Of all the fighting men of WWII, we know probably more about the life of the aviator than any other. While the infantryman spent his war huddled in foxholes, sweating out marches, or fighting the enemy, he had little time at the end of the day to sit and jot down his impressions of what had been going on. Much the same with sailors. For while their lives were more hours, days, weeks, of boredom and routine, interspersed with a few hours of incredibly intense combat, few of those men took the time to write about daily existence, since most of it was thought routine and therefore uninteresting.

The aviator, however, is a different case. In particular the crews of bombers. These men did not generally fly every day, often with several between missions. Yet their missions were long and normally fraught with periods of intense combat. These men, when they were able to return, did take the time to sit down and ponder over what had happened to them during their time in combat. So we know a lot about them.

Author Fremont-Barnes has used a number of well known sources to provide us with first hand accounts of what these men went through. Like others in the series, there are sections on recruitment, the specialized training they undertook, how they dressed for their missions and the equipment they used.  Probably the most interesting part of things are the accounts of daily life. This not only covers the actual crewmen, but also the vast army of support staff, mechanics, loaders and others that are required to keep the planes in the air.

Experiences of battle covers a goodly section of the book. Here we hear from pilots, bombardiers, gunners and radio operators as to how they coped with the stresses of missions and in some cases, their capture and imprisonment after their planes have been shot down. All of this is superbly illustrated using period photos and the artwork of Sean O'Brogain.

In all, a superb look at these men and the job they performed in helping to gain the ultimate victory.

May 2008

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