Synopses & Reviews
Review
"For those who never flew in combat, and for those who did and were charmed survivors, John Muirhead chronicles his own experiences as a B-17 pilot flying out of southern Italy. Muirhead was involved in many of the war's toughest air campaigns— the raids on the Messerschmitt factories at Regensburg and the oil fields at Ploesti— raids that occurred early in 1944, when the Germans still had plenty of experienced fighter pilots. With his second raid on Ploesti, Muirhead's war ended, and the book continues with a description of his days in a Bulgarian POW camp. This work is at its finest when the pilot turned author simply describes what he saw: It was terrifying! But too often, Muirhead strives to reflect upon the events of his past in an overdone, philosophic prose that partially cripples the whole, like a bomber churning along with one prop feathered." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)