Unsung Eagles: True Stories of America's Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II

by Jay A. Stout

Overview

“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."—Walter Boyne, former director of the National Air & Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution

“Unsung Eagles offers a rare cockpit perspective of World War II in the air. Jay Stout’s anthology 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 the pattern.”—Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945

The nearly half-million American airmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. In Unsung Eagles, award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay Stout has saved 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.

These are “everyman” accounts that are important but fast disappearing. Ray Crandall describes how he was nearly knocked into the Pacific 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 antiaircraft 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 22 different pilots from all the services are captured in this crisply written book which captivates the reader not only as an engaging oral history, but also puts personal context into the great air battles of World War II.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612003948
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	05/03/2016
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	762,122
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Jay Stout is a native of Indiana and a graduate of Purdue University. He was commissioned into the Marine Corps and earned his designation as a naval aviator in 1983 with orders to fly the F-4 Phantom II. He later transitioned to the F/A-18 Hornet. As a Hornet pilot, he flew 37 combat missions during Desert Storm. During his 20-year career, he logged more than 4,700 flight hours. The author of 14 books, he works as an operational expert in the defense industry, is a regular public speaker, and lives with his wife near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Preface
Prologue

1 Americans Under Other Flags: John A. Campbell
2 tigers in the Fray: Ken Jernstedt
3 Dive Bombers at Guadalcanal: Jesse Barker
4 Army Fighters Over Guadalcanal: Julius Jacobson
5 North Africa and the Pacific: Hamilton McWhorter
6 The Early Fight: John “Jack” Walker
7 Heroes at Home: Mort Blumenfeld
8 Civilians in Uniform: Rudolph W. Matz
9 Americans Over China: Walt Kaestner
10 Crushing the Reich: Howard “Jack” Dentz
11 Photo Reconnaissance: Willard Caddell
12 Attack and medium Bombers Over Northern Europe: Harry “Bob” Popeney
13 Low Level Fury: Roman Ohnemus
14 Second Battle of the Philippine Sea: Ray Crandall and Richard Deitchman
15 Downed in Yugoslavia: Howard O. Wilson
16 Breakout Across Europe: Robert Macdonald
17 Night Armed Reconnaissance: Alvin E.“Bud” Anderson
18 The Sharecropper’s Son Bombs Hitler: George M. Kesselring
19 Cold and Deadly Sea: Donald Whitright
20 Escorts Over Europe: Herman Schonenberg
21 A Can of Peaches: Emilius Roger Ciampa

Acknowledgments
Index

Editorial Reviews

"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."

Walter Boyne

Unsung Eagles offers a rare cockpit perspective of World War II in the air. Jay Stout’s anthology 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 the pattern.

Barrett Tillman

"I would like to Salute Lt. Colonel Jay Stout, Retired Marine fighter pilot, and current senior analyst for a major defense contractor as well as a well known Author of three major titles published by Casemate Publishers. This is a humorous book a serious book, a history book, an interesting, instructive and entertaining all around grand book. It is easy to read and I do recommend you to buy this book in hardcover because you will want it for your library for sure. Even if you are not an aviation enthusiast you will still enjoy this one due to the valuable historic content. It is well written and you won’t want to put it down once you start reading this fine book."

20th Century Aviation Magazine

"...crisply written book. It is an engaging history that gives a personal context to the great air battles of Of World War II."

Flypast

"The author nicely sets the scene for his interviewees and then lets them tell their own story with minimal interlocution. Crisply edited with the support of famed aviation writer Eric Hammel, the briskly flowing text keeps the spotlight on the subjects and engages the reader from the outset. This is a book you will turn to time and again to learn more about the citizen airmen who merit only a brief mention in basic histories"

Air Power History

"Through the recollections of airmen whose deeds were largely unrecognized, Jay Stout—a veteran fighter pilot himself—gives the reader a real understanding of who these men were and what they did in answer to their nation's call"

Tom Ivie

"Finally, a serious aviation historian has written an exciting book about the unheralded heroes who fought World War II from the sky. This book—in which the veterans tell their own stories—is a long overdue tribute. Most highly recommended."

Bob "Punchy" Powell

"Jay Stout writes smart, interesting books because he's always on the lookout for interesting people to interview, and he always asks them interesting and unusual questions born of his own curiosity. Unsung Eagles is smart, interesting, well written and pleasantly unusual. It will take you off the beaten track,"

Eric Hammel

An incredible work that captures the true voices of America's World War II flyers before they are gone forever. Stout—through the eyes of these unsung eagles—gracefully navigates us through stormy skies and whirling dogfights in a way that is enthralling, heartbreaking, and sometimes funny but never boring."

Michael Franzak

"… the finest compilation of first person accounts of what it is like to go to war in the air…"

Air and Space Magazine

"... a fine book about the citizen of airman of World War II. This is an oral history instead of a traditional history. It is the remembrances of the ordinary men who answered the call of their country. ..It doesn't give you the global, geopolitical strategies or the military master plan. Instead you get snap shots of the young men as you put their piece of the puzzle into the larger picture. It helps to see the bigger picture a little more clearly from the average airman's point of view...enjoyable, easy reading, and well worth the purchase price. Well done!"

Kepler’s Military History

"a very worthwhile project, and the result is an excellent and very readable collection of the individual stories that made up American air power during the war."

History of War

"... a fine book about the citizen of airman of World War II. This is an oral history instead of a traditional history. It is the remembrances of the ordinary men who answered the call of their country. ..It doesn't give you the global, geopolitical strategies or the military master plan. Instead you get snap shots of the young men as you put their piece of the puzzle into the larger picture. It helps to see the bigger picture a little more clearly from the average airman's point of view...enjoyable, easy reading, and well worth the purchase price. Well done!"

Kepler’s Military History

I would like to Salute Lt. Colonel Jay Stout, Retired Marine fighter pilot, and current senior analyst for a major defense contractor as well as a well known Author of three major titles published by Casemate Publishers. This is a humorous book a serious book, a history book, an interesting, instructive and entertaining all around grand book. It is easy to read and I do recommend you to buy this book in hardcover because you will want it for your library for sure. Even if you are not an aviation enthusiast you will still enjoy this one due to the valuable historic content. It is well written and you won’t want to put it down once you start reading this fine book.

20 th Century Aviation Reviews

... a fine book about the citizen of airman of World War II. This is an oral history instead of a traditional history. It is the remembrances of the ordinary men who answered the call of their country. ..It doesn't give you the global, geopolitical strategies or the military master plan. Instead you get snap shots of the young men as you put their piece of the puzzle into the larger picture. It helps to see the bigger picture a little more clearly from the average airman's point of view...enjoyable, easy reading, and well worth the purchase price. Well done!

Kepler's Military History Reviews

An incredible work that captures the true voices of America's World War II flyers before they are gone forever. Stout—through the eyes of these unsung eagles—gracefully navigates us through stormy skies and whirling dogfights in a way that is enthralling, heartbreaking, and sometimes funny but never boring."

author of A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harr Michael Franzak

Jay Stout writes smart, interesting books because he's always on the lookout for interesting people to interview, and he always asks them interesting and unusual questions born of his own curiosity. Unsung Eagles is smart, interesting, well written and pleasantly unusual. It will take you off the beaten track,

author of Aces against Japan Eric Hammel