Bøger af Barrett Tillman

A close look at the controversial command and strategies of the Air Force Chief of Staff, Curtis LeMay--a terrifying, complex, and brilliant general. In World War II, LeMay ordered the firebombing of Tokyo and was in charge when Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths--a fact he liked to celebrate by smoking Cuban cigars. But LeMay was also the man who single-handedly transformed the American air force from a ramshackle team of poorly trained and badly equipped pilots into one of the fiercest and most efficient weapons of the war. Over the last decades, most U.S. military missions were carried out entirely through the employment of the Air Force; this is part of LeMay's complicated legacy.Packed with breathtaking battles in the air and inspiring leadership tactics on the ground, LeMay will keep readers on their edge of their seats.

"Highly recommended as a sobering but enlightening account." Richard B. Frank, author of Downfall: The End of the Japanese Empire In the 44 months between December 1941 and August 1945, the Pacific Theater absorbed the attention of the American nation and military longer than any other. Despite the Allied grand strategy of "Germany first," after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. especially was committed to confronting Tokyo as a matter of urgent priority. But from Oahu to Tokyo was a long, sanguinary slog, averaging an advance of just three miles per day. The U.S. human toll paid on that road reached some 108,000 battle deaths, more than one-third the U.S. wartime total. But, by the summer of 1945, on both the American homefront and on the frontline, there was hope for surrender. Atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9 seemed sure to force Tokyo to capitulate to the Allies' demands made in Potsdam. What few understood, however, was the vast gap in the cultural ethos between East and West at that time. The Japanese cabinet refused to surrender and vicious dogfights were still fought in the skies above Japan. This fascinating new history tells the dramatic story of the final weeks of the war, detailing the last brutal battles on air, land and sea with evocative first-hand accounts from pilots and sailors caught up in these extraordinary events. Award-winning author and historical aviation expert Barrett Tillman expertly details the first weeks of a tenuous peace and the drawing of battle lines for the forthcoming Cold War as Soviet forces concluded their invasion of Manchuria. When the Shooting Stopped retells these dramatic events, drawing on accounts from all sides to relive the days when the war finally ended and the world was changed forever.

November 1943--May 1945--The U.S. Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler's vital oil production and industrial plants on the Third Reich's southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions s

A riveting Vietnam War story--and one of the most dramatic in aviation history--told by a New York Times bestselling author and a prominent aviation historian

The Godfather of Topgun tells the never-before-told story of the risk-takers, disruptors and innovators who revolutionized the art of aerial combat and created the center for excellence and incubator of leadership that thrives to this day.

For professional aviators and aviation buffs alike, this biography brings to life the legendary aircraft that scored the highest kill ratio of any U.S. fighter aircraft in the Vietnam War. The book is filled with authentic recreations of Crusader-MiG fights and vivid descriptions of the people and events that are part of the F-8 story.

The first monoplane aircraft ordered by the US Navy for carrier operations, the short-lived TBD Devastator saw action in the Battle of Midway. Scale drawings, original artwork and rare wartime colour photography illustrate the text, with crews describing their experiences.

The Grumman Avenger, in service from 1942, meted out severe retribution on the Japanese fleet thanks to a bomb bay large enough to carry the Navy's biggest torpedo. This detailed text presents scale drawings of the plane with crews explaining their experiences in battle in the Pacific.