Kevin Wilson. Men of Air: The Courage and Sacrifice of Bomber Command in World War II. New York: Pegasus Books, 2019. Illustrations. 448 pp. $29.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-64313-006-4.
Reviewed by John Curatola (School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), Ft. Leavenworth)
Published on H-War (October, 2021)
Commissioned by Margaret Sankey (Air University)
The Royal Air Force’s (RAF) Bomber Command was part of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive (CBO) during World War II. Attacking Axis-occupied Europe along with the US Army’s Eighth and Fifteenth Air Forces, the strategic bombing effort was a tough and bloody campaign. Whereas the Americans focused on daylight precision bombing, the RAF executed night raids using area bombing techniques. The men who daily climbed into these four-engined aircraft braved the dangerously cold and rarified air while simultaneously fighting the German Luftwaffe. Suffering some of the highest casualty rates in the war, and unlike their ground counterparts, these airmen had no foxhole to hide in while encased in a thin aluminum fuselage. For the RAF crews death often came quickly and unforeseen under the cover of darkness. Despite the equivocal nature of the campaign’s results, the aircrew’s bravery and skill continue to inspire.
The work focuses on the Bomber Command’s efforts during 1944 and is largely a narrative account of both the environment and missions flown during this calendar year. Filled with personal accounts from RAF Bomber Command aircrew, the book presents their experiences both in the air and on the ground, giving readers an appreciation for their ordeals. Many of the accounts include the harrowing stories of how airmen bailed out of their damaged aircraft only to find themselves alone in enemy territory. Many veterans address how they became prisoners of war (POWs) or escaped with the help of local resistance organizations. Alternatively, the author, Kevin Wilson, includes the Luftwaffe perspective as he incorporates narratives from many German night-fighter aircrews. This inclusion helps balance the book’s perspective and gives an appreciation of the totality of the air war.
While the individual accounts are illustrative and informative, they also make up the overwhelming content of the book. Although fascinating, the extensive use of block quotations regarding the articulation of these accounts allows for no new insights or critical analysis of the Bomber Command’s actions or the CBO. This work is largely a narration with no real thesis other than to communicate the individual accounts of RAF crewman. Furthermore, after a few dozen pages, most of the personal experiences begin to sound repetitive. With the large number of aircrews in the RAF Bomber Command, many of these men endured much of the same events during the conduct of the campaign. Articulating the experiences of those who completed their tours of duty or those who were shot down and made POWs begin to all sound similar as the work unfolds. While certainly worthy of telling and documenting, the many accounts sound redundant within the context of this singular work.
However, the true value of the work indeed comes from the collection of these various narratives. Aviation or military historians will find this work useful as a reference. The availability of these first-person accounts significantly contributes to the published historiographical record of the air war. It provides a ready resource for historians looking for RAF accounts of the CBO and of their German foes. With this contribution, Men of Air is a book that military and research libraries will need to have on their shelves and available to historians.
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Citation:
John Curatola. Review of Wilson, Kevin, Men of Air: The Courage and Sacrifice of Bomber Command in World War II.
H-War, H-Net Reviews.
October, 2021.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=56691
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