Return from Berlin: The Eye of a NavigatorUniversity of Wisconsin Pres, 11/08/2003 - 208 páginas During the summer of 1944, the now-legendary American Eighth Air Force was engaged in a ferocious air battle over Europe to bring the Allies victory over the German Third Reich. This is the story of one B-17 navigator and his crewmates, men who faced extraordinary danger with a maturity beyond their years. This vivid and detailed account of combat flying and its psychological toll also recalls the beginning of Robert Grilley’s development as a painter of international renown, as he spends his off-duty time drawing the peaceful Northamptonshire landscape around Deenethorpe airbase. Wakened with flashlights on their faces in the predawn hours, he and his crew repeatedly face the Luftwaffe in battles five miles high, flying through flak "so thick you could get out and walk on it." Stretching their stamina to the limits, they succeed time after time in their missions to bomb munitions works, railyards, the Leüna synthetic oil plant at Merseburg in eastern Germany, the V2 rocket research center at Peenemünde on the distant Baltic Coast, and even to strike Hitler’s capital city, Berlin. But Grilley finds interludes of unexpected grace and restoration on his days off, making serious drawings from nature at the neighboring Yokehill Farm. There he slowly cultivates a friendship with a curious eight-year-old, the lively child Elizabeth, who becomes for the combat flyer a symbol of survival. |
Índice
Prologue | 3 |
1 The 401st Bomb Group H in England at War | 18 |
The First Mission | 24 |
3 Hamburg | 44 |
4 Landscapes and Elizabeth | 52 |
5 Berlin | 58 |
6 Frevent | 65 |
7 Montbartier | 68 |
16 Peenemiinde | 116 |
17 Berlin II | 123 |
18 Goodbye Elizabeth | 126 |
19 Ludwigshafen | 129 |
20 Ludwigshafen Again | 138 |
21 Groesbeek | 142 |
22 Forgotten Missions | 147 |
23 Munster | 149 |
8 Leipzig I | 73 |
9 Munich I and II | 76 |
10 Leipzig II | 82 |
11 Marlene Dietrich | 86 |
12 SaintLo | 89 |
13 Merseburg | 92 |
14 Lead Team | 102 |
15 Nienburg and Kettering | 106 |
24 Nurnberg | 155 |
25 After the Last Bomb Run | 163 |
26 Back in the USA | 167 |
American Strategic Bombing | 175 |
Missions | 181 |
Robert Grilleys Military Decorations | 183 |
Outras edições - Ver tudo
Palavras e frases frequentes
Air Force altitude asked Beachy Head began Berlin bomb bay bomb run bombardier box barrage called chow clouds coast-out Colonel Bowman combat commander contrails copilot course Deenethorpe drawing dropped Dümmer Eighth Air Force Elizabeth English eyes face feel feet fighters flak suit flying formation front German going gotten Groesbeek guns guys Hamburg hand hardstand head I. G. Farben intercom interrogation Jardine John Jonckheere Kettering kids killed knew Landscape lead box lead team Leipzig Lewis light Lispeth Lockhart look Ludwigshafen Luftwaffe Marlene Dietrich Mercator Merseburg miles minutes mission Montbartier navigator Neumünster North Sea nose bowl officer Okay Peenemünde pilot plane Porter Ham pretty Pyles Robert Grilley runway Russell Saint-Lô seemed shot of Irish slightly smoke squadron strike photo sure target tell things took tracking flak turn wind Wing Yokehill Farm