John C. McManus - Deadly Sky: The American Combat Airman in World War II

The Dead and Those About to Die

D-Day:
The Big Red One at Omaha Beach

September Hope:
The American Side of a Bridge Too Far

Grunts:
Inside the American Infantry Combat Experience,
World War II Through Iraq

American Courage, American Carnage:
The 7th Infantry Regiments Combat Experience,
1812 Through World War II

The 7th Infantry Regiment:
Combat in an Age of Terror, the Korean War Through the Present

U.S. Military History for Dummies

Alamo in the Ardennes:
The Untold Story of the American Soldiers
Who Made the Defense of Bastogne Possible

The Americans at Normandy:
The Summer of 1944The American War from
the Normandy Beaches to Falaise

The Americans at D-Day:
The American Experience at the Normandy Invasion

The Deadly Brotherhood:
The American Combat Soldier in World War II

NAL CALIBER

Published by New American Library,

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

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This book is a publication of NAL Caliber. Previously published in a Presidio edition.

Copyright John C. McManus, 2000

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eBook ISBN 9780698195998

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: McManus, John C., 1965 author.

Title: Deadly sky: the American combat airman in World War II/John C. McManus.

Description: New York, New York: New American Library, 2016. | Originally published: Novato, CA,
Presidio, 2000.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016012412 (print) | LCCN 2016014061 (ebook) | ISBN 9780451475640 |

ISBN 9780698195998 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: World War, 19391945Aerial operations, American. | World War, 19391945Personal narratives, American. | AirmenUnited statesHistory20th century.

Classification: LCC D790 .M3334 2016 (print) | LCC D790 (ebook) | DDC 940.54/49730922dc23

LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2016012412

PUBLISHERS NOTE

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

Version_1

To Charles W. Johnson,

my mentor and friend

Contents

Acknowledgments

Although writing is a solitary enterprise, an author rarely produces anything without the assistance of others. Such is the case with this book.

I am grateful for the resourceful assistance of the respective staffs of three excellent archives. The Mighty Eighth Air Force Library and Archives in Savannah, Georgia, is a treasure trove of veterans memoirs, letters, and diaries.

The World War II letters housed in the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri constitute one of the single best sources for anyone wishing to gain insight into the mind-set of those Americans who fought the war. I sincerely appreciate all of the guidance and support provided by the staffs of the Columbia and St. Louis Branches of the WHMC.

The Special Collections Library at the University of Tennessee, home to an extensive archive of World War II material, may be the best single source in existence on individual Americans in World War II. The collection is the product of years of work by the staff at the universitys Center for the Study of War and Society.

I would like to thank E. J. McCarthy, Presidios patient and amiable executive editor, not only for his expertise, from which this book has greatly benefited, but also for his friendship.