Consolidated B-24 Liberator: libros - historia (2/3)

Durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le bombardier B-24 Liberator a été produit en plus grande quantité que n'importe quel autre avion militaire américain, y compris le B-17. Il fut la colonne vertébrale de l'offensive de bombardement de l'USAAF contre l'Allemagne, aux côtés du B-17. Le Liberator effectua des contributions significatives dans d'autres rôles, notamment dans le Pacifique, où - grâce à sa formidable capacité à bombarder des cibles japonaises à basse altitude- il fournit un soutien inestimable à l'US Navy. En dépit de sa remarquable carrière, le B-24 - et les aviateurs qui volèrent à ses commandes- resta toujours dans l'ombre de son frère, le B-17. Ce livre a pour ambition de rétablir l'équilibre entre les deux appareils.

Cet ouvrage fournit une quantité de détails techniques et opérationnels à propos de l'avion, sur chaque arme et/ou équipement des membres de l'équipage. Le coeur de ce livre repose néanmoins sur les nombreux témoignages de missions de combat effectuées par les membres d'équipage de Liberator, dont beaucoup n'ont jamais été publiés jusqu'alors. Le B-24 est sans doute mieux connu pour ses raids au-dessus de l'Europe occupée, au sein de la 8e et de la 15e Air Force. Les témoignages que comporte ce livre se rapportent tous au théâtre d'opérations européen. Ils révèlent, avec force détails, ce que c'était d'effectuer une mission de combat du point de vue de chaque membre d'équipage, du pilote jusqu'au mitrailleur de queue.

The B-24 Liberator was built in greater numbers than any other US warplane, yet its combat crews live, even today, in the shadow of the less plentiful, but better-known, B-17. Accounts of the 'Mighty Eighth' in Europe, and indeed many of the books and films that emerged from the greatest air campaign in history, often overlook the B-24, even though it was in action for as long as the Flying Fortress, and participated in just as many perilous daylight bombing missions.

Contents: 1942 - 1943 - 1944 - 1945 - Appendices.

The first in a planned series that presents the B-24 Liberators used by the 15th Air Force in World War II, noted B-24 historians Robert Beitling and Mike Hill present for the first time the biographies of the individual B-24s used by the 451st, 461st and 484th Bomb Groups of the 49th Bomb Wing in Italy.

As much information as is known about the individual aircraft is presented in biographical form: serial number, nickname, how the aircraft received its nickname, number of missions, original aircraft for the groups, and the ultimate fate of the aircraft.
The volume will be of interest to historians, veterans and those who are interested in the B-24s that flew in the flak filled skies of the Third Reich.

The B-24 was heavily utilised in the North African and Mediterranean theatres by the USAAF's Fifteenth Air Force, with operations over the Ploesti oilfields in Rumania being some of the most famous missions undertaken by the big American 'heavy' in World War 2.

The stirling work of the Fifteenth Air Force is often overshadowed by the glamorous 'Mighty Eighth', yet the men flying the B-24 fought ceaselessly right through to VE Day. This is the third of five titles planned to chart the operational history of the Consolidated heavy bomber, and is the first single volume to exclusively cover the Fifteenth Air Force's B-24 units.

This volume is organized two ways: by the name given to the Consolidated B-24 aircraft in all their variations from World War II era and also by the unit with which the aircraft served. Over 7,800 entries, includes group, squadron, serial number, and vintage photos. The photos in this book are black and white.