Winged Victory: The Army Air Forces in World War II

Here, for the first time in a single volume, is the history of the mightiest air armada the world has ever seen, from its creation to its triumph in the Second World War - a story of brilliantly innovative military strategists and daring fliers who mastered challenges unprecedented in the history of warfare.Beginning with the nascent Air Service's successful aerial search for the "Lost Battalion" during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of 1918, acclaimed military historian Geoffrey Perret brilliantly brings to life the people and the drama behind the great aerial offensives of World War II. Winged Victory tells the story of the battles and campaigns fought by the Army Air Forces around the world. Perret emphasizes the part played not only by the leading figures such as Arnold and Spaatz, but by famous bomber commanders such as Doolittle and LeMay; controversial airmen such as Chennault; fighter aces such as Bong and Gabreski; dynamic figures such as Philip Cochran and Casey Vincent (immortalized as Flip Corkin and Vince Casey in Terry and the Pirates); and many others whose leadership and bravery helped create an unbeatable fighting force.Here, too, is the story of the development and combat history of the American fighters and bombers that eventually ruled the air, as well as a recreation of the most important air operations of the war: the Doolittle raid on Tokyo, the early fighting in the South Pacific, the invasion and victory in North Africa, the hard-fought battle for air superiority by the Eighth and Ninth air forces leading up to D-Day, and the strategic bombing offensives against Germany and Japan.Drawing on new material - private diaries, letters, unpublished memoirs, plus unique access to the voluminous research for a biography of Hap Arnold that was never published - Winged Victory presents an indelible portrait of the drama and heroism of combat in the skies.