Brian ONeill - Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer

HALF A WING, THREE ENGINES AND A PRAYER

B-17s over Germany
Special Edition

by BRIAN D. ONEILL

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ISBN: 978-0-07-164065-7
MHID: 0-07-164065-7

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This book id for Donald F. ONeill, a KB-50 pilot cut from the same mold as the men who appear in these pages.

I would
touch your face ad a disinterested
scholar touched an original page.
However frightening, I would
discover you

James Tate
The Lost Pilot

General Savage, Id like to tell you something else, I think. Im a lawyer by trade. I think Im a good one. And when a good lawyer taked on a client he does it because he believes in the clients case. And thats all that matterd. When I came over to England I took on my biggest client. That client is the 918th Bomb Group. I want to see my client win its case. Does that answer what you had in mind?

Major Harvey Stovall to General Frank Savage in the screenplay from Twelve OClock High by Beirne Lay, Jr. and Sy Bartlett, Twentieth Century Fox

THIS SPECIAL EDITION of Half A Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer: B-17s Over Germany owes its existence to the men it is written about perhaps even more than its best-selling predecessor, which was first published in 1989 and then went through a remarkable seven printings in seven years. Fifty years after the events it chronicles, one would think that the eyewitness sources available for this work would decrease rather than increase; but the exact opposite is true. The men of the famous 303rd Hells Angels Bomb Group, who persevered in their mission throughout the entire daylight bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, are today equally dedicated to another mission: preserving the history of their accomplishments so that succeeding generations may know exactly what it took to win this terrible war.

The Hells Angels of World War II live on in the 303rd Bomb Group (H) Association, one of the most active, dedicated, and open veterans organizations to be found anywhere. It is because of the continuing work of these veterans, their spouses, and other 303rd family members and associates that I have much of the new material in this Special Edition.

Hal Susskind, past president of the 303rd Association and Editor Emeritus of the Hells Angels Newsletter, has been instrumental as editor from December 1985 through May 1998 in making the Hells Angels Newsletter both the glue that holds the Association together and the best Eighth Air Force unit publication by far. A number of personal accounts in the Special Edition, including Guy Lances story of his crews experiences on the November 29, 1943 Bremen mission, and Jack and those interested in the Groups history are sure to welcome the forthcoming publication of the Hells Angels Newsletters back issues in bound volumes.

Harry D. Gobrecht, current president of the 303rd Association and long-term group historian, is another veteran whose work has been indispensable to the Special Edition. Harrys encyclopedic Might in Flight, Daily Diary of the Eighth Air Forces Hells Angels 303rdBombardment Group (H), first published in 1993 and now issued in a 1997 second edition, is a 920-page labor of love whose detail is simply amazing. For the first edition of Half A Wing much of my motivation in chronicling the groups history, during the August 1943 to February 1944 period when Bob Hullars crew flew, lay in my strong desire to find out what had happened to the many crews that were lost as Hullars crew successfully completed their tour. While my own research provided many answers,