Fateful Flight of the Lonesome Polecat II
Fateful Flight of the Lonesome Polecat II

Author: Michael I Darter

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2004-10

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 0595325882

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For 60 years the author felt much anguish and yearned to discover what happened to his only brother, S/Sgt. Eugene F. Darter, who enlisted in the Army-Air Force after Pearl Harbor and was assigned to a B-17 crew. Just before departing for England and never to be heard from again, his brother came home and carried his newly born brother through the neighborhood on a pillow. Over the years attempts to locate information were of no avail but the initial bonding of brothers did not diminish. Then in 2000, through a World War II B-17 web site, a summary of the aircraft's missions and a list of the 10 crewmates were discovered. An intensive investigation was set into motion beginning with a shocking conversation with the crewmate who found his wounded brother in the burning aircraft and helped him bail out. Beyond all belief, eyewitnesses were located on a Dutch island (Texel) that saw Eugene parachute through the mist and also saw his badly damaged B-17 roar over their heads 60 years previous. Then just prior to a memorial honoring the crew in May 2007, a piece of the B-17 was found on the Texel beach, and additional pieces were discovered since then. In 2009 the former wife of the lead pilot was located, she is 90 years of and had known all of the crew. She was in possession of a detailed letter written by a crew member just after the war that describes in detail the horror of combat on the plane. A PBS special is now underway on this search for the MIA. Fateful Flight of the Lonesome Polecat describes the story of the B-17 crew from its formation to the end of World War II and shares the compelling and emotional search for a missing loved one that will be of interest to anyhone searching for a missing loved one.

“Gone with the Wind,” He Said
“Gone with the Wind,” He Said

Author: Michael I. Darter

Publisher: Xlibris Corporation

Published: 2014-03-07

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1493162543

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This book documents the search for my MIA brother Eugene F. Darter, who, just after meeting his baby brother on a pillow, flew off to Nazi-occupied Europe and vanished on his first bombing mission over Germany. My investigation began with a random Internet search on his fifty-seventh birthday on January 3, 2000, that quickly resulted in the miraculous discovery of one of his crewmates who found him badly shot and collapsed in a pool of blood in their shattered and burning B-17. Along the path of discovery were some amazing miracles, including discovering his surviving crew and their families, what happened to his two other MIA crewmates, pieces of his bomber on the beach a few days before a long planned memorial, and most importantly, eyewitnesses who saw crew members captured by the Nazis on a Dutch island. However, the greatest discovery was an eyewitness who saw an American airman come down through the fog and splash down into the sea, crying for help, but then carried away by the fierce wind farther out into the freezing sea beyond reach. “Gone with the wind” was his description of the shocking event unfolding in the stormy sea just in front of him. This book will be of particular interest to many families who have MIAs that number more than eighty-three thousand in America’s wars. There is so much information available today on the Internet, in databases, individual researchers in the US and abroad, and in the National Archives for searching for your beloved MIA. There is also a great deal of assistance from the US government, who has many teams in the field every day searching, finding, identifying, and bringing home our hero MIAs.

The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond
The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond

Author: Ian Hawkins

Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.

Published: 2012-07-31

Total Pages: 385

ISBN-13: 1597977128

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The 95th Bomb Group (Heavy), the most highly decorated bomb group of World War II, participated in every major mission of the war in Europe from May 1943 through the warÆs end and was awarded an unprecedented three Presidential Unit Citations. Flying the celebrated B-17 Flying Fortress, the 95th was the first U.S. bomb group to bomb Berlinùa feat that put it on the centerfold of Life magazineùand the last group to lose a plane over Europe in World War II. Over six hundred men in the 95th never came home. The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond is the first book to cover a World War II bomb group from its inception through the present day. Utilizing interviews with nearly a hundred air war veterans, dozens of unpublished crew memoirs, all the bomb groupÆs official mission reports from the National Archives, and nearly a hundred other sources, author Rob Morris (assisted by air war historian Ian Hawkins) provides a deep tactical and human understanding of the group. Also included are the stories of the veteransÆ wives and families, who fought a different kind of war at home, and the residents of Horham, whose tiny English village was suddenly on the warÆs front lines. Intensely human, exhaustively researched, and lovingly told, this book is certain to be a classic in the field and a resource for anyone interested in the workings of a World War II bomb group.

Flying Man
Flying Man

Author: Richard Byers

Publisher:

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781623494643

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Preface: Dessau: the city in green -- Introduction -- The war years, 1914-1918 -- The Russian affair, 1918-1924 -- Diverging paths, 1921-1926 -- On the edge, 1927-1932 -- Twilight and eclipse, 1932-1935.

B-17 Nose Art Name Directory
B-17 Nose Art Name Directory

Author: Wallace R. Forman

Publisher: Specialty Press

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13:

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A product of years of statistical research, this detailed listing of over 7,800 Consolidated B-17s in all their variations from the WWII era, provides the aircraft's name and, where available, group, squadron and serial number.

Letters From The Earth
Letters From The Earth

Author: Mark Twain

Publisher: Youcanprint

Published: 2017-04-04

Total Pages: 60

ISBN-13: 8892658379

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The Creator sat upon the throne, thinking. Behind him stretched the illimitable continent of heaven, steeped in a glory of light and color; before him rose the black night of Space, like a wall. His mighty bulk towered rugged and mountain-like into the zenith, and His divine head blazed there like a distant sun. At His feet stood three colossal figures, diminished to extinction, almost, by contrast -- archangels -- their heads level with His ankle-bone. When the Creator had finished thinking, He said, "I have thought. Behold!" He lifted His hand, and from it burst a fountain-spray of fire, a million stupendous suns, which clove the blackness and soared, away and away and away, diminishing in magnitude and intensity as they pierced the far frontiers of Space, until at last they were but as diamond nailheads sparkling under the domed vast roof of the universe. At the end of an hour the Grand Council was dismissed. They left the Presence impressed and thoughtful, and retired to a private place, where they might talk with freedom. None of the three seemed to want to begin, though all wanted somebody to do it.