Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45
A vivid history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in 1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany.

On August 7, 1942, two major events occurred on opposite sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive with the First Marine Division landing on Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of Eighth Air Force bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.

Clean Sweep is the story of the creation, development and operation of the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command and the battle to establish daylight air superiority over the Luftwaffe so that the invasion of Europe could be successful.

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a lifelong interest in the history of the fighter force that defeated the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand accounts from participants over the past 50 years, getting to know pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee and Chuck Yeager, as well as meeting and interviewing leading Luftwaffe pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter “Count Punski” Krupinski. This story is told through accounts gathered from both sides.

1142038710
Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45
A vivid history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in 1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany.

On August 7, 1942, two major events occurred on opposite sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive with the First Marine Division landing on Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of Eighth Air Force bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.

Clean Sweep is the story of the creation, development and operation of the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command and the battle to establish daylight air superiority over the Luftwaffe so that the invasion of Europe could be successful.

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a lifelong interest in the history of the fighter force that defeated the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand accounts from participants over the past 50 years, getting to know pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee and Chuck Yeager, as well as meeting and interviewing leading Luftwaffe pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter “Count Punski” Krupinski. This story is told through accounts gathered from both sides.

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Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45

Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45

Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45

Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45

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Overview

A vivid history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in 1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany.

On August 7, 1942, two major events occurred on opposite sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive with the First Marine Division landing on Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of Eighth Air Force bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.

Clean Sweep is the story of the creation, development and operation of the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command and the battle to establish daylight air superiority over the Luftwaffe so that the invasion of Europe could be successful.

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a lifelong interest in the history of the fighter force that defeated the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand accounts from participants over the past 50 years, getting to know pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee and Chuck Yeager, as well as meeting and interviewing leading Luftwaffe pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter “Count Punski” Krupinski. This story is told through accounts gathered from both sides.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781472855480
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Publication date: 05/23/2023
Pages: 464
Sales rank: 405,365
Product dimensions: 9.30(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.70(d)

About the Author

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years, with his work including the best-selling Osprey titles The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club (2021), Going Downtown (2022), The Cactus Air Force (2022) alongside the late Eric Hammel, and most recently Clean Sweep (2023). Tom served in the US Navy in Vietnam and currently lives in Encino, California.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Brigadier General USAF (Ret.) Clarence "Bud" Anderson

Author Preface

Chapter One: The Most Important Day

Chapter Two: War on the Horizon

Chapter Three: Fledgling Fighters

Chapter Four: Yanks in the RAF

Chapter Five: Starting Over

Chapter Six: Opponents

Chapter Seven: VIII Fighter Command Struggles to Survive

Chapter Eight: The Battle Gets Serious

Chapter Nine: Against the Odds

Chapter Ten: Carrying On

Chapter Eleven: Mission 115 – The Day the Luftwaffe Won

Chapter Twelve: Reinforcement

Chapter Thirteen: End of the Beginning

Chapter Fourteen: Jimmy Doolittle Arrives

Chapter Fifteen: Blakeslee Takes Command

Chapter Sixteen: One-Man Air Force

Chapter Seventeen: Big Week

Chapter Eighteen: “I Knew the Jig Was Up”

Chapter Nineteen: The Battle of Germany

Chapter Twenty: Liberating Europe

Chapter Twenty-One: The Battle of Normandy

Chapter Twenty-Two: Oil: The Knockout Punch

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Road To Bodenplatte

Chapter Twenty-Four: Death of the Luftwaffe

Chapter Twenty-Five: A Clean Sweep

Bibliography

Glossary

Index

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