Walter J. Boyne - Clash of Wings: World War II in the Air

Quite simply the best short account of air power in the Second World War.

Spencer Tucker, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

I n Clash of Wings, Col. Walter J. Boyne, USAF (Ret.), has focused his aviation expertise on air combat in World War II to create a readable, comprehensive history of the war waged in the skies over land and sea. Boyne masterfully recounts the decisive battles waged on all fronts and elucidates the strategies of each commander. He also gives critical evaluations of the machines themselves and the technological advances that made airpower such a key element in the war, making Clash of Wings an indispensable volume for anyone interested in the history of warfare or aviation.

Boyne is in masterly command of his global narrative.

Robert Anderson, The Chicago Tribune

Clash of Wings makes a fine source book, for it tells you everything you wanted to know about WWlls air war in one brief literary bombshell.

Stars and Stripes

W ALTER J. B OYNE is a retired Air Force colonel and the former Director of the National Air and Space Museum. He has written more than twenty-eight books about the military and lives in Ashburn, Virginia.

Published by Simon & Schuster New York

Cover design by Leslie Goldman
Cover photograph courtesy of The Bettmann Archive

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ALSO BY WALTER J. BOYNE

NONFICTION
CLASH OF TITANS: WORLD WAR II AT SEA
SILVER WINGS
ART IN FLIGHT: THE SCULPTURE OF JOHN SAFER
CLASSIC AIRCRAFT
FLIGHT
THE POWER BEHIND THE WHEEL
THE SMITHSONIAN BOOK OF FLIGHT
THE LEADING EDGE
DE HAVILLAND DH-4: FROM FLAMING COFFIN TO LIVING LEGEND
MESSERSCHMITT ME 262ARROW TO THE FUTURE
BOEING B-52: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
PHANTOMS IN COMBAT

FICTION
AIR FORCE EAGLES
EAGLES AT WAR
TROPHY FOR EAGLES
THE WILD BLUE with Steven L. Thompson

TOUCHSTONE
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COPYRIGHT 1994 BY WALTER J. BOYNE
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
INCLUDING THE RIGHT OF REPRODUCTION
IN WHOLE OR IN PART IN ANY FORM.

FIRST TOUCHSTONE EDITION 1997

SIMON & SCHUSTER AND COLOPHON ARE REGISTERED TRADEMARKS OF SIMON & SCHUSTER INC.

DESIGNED BY KAROLINA HARRIS

THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE SIMON & SCHUSTER EDITION AS FOLLOWS: BOYNE, WALTER J., CLASH OF WINGS : AIR POWER IN WORLD WAR II / BY WALTER J, BOYNE
P. CM.
INCLUDES BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES AND INDEX 1. WORLD WAR 1939-1945AERIAL OPERATIONS. I. TITLE.
D785.B69 1994
940 544DC20 93-46526 CIP
ISBN 0-671 -79370-5
ISBN 0-684-83915-6 (PBK)
ISBN 13: 978-0-6848-3915-8 (print)
ISBN 13: 978-1-4516-8513-8 (eBook)

In the preparation of this book, I consulted hundreds of sources and was continually amazed by the depth and breadth of coverage of the constituent elements of the great air campaigns of World War II, and by the continual improvement, over time, in the efforts of both amateur and professional historians.

It is especially rewarding to discover a new author, one who has a particular interest in a single facet of the war and who spends an enormous amount of time and effort to elucidate that facet for others.

There is a special group of historians in the United States and Great Britain that I would like to acknowledge, men and women who have devoted their lives to their avocation and who flourish in small, loosely knit organizations like the American Aviation Historical Society, or the Society of World War One Aero Historians, or any one of a dozen similar specialized groups. They do their labor for love of the subject and for concern for the truth, and all readers of aviation history should be grateful to them.

In the course of my career, it was my privilege to meet a number of the great figures of World War II, including Ira Eaker, James Doolittle, Curtis E. LeMay, Francis Gabreski, Chuck Yeager, Bud Mahurin, Stanford Tuck, Douglas Bader, Johnny Johnson, Adolf Galland, Johannes Steinhoff, Walter Krupinski, Pierre Closterman, Hans Knoke, Sakai Saburo, Hans von Ohain, Sir, Frank Whittle, and many, many more. It has also been a privilege to meet hundreds of less well known figures, each of whom has a story to tell. From the many conversations and sometimes extensive correspondence with these doers of great deeds, I was able to form a better impression of the human side of the air war. I hope that this is conveyed in Clash of Wings.

I am indebted to Henry Snelling, who has spent hours struggling with my facts and my syntax; to Leo Opdycke, for his sometimes caustic but always constructive comments; to Pearlie Draughn, the star librarian of the Air Force Association, who is always helpful; to Murray Peden, Queens Counsel, and a sterling Stirling pilot who is also a great writer; to Bob Bender, my patient editor; to Jacques de Spoelberch, my agent; and to my family, for putting up with me.

WALTER J. BOYNE
Ashburn, Virginia
August 18, 1993

This book is dedicated to the participants of the great air campaigns of World War II, those who flew, maintained, built, planned, or simply paid for the weapons that were used in that great conflict. A very few people, primarily the air leaders and the great aces, became well known during the war. They did so only as a result of the efforts of the millions more who labored anonymously, doing their very best, whether it was bucking rivets in an aircraft factory in California, chipping stones for runways in China, or servicing planes in all weathers and all climates. A debt of gratitude is owed to them all.

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Clash of Wings is a wide-ranging survey of the great air campaigns of World War II, extending from the first bombs dropped in Poland to the atomic weapons exploded in Japan. It covers all theaters, from the frozen steppes of the Soviet Union to the nightmare heat of Pacific jungle fighting. In each theater, the principal focus is on the people doing the fighting, and it is important to note that the ordinary soldiers, sailors, and airmen fought with dignity and courage, irrespective of their country or their cause.

As each campaign is analyzed, note is taken of the technical developments of the timenew aircraft, new weapons, new tacticsand as each campaign progresses, the leadership is evaluated. From this, it soon becomes apparent that the Allies were as blessed as the Axis countries were cursed by the quality of their respective leaders. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made extremely good judgments in his early choice of leaders, who, for the most part, served him throughout the war. In a similar way, Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill eventually assembled a closely knit group who accommodated to his unique mercurial genius. In contrast, Adolf Hitler feared his generals and ignored his admirals, using them as mere office boys to execute his will, and, as events required, to blame for his mistakes. Mussolini, that cardboard Fhrer, was unable to manage his senior officers, who, in turn, were largely incapable of managing their troops.