Read by Traber Burns

The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who-in the aggregate-actually won it. They are the recollections of your Uncle Frank who shared them only after having enjoyed a beer, of your old girlfriend's grandfather who passed away about the same time she dumped you, and of the craggy guy who ran the town's salvage yard, a dusty, fly-specked B-24 model hung over the counter. These are "everyman" accounts that are important but fast disappearing. Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific Ocean by a heavy cruiser's main battery during the second battle of the Philippine Sea. Jesse Barker, a displaced dive-bomber pilot, tells of dodging naval bombardments in the stinking mud of Guadalcanal. Bob Popeney relates how his friend and fellow A-20 pilot was blown out of formation by German anti-aircraft fire: "I could see the inside of the airplane-and I could see Nordstrom's eyes. He looked confused … and then immediately he flipped up and went tumbling down." The combat careers of twenty-two different pilots from all the services are captured in this crisply written book that captivates the listener not only as an engaging oral history but also by putting personal context into the great air battles of World War II. "The finest compilation of first-person accounts of what it is like to go to war in the air." "Crisply written…an engaging history that gives a personal context to the great air battles of World War II." "An excellent and very readable collection of the individual stories that made up American air power during the war." "The author nicely sets the scene for his interviewees and then lets them tell their own story with minimal interlocution…Briskly flowing text keeps the spotlight on the subjects and engages the reader from the outset." "Jay Stout has written one of the finest tributes to the fighting men of the greatest generation, concentrating not on the famous aces whose actions are well known, but on the 'ordinary man' who rose to greatness when the situation demanded it. The author's deep research and innate writing ability merge to make this book a must for every aviation library." "Unsung Eagles offers a rare cockpit perspective…Features an extraordinary variety of accounts from airmen―many now deceased―that will become more valuable as the generation that fought the greatest air campaigns of all time continues to depart."

Mode of access: World Wide Web