By Robert F. Dorr
Hardcover, 6.25 x 9.25
336 pages, 20 b/w photos, 2 maps
ISBN: 978-0-7603-3898-8
$28.00 / $30.00 CAN / £20.00
BUY NOW!
Hardcover, 6.25 x 9.25
336 pages, 20 b/w photos, 2 maps
ISBN: 978-0-7603-3898-8
$28.00 / $30.00 CAN / £20.00
BUY NOW!
"Told largely in the vivid words of the veterans themselves, the story puts you in the freezing-cold cockpit for a white-knuckle mission over heavily fortified enemy territory.
—Air Force Times
Between 1940 and 1945, the western Allies flew 314 bombing missions to Berlin. Germany’s capital was its largest city, the richest metropolitan center on the European continent, the sixth-largest city in the world—and a legitimate military target. It housed the headquarters of the Third Reich and the German armed forces. It had a dozen aircraft assembly plants and a similar number of factories for military vehicles. It was a vital rail and transportation hub. By any measurement, Berlin was the heart of the Reich, and it was protected to a degree befitting that status.
Berlin’s antiaircraft defenses stretched across more than forty miles of searchlights, flak batteries, and airfields brimming with German air force fighters—up to 1,600 combat-capable warplanes. Royal Air Force Lancaster crews ran this gauntlet under cover of darkness, carrying out the most sustained effort against a German city during the war. While the Britons went after cities at night, the Americans went after installations by day. Outgoing and returning bombers would sometimes pass each other in the early morning as the sun rose on the Reich.
The U.S. Eighth Air Force began its war on Berlin on March 4, 1944, followed by an all-out assault two days later, and, after a hiatus, continued from late 1944 until war’s end. The February 3, 1945, mission was the next-to-last major Eighth Air Force effort against Berlin and the largest bombing mission undertaken against a single target. Robert F. Dorr brings this mission to life through the words of official reports, airmen’s diaries, and his personal interviews of hundreds of veterans.
Mission to Berlin takes the reader on a World War II strategic bombing mission from the airfields of England to Berlin and back. Told largely in the veterans’ own words, Mission to Berlin covers all the players in a long-range bombing run, including pilots and other aircrew, ground crew, and escort fighters that accompanied the heavy bombers on their perilous missions. Long stretches of quiet flight high above the fields of Europe were punctuated by moments of intense danger and adrenalin as flak sliced through the hull and crew alike and German fighters pounced on the Allied aircraft. Bomber crews also faced high-altitude cold, lack of oxygen, fires, and explosions of their own ordnance, as well as crash landings or bailouts that could kill them or turn them into prisoners of war. As they fought their way across Europe, hoping to beat the odds and survive the maximum thirty-five combat missions, they often thought, “I hope we get Hitler today.”
About the Author
Robert F. Dorr is an Air Force veteran, a retired senior American diplomat, and the author of 60 books and thousands of magazine articles and newspaper columns about the Air Force and air warfare. He is a columnist for Air Force Times newspaper and writes the "Washington Watch" feature for Aerospace America magazine.
Bob has interviewed hundreds of veterans of World War II and maintains a photography archive of Air Force combat operations. Bob served in the Air Force in Korea (1957-60), and was a Foreign Service embassy at American embassies and consulates (1964-89) before becoming a fulltime author.
Bob is co-author of Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler’s Wehrmacht, the best-selling book ever at the Air & Space Museum in Washington DC (over 20,000 copies sold).
In the past, Bob has also written for Air and Space Smithsonian, Aerospace America, Flight Journal, as well as Air Forces Monthly, Air Power History, and many other publications. His book Air Force One, a history of presidential aircraft and air travel, has been praised by critics. Other recent books by Robert F. Dorr include Korean Air War, co-authored with Warren Thompson, and the Alpha Bravo Guide to the U. S. Army. Bob lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his family and Labrador retriever.
Berlin’s antiaircraft defenses stretched across more than forty miles of searchlights, flak batteries, and airfields brimming with German air force fighters—up to 1,600 combat-capable warplanes. Royal Air Force Lancaster crews ran this gauntlet under cover of darkness, carrying out the most sustained effort against a German city during the war. While the Britons went after cities at night, the Americans went after installations by day. Outgoing and returning bombers would sometimes pass each other in the early morning as the sun rose on the Reich.
The U.S. Eighth Air Force began its war on Berlin on March 4, 1944, followed by an all-out assault two days later, and, after a hiatus, continued from late 1944 until war’s end. The February 3, 1945, mission was the next-to-last major Eighth Air Force effort against Berlin and the largest bombing mission undertaken against a single target. Robert F. Dorr brings this mission to life through the words of official reports, airmen’s diaries, and his personal interviews of hundreds of veterans.
Mission to Berlin takes the reader on a World War II strategic bombing mission from the airfields of England to Berlin and back. Told largely in the veterans’ own words, Mission to Berlin covers all the players in a long-range bombing run, including pilots and other aircrew, ground crew, and escort fighters that accompanied the heavy bombers on their perilous missions. Long stretches of quiet flight high above the fields of Europe were punctuated by moments of intense danger and adrenalin as flak sliced through the hull and crew alike and German fighters pounced on the Allied aircraft. Bomber crews also faced high-altitude cold, lack of oxygen, fires, and explosions of their own ordnance, as well as crash landings or bailouts that could kill them or turn them into prisoners of war. As they fought their way across Europe, hoping to beat the odds and survive the maximum thirty-five combat missions, they often thought, “I hope we get Hitler today.”
About the Author
Robert F. Dorr is an Air Force veteran, a retired senior American diplomat, and the author of 60 books and thousands of magazine articles and newspaper columns about the Air Force and air warfare. He is a columnist for Air Force Times newspaper and writes the "Washington Watch" feature for Aerospace America magazine.
Bob has interviewed hundreds of veterans of World War II and maintains a photography archive of Air Force combat operations. Bob served in the Air Force in Korea (1957-60), and was a Foreign Service embassy at American embassies and consulates (1964-89) before becoming a fulltime author.
Bob is co-author of Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler’s Wehrmacht, the best-selling book ever at the Air & Space Museum in Washington DC (over 20,000 copies sold).
In the past, Bob has also written for Air and Space Smithsonian, Aerospace America, Flight Journal, as well as Air Forces Monthly, Air Power History, and many other publications. His book Air Force One, a history of presidential aircraft and air travel, has been praised by critics. Other recent books by Robert F. Dorr include Korean Air War, co-authored with Warren Thompson, and the Alpha Bravo Guide to the U. S. Army. Bob lives in Oakton, Virginia, with his family and Labrador retriever.
Reviews of Mission to Berlin
"In this fascinating volume, noted aviation historian Dorr uses official records, personal memoirs and first-person interviews to bring to vivid life the American airmen who braved flak, fighters, altitude and the elements to pound Adolf Hitler's capital into rubble and hasten the end of the Third Reich."
—Military History
"Dorr’s fascinating tale will be read at different levels, depending upon the knowledge of the reader. For some one just beginning to have an interest in World War II bombing operations, the author’s overall picture of the powerful event will lure the reader into reading more, and the author provides an excellent bibliography for that purpose. The knowledgeable reader will savor Mission to Berlin for its intimate detail and the rarely seen level of information about aerial warfare in both large and small scale. And for the expert, the person every author dreads, sitting there reading, waiting to pounce on each and every error, Dorr will offer a genuine challenge – he makes no mistakes."
—Defense Media Network
"Having authored a multitude of books and articles on the Air Force and Air warfare, Dorr should be the best person to illuminate the plight of the men who flew over Berlin on February 3, 1945. During the Berlin mission the Eighth Air Force launched 2,385 combat aircrafts from East Anglia targeting 'every subway station and every telephone pole in the city.' Ostensibly, this is the story of four of the men who flew in those planes, specifically the 'Flying Fortress' B-17, one of the most popular bombers of the European theatre. Those four men and their planes appear and reappear infrequently in the narrative. The book flits back and forth between their tales and those of a few hundred others while also intermingling stories of other flyers and other bombing runs. Pilots and dedicated fans of WWII aircraft will best appreciate this book and its details of the engines, guns, construction, and durability of the fighters and bombers that leveled Germany. At its core, this is a book about planes, not about men."
—Publishers Weekly
"Any military historian or individual interested in World War II, the air war, or the exploits of the men of the Eighth Air Force will find this a totally riveting book and one he or she want to add to his/her private library."
—Bookloons.com
"Mission to Berlin provides not only a detailed description of an Allied bombing campaign during World War II, but also an up-close and personal look at the individuals involved. Each part of the mission is described in a way that makes the reader feel that he or she is actually there, seeing what was going on as it happened. It makes readers appreciate the courage and skill of those who fought in the deadly skies over the 3rd Reich."
—Bowling Green Daily News
"This is an excellent account of the Berlin campaign...Dorr takes readers on a World War II strategic bombing mission from the airfields of England to Berlin and back. This is “you are there” reporting which covers all the players including pilots and other aircrew, ground crew, and escort fighters that accompanied the heavy bombers on their dangerous missions."
—Tucson Citizen
"Along with eight pages of photos, the highly readable narrative offers a picture of the war that you won't soon forget. If you are interested in World War II, military history in general, the exploits of the U.S. Eighth Air Force or what life was like aloft for a bomber pilot and his crew, this is a book you'll definitely want to read from cover to cover."
—Bookideas.com
