B-24 Bridge Busters

B-24 Bridge Busters
Author: Colin Pateman
Publisher: Fonthill Media
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2017-01-20
Genre: History
ISBN:
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B-24 Bridge Busters: RAF Liberators over Burma and Thailand provides a gripping and detailed account of RAF Liberator missions against the Japanese in Asia. British and Commonwealth aircrews displayed great gallantry in many instances on low-level precise bombing sorties destroying specific targets, including a great number of bridges constructed by the Japanese in their conquest to reach India. A number of detailed accounts are based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrews. 159 Squadron was the first four engined heavy bomber squadron which flew from India and operated over Burma. They instigated greater accuracy in destroying a multitude of vital targets. The legendary film The Bridge over the River Kwai (1957) evokes images that are historically set in celluloid; however, that blockbusting film had separated fact from fiction and this book examines the true events that took place through Bridge Busting , including techniques developed and deployed by the RAF against the Japanese.

B-24 Liberator Units of the CBI

B-24 Liberator Units of the CBI
Author: Edward M. Young
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2012-11-20
Genre: History
ISBN: 1849083428
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An illustrated history of the B-24 Liberator, the mainstay of the US Army Air Force's strategic bombing effort in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. With longer range and a greater load-carrying capacity than the B-17, the B-24 was well-suited to the demands of the CBI. The CBI's two air forces, the Tenth in India and the Fourteenth in China, each had one heavy bomb group equipped with Liberators. These two groups, the 7th and the 308th, carried the war to the Japanese across China and South East Asia, flying over some of the most difficult terrain in the world. The 308th had the added burden of having to carry its own fuel and bombs over the Himalayan 'Hump' from India to China in support of its missions. This book shows how, despite the hardships and extreme distances from sources of supply, both units compiled a notable record, each winning two Distinguished Unit Citations.

Unlike Any Land You Know

Unlike Any Land You Know
Author: James Vesely
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 298
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 0595096999
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Along with General Claire Chennault's "Flying Tigers," the men and planes of the 490th Bomb Squadron became famous as the "Burma Bridge Busters." From late 1942 to the end of the war, their incredible feats of low-level bombing and strafing of Japanese-held bridges, airfields, and troop facilities in occupied Burma hindered the Japanese advance in Asia, and provided critical air support for the allies fighting on the ground. The author's uncle, a radioman/waist gunner in the 490th, was killed on a mission in the waning days of the war. This book is both a search for his memory, and a tribute to the squadron in which he proudly served and sacrificed his life—the "Burma Bridge Busters." The author was born and raised in Chicago. In addition to writing and traveling, he is an avid fisherman, hunter, and scuba diver. He has published Seasons of Harvest, a three-volume historical novel, and is at work on a second novel titled Cumberland Road. This book is his first nonfiction work.

B-25 Mitchell Units of the CBI

B-25 Mitchell Units of the CBI
Author: Edward M. Young
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 97
Release: 2018-11-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 147282038X
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Flying from and between bases in China and India, the B-25s bombed every type of Japanese target during World War 2 in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre, ultimately dropping more ordinance than their larger four-engined B-24 Liberator brethren. Mitchell bombers took on the task of disrupting the flow of Japanese supplies to the frontlines at medium ranges, bombing Japanese supply centres, railway depots and bridges. It was in this last capacity that the B-25 established a unique role as a 'bridge-buster'. This provided significant support for the British Fourteenth Army as they advanced into Burma. Fully illustrated with detailed cutaway artwork, this book tells the important, yet forgotten story of B-25 operations in the CBI Theatre and the important role that this aircraft played on the road to victory.

Liberators Over the Atlantic

Liberators Over the Atlantic
Author: Jack Colman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 304
Release: 2018-01-19
Genre: World War, 1939-1945
ISBN: 9781781556504
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"[This book] is an informative and personal account of a young man's flying experiences during the Second World War. Growing up in York, Jack Colman achieved his long-held desire to become a pilot by joing the RAF in October 1940, just after his twenty-first birthday. Sent to Canada to learn to fly, he became intrigued by the technical and practical aspects of flying and navigation. Promoted to pilot/navigator, [he] joined Coastal Command on Liberators based in Iceland. The practical difficulties of flying over the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean protecting the convoys and hunting U-boats are relived as he battled with atrocious weather and navigational uncertainties. His brushes with death - in training and when operational, whether due to mechanical failure, flying into the sea, U-boat gunfire, or running out of fuel in an ever changing hostile environment - are described realistically and calmly."--Book jacket.