American Military Gliders in World War II in Europe
Author: John A. McQuillen
Publisher:
Published: 1975
Total Pages: 744
ISBN-13:
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Author: John A. McQuillen
Publisher:
Published: 1975
Total Pages: 744
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: John A. MacQuillen
Publisher:
Published: 1975
Total Pages:
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor:
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Published: 1991
Total Pages: 170
ISBN-13: 0938021958
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Gerard M. Devlin
Publisher: St Martins Press
Published: 1985-01-01
Total Pages: 410
ISBN-13: 9780312724603
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDescribes the use of gliders in air and land battles and discusses the development of American military glider planes
Author: Charles J Masters
Publisher: SIU Press
Published: 2021-06-09
Total Pages: 141
ISBN-13: 0809330822
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAlthough the word gliderman does not appear in the dictionary, a brave group of World War II soldiers known as glidermen flew into combat inside unarmed and unarmored canvas-covered gliders known as "flying coffins." Charles J. Masters points out that because World War II was the first truly mechanized and armored global conflict, the role of the glidermen and their combat gliders was at best anachronistic. Fighter planes exceeded speeds of 400 miles per hour and were heavily armed with multiple machine guns. Dogfights had taken on new dimensions, eclipsing the tactics, speed, and firepower first evidenced by the fragile biplanes of World War I. Tanks achieved a lethal efficiency barely dreamed of even five years before the war. An array of weaponry never seen in any previous military engagement confronted the combat soldier during World War II.And yet there were gliders. And glidermen. Masters tells of these men and of their fragile aircraft in a war of mechanized chaos. In copious detail, he describes the gliders and the Americans who boarded them during the American D-Day glider attack, a mission that was part of the overall cross-channel plan code-named "Operation Neptune." The son of a gliderman with the 82nd Airborne Division, Masters had unique access to the surviving glidermen and comrades of his father. During the course of his research, he located and interviewed 106 of the men who had flown the D-Day mission in gliders. As an insider—in a sense almost a member of the family and fraternity of glider-men—Masters was cordially received by the members of the American airborne divisions that participated in D-Day, many of whom told him stories they had seldom told their own friends and families. Often harrowing and always riveting, the stories these men told an eager listener and researcher are very much a part of this narrative. Masters has also assembled the finest existing collection of photographs of the American D-Day glider attack. These photographs—many of which have never before been published—provide a spectacular photographic record of a little-known aspect of this war. In fact, because of the short military history of the American combat glider, most readers, including veterans of World War II, will not have seen one of these "flying coffins," even at a distance. These photographs afford the opportunity to actually examine the inside of the combat gliders used on D-Day, to observe the glidermen in action, and to witness the often tragic consequences of the glider attack.
Author: James E. Mrazek
Publisher: Stackpole Books
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 514
ISBN-13: 081170808X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Long pursued by civilian thrill seekers and dare devils, airborne gliding came of age during World War II as one of that conflict's most dangerous combat operations. The armed forces of Axis and Allied nations developed gliders ... and flew them into battle at Eben Emael, Crete, Normandy, Arnhem, and Bastogne. [The author's] account brings to life both the men who carried out these perilous missions and the gliders that proved vital to the success of airborne attacks"--Page 4 of cover.
Author: Barbara Ann Bangham
Publisher:
Published: 1963
Total Pages: 202
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Maurer Maurer
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Published: 1961
Total Pages: 520
ISBN-13: 1428915850
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Jerome Klinkowitz
Publisher:
Published: 1996
Total Pages: 166
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKBeen inspired by his book to serve in the RAF. Here came the fighter jocks, from John Godrey to Chuck Yeager, some of whom would be as flamboyant in their writing as in their flying. Then came the bombers, massive formations of appropriately named Flying Fortresses that with their ten-man crews carried the air war into Germany. Here everyone had a story, too, from Bomb Group Commander Beirne Lay Jr. to top turret gunner John Comer. And from each crew station the story.
Author: Donald J. Rich
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2013-01-18
Total Pages: 286
ISBN-13: 1603449620
DOWNLOAD EBOOKA member of the famed Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division, Donald J. Rich went ashore on D-Day at Utah Beach, was wounded in the bloody conflict at Carentan, landed in a flimsy plywood-and-canvas glider on the battlefields of Holland, and survived the grim siege with the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne" during the Battle of the Bulge. Glider Infantryman is his eyewitness account of how he, along with thousands of other young men from farms, small towns, and cities across the United States, came together to answer the call of their nation. It is also a heartfelt tribute to the many thousands who gave their lives in this struggle. Coauthored by Kevin Brooks, the son of Rich's best friend and World War II comrade, Glider Infantryman covers a span of nearly three years; his return home, five months after the war's end, as a toughened bazooka gunner and veteran of five campaigns. Rich's first-person narrative includes vivid coverage of the action, featuring an especially rare account of arriving on a combat landing zone by glider. Detailed, day-to-day depiction of some of the heaviest fighting in Holland follows, including the action at Opheusden, the center of the infamous "Island." Later highlights include the Battle of the Bulge, where Rich recounts his experiences in some of the hottest defensive fighting of the European Theater, including the epic tank battles at Marvie, Champs, and Foy.