I recently finished the audiobook for Jay Stout's Hell's Angels: The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II.
I've written before about when after getting a press ride in a B-17 Flying Fortress I was awed by the vulnerability of bomber crews in those big slow planes. The sheet metal on those beasts was weak protection against the cannon shells of the Luftwaffe's fighters.
Stout's book is magnificent, dumping a load of additional context over my previous experience. It brings to life the breadth of the bomber crew experience. Much has been written before about this subject in unit histories, personal memoirs, and other histories about specific aircraft. Stout explains in the book he differentiates his work by trying to expose a large diversity of experiences. And he does a very good job, putting into one place so many of the parts of that subject.
Previous books discuss in detail the combat operations and history of strategic bombing, but Stout goes far beyond that, while still including key examples of harrowing battles. He shares information about the administrators, the officers responsible for creating the 303 Bomb Group and the logistical challenges and high-level politics they faced. He shares selected stories of the crews and pilots, from training through their final missions. There's also insight into German anti-aircraft crews and the civilians' understandable anger toward the American bomber crewmen that parachuted into Germany from a stricken aircraft. There's a little discussion about the effectiveness of "strategic bombing" and how it did have an effect, even as academics proclaim such campaigns to be failures. Stout includes stories of downed airmen that survived and returned, and those that didn't, and the ones that endured serious injury and lengthy recoveries. There are stories about how the Americans, flying from bases in England, interfaced with the British. There are stories about the planes and arms and even an experimental bomb that failed in the field and whose lasting legacy was its formidable shipping crate that crews repurposed as a bar.
And of course, the combat. Gruesome and heartbreaking stories about combat brutal to both sides. Strikes from enemy fighters or anti-aircraft guns would tear parts of the airplane off or even completely sever it in half. Crew could lose limbs or take severe wounds.
Even on a mission sans enemy contact, the men suffered greatly against the elements of high altitude. The bombers had onboard oxygen supplies that each crewman could hook a mask into, but when this failed they had to use individual oxygen bottles. If a crewmember went too long without oxygen they would develop hypoxia and become disoriented or pass out. The oxygen-poor environment was further complicated by extreme cold. Imagine trying to handle instruments or guns with cold hands. The one benefit of the cold is that it would slow or halt bleeding when the men were injured, however, they would then have to deal with the onset of the bleeding as the bombers returned to a lower altitude and warmer air.
It was nearly suicide to go up in the bombers during a daylight raid, and then keep doing it for a tour of twenty-five to thirty-five missions, and yet that's what our greatest generation did, again and again. I always remember the thing they say when I have the fortune to speak with these crews: "We had a job to do."
Hell's Angels is my second Stout book, the first being his first, Hornet over Kuwait. His writing continues to improve, and it's accompanied by tremendous research. He's become quite prolific, now having penned many historical books and I'm going to have to get them all.
Thanks to all veterans. Today it'll be a classic burger and a beer for you.
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