Solo into the Rising Sun: The Dangerous Missions of a U.S. Navy Bomber Squadron in World War II

by Ed Kittrell

Overview

When we think about World War II bombers, we picture formations of scores of bombers, escorted and protected by fighters, flying into enemy territory and bombing the hell out of the enemy. In Europe and usually the Pacific, this was the standard approach, but some bomber squadrons flew a different kind of mission. This was the case for VPB-117 – the Blue Raiders – unique not only because its B-24 Liberators flew for the U.S. Navy and not the Army, but also because most of the Raiders’ missions entailed bombers venturing out over the Pacific, alone, to seek and destroy on long-range missions of a thousand miles out and a thousand back, often at altitudes close enough for sea spray to cloud their windows. This is their story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780811769129
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	376
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Ed Kittrell is a journalist who holds a master’s in journalism from Northwestern University and who worked as a newspaper reporter in Chicago. He has been an independent writer for more than thirty years. He is the author, with his sons, of Down Time: Great Writers on Diving. He lives in Glenview, Illinois.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

There Was a Boy 1

Caught in the Current 5

Pop 19

The World We Face 39

I'll Be Seeing You 55

An Open Book 69

Dear Barbara 85

Snapshots 95

The Flying Cowboy 109

Smiling Dan 131

This Machine Kills Fascists 153

One of Those Days 177

The Vacant Air 183

Fire on the Water 191

Like a Prayer 201

Going Home 217

If They Could Speak 229

In the Light of Eternity 249

Wide as the Water 271

Notes 283

Bibliography 303

Acknowledgments 311

Index 313

About the Author 329