Description
Author: Ian McLachlan, Hardbound, 192 Pages, H5227, ISBN: 9780857332271 - Reissue, 2012
Hollywood portrayed Second World War American fighter pilots as young gods — flamboyant, romantic, silken-scarved knights of the skies.
But Ian McLachlan's absorbing collection of personal accounts of life in the US Army Air Force provides a rather more accurate picture.
First published in 1997 and reissued in 2012 to meet popular demand, these eye-opening and heart-warming stories are accompanied by a superb collection of personal and combat photographs.
While excitement and courage are by no means lacking from these stories, we are never allowed to forget that these were real young men, many barely into their 20s, often away from home for the first time, some buoyed by youthful optimism, others gnawed by anxieties.
Some were destined to survive the horrors against all the odds; others had their young lives quickly snuffed out.
This collection includes dramatic stories of spiralling dogfights, ghastly tragedies that will shock the reader, and recollections of grinding fear.
Others concern more mundane, but no less vital, everyday missions. We learn of the dedication of the ground crews, the welcome of the locals, and the experiences of the YMCA Tea Car girls who served Britain's national beverage to puzzled, homesick 'Yanks'.
As an aviation historian, Ian McLachlan has followed some incidents into recent times, archaeological digs in East Anglia having brought to light the tangled remains of aircraft. Poignant personal accounts complete stories that lay unresolved for over 50 years, as reunions between airmen and their British hosts show how the war years continue to touch our lives.
Ian McLachlan is author of seven books, including Eighth Air Force Bomber Stories, also reissued by Haynes in 2012.
