In Defense of Freedom

Stories of Courage and Sacrifice of World War II Army Air Forces Flyers

Wolfgang W. E. Samuel

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781628462173
• eBook ISBN:
  9781626745940
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military & Maritime History
• Index: History

The twenty-seven stories in this book serve as a graphic reminder of the selfless heroism of America's World War II Army Air Forces flyers and how necessary they were to achieve Allied victory. Wolfgang Samuel and the pilots he interviewed reveal the peril these men faced to achieve a daunting task, impossible without their bravery. And their sacrifices were stunning—American bomber crews suffered the highest casualties (KIA, MIA, POW, wounded) of all American armed services in World War II. The stories preserved in this book bear that grave danger out. A member of a heavy bomber crew in the 8th Air Force in the period from mid-1942 to spring 1944 was less likely to survive than a US Marine fighting on Iwo Jima or Okinawa.

The stories in this unique book are about men who went face to face with their adversaries, who saw their buddies die, who crashed planes, and who became prisoners of war. Many later went on to become the backbone of the postwar Air Force, serving in Korea and Vietnam and during the Cold War.

Young Ken Chilstrom led a flight of eight A-36 fighter bombers on a low-level foray in Italy. Only he and two others came home. Bob Hoover thought he could take on the entire German air force, but on his first mission he was shot down, nearly perished, and suffered the remainder of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp. Wolfgang Samuel's new book is all about men like Ken, Bob, and the many friends they lost, who saw World War II through to the end and gave freedom to so many others.

INDEX

The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

1st Air Div

1st Fighter Wing

1st Tactical AF (Prov)

2nd Air Div

3rd Air Div

3rd Army

3rd Bomb Wg

3rd Photographic Gp

4th Fighter Sq

5th Air Force

5th School Sq

7th Air Force

7th Bomb Wg

8th Air Force; formation; rate; losses; loss structure

8th Bomb Sq

8th Photo Recon Sq

9th Air Force

10th SRS

10th TRS

11th Troop Carrier Squadron

12th Air Force

12th Bomb Gp

12th Fighter Bomber Sq

13th Air Force

13th Combat Wg

14th Armored Div

15th Air Force; combat losses; formation

17th Bomb Gp

18th Fighter Bomber Gp

19th TRS

20th Air Force

20th Fighter Gp

21st (XXI) Bomber Cmd losses

25th Bomb Gp

27th Fighter/Fighter Bomber Gp

28th Bomb Gp

29th Troop Carrier Sq

30th TRS

33rd Fighter GP

41st Air Wg

41st TEWS

42nd TEWS

44th Fighter Bomber Sq

47th Bomb Wg

51st Fighter Gp (Prov)

52nd Fighter Gp

54th Air Disarmament Sq

55th Recon Gp/SRW

56th Fighter Gp

57th Fighter Gp

58th Fighter Gp

64th Fighter Sq

65th Fighter Sq

66th Fighter Sq

67th Fighter Bomber Sq

71st Fighter Sq

77th Bomb Sq

81st Bomb Sq

82nd Airborne Div

82nd Bomb Sq

82nd Fighter Gp

83rd Bomb Sq

86th Fighter Gp

90th Photographic/Recon Wg

91st Bomb Gp

91st Recon Gp/SRW

92nd Bomb Wg

95th Bomb Gp

97th Bomb Gp; 1st heavy bomber raid

99th Bomb Gp

100th Bomb Gp; losses

100th SRW

303rd Bomb Gp

319th Bomb Gp

320th Bomb Gp

322nd SRS

323rd Bomb Sq

323rd SRS

324th Fighter Gp

324th SRS

325th Photographic Wg

334th Bomb Gp

336th Bomb Sq

338th SRS

342nd Bomb Sq

343rd Recon Sq/SRS

345th Bomb Gp

347th Bomb Sq

352nd Fighter Gp

353rd Fighter Gp

358th Bomb Sq

358th Fighter Gp

363rd TRW

365th Fighter Sq

367th Fighter Gp

370th Fighter Gp

379th Bomb Gp

384th Bomb Gp

401st Bomb Sq

430th Fighter Sq

451st Bomb Gp

461st Bomb Gp

474th Fighter Gp

479th Fighter Gp

484th Bomb Gp

486th Bomb Gp

487th Bomb Gp; losses

498th Bomb Sq

499th Bomb Sq

500th Bomb Sq

501st Bomb Sq

522nd Fight...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Terms and Abbreviations
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Robert P. Walker—Mosquito/C-54/B-66/Test Pilot: RCAF, 8th Air Force
• David M. Taylor—B-17/C-54/C-47: 8th Air Force
• Charles P. Johnson—B-17: 8th Air Force: POW StalagLuft I, Barth, Germany
• Byron A. Dobbs Jr.—P-38/F-5/B-26: 5th Air Force: POW Korea
• Edgar E. McElroy—B-25: 5th Air Force: One of Doolittle’s Raiders
• Robert S. Hamill—B-25/C-54/KC-97: 12th Air Force
• Russell B. Witte Jr.—B-25/Test Pilot: Western Desert Air Force: 9th/12th Air Force
• Charles E. Schreffler—P-38/F-51: 12th Air Force
• Kenneth O. Chilstrom—A-36/Me 262/Test Pilot: 12th Air Force
• Robert M. Slane—B-17/B-26/B-47E: 8th Air Force: POW StalagLuft III, Sagan, Germany
• Harold R. Austin—C-54/RB-45C/RB-47E: In Pilot Training When War Ended
• Joseph J. Gyulavics—B-29/RB-47H: In Navigator Training When War Ended
• Samuel E. Pizzo—B-17/RB-47H/A-12: 15th Air Force
• Marion C. Mixson—B-24/RB-45C/RB-47H/U-2: 15th Air Force
• Bernard T. Nolan—B-24/B-17: 8th Air Force
• Robert J. Anspach—P-47/Me 262/Fw 190/F-86: 1st Tactical Air Force (Provisional)
• Lloyd M. N. Wenzel—P-38/F-86: 9th Air Force
• Frederick B. McIntosh—P-47/Fw 190/TA 152/Ju 290: 9th Air Force
• Roy W. Brown—P-47/Me 262: 12th Air Force: 1st Tactical Air Force (Provisional
• Albert S. Tucker—P-38/F-80/Gloster Meteor: 8th Air Force: POW StalagLuft I, Barth, Germany
• Robert A. Hoover—Spitfire/Fw 190/Test Pilot/Barnstormer: 15th Air Force: POW StalagLuft I, Barth, Germany
• Frederick Leiby—B-17: 15th Air Force: POW StalagLuft III, Sagan, Germany
• Arthur E. Exon—P-40/P-47: 9th Air Force: POW StalagLuft III Sagan, Germany
• Robert C. Strobell—P-47/Me 262: 8th Air Force
• Chasten L. Bowen—B-17: 8th Air Force: POW Buchenwald Concentration Camp, StalagLuft III, Sagan, Germany
• Charles E. Myers Jr.—B-25/F9F/Test Pilot: 5th Air Force
• James F. Setchell—Mosquito/F-5: 12th Air Force
• Thoughts about Sacrifice and a Terrible War—The Cost of Victory
• Notes
• Interviews and Photographs
• Bibliography
• Index