his harrowing experiences on board the Flying Fortresses of the Eighth Air Force. Cullen's interviews with Harper took place over a period of years, and it is the anecdotes from the interviews that drive the majority of the narrative. The ball turret was located underneath the aircraft and was a confined, intense, and unique environment from which to experience combat during the Second World War. Readers will find Harper, who went on to a successful business career after the war, to be an insightful, witty, and engaging storyteller.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
At the moment all of our mobile-responsive ePub books are available to download via the app. Most of our PDFs are also available to download and we're working on making the final remaining ones downloadable now. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
- Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
- Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Flying Fortress Gunner by Bill Cullen in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Military & Maritime History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half Title
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introduction: Why Some Stories Need to Be Told
- Chapter 1 On the Way to War
- Chapter 2 The Ball Turret
- Chapter 3 First Combat Mission
- Chapter 4 July 1944: Thirteen Combat Missions in Twenty-Six Days
- Chapter 5 The Man Who Ran and the One Who Could Have Walked Away
- Chapter 6 Off to Wartime London
- Chapter 7 Life on the Base and Three Missions to Remember
- Chapter 8 “Honey’s” Eighty-Seven Combat Missions and the 365 Men Who Crewed Her
- Chapter 9 Another Dangerous Mission to Merseburg and a Visit to the Flak Hotel
- Chapter 10 October and the Enemy Reemerges
- Chapter 11 Combat, Real and Imagined
- Chapter 12 Medal Day
- Chapter 13 Shot Down!
- Chapter 14 Pilot Joe Pearce
- Chapter 15 Here We Go Again! The Battle of the Bulge
- Chapter 16 And Then There Were None
- Chapter 17 War and Remembrance
- Epilogue
- Bibliography