Clean Sweep: VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
(Author)
Clarence E. Bud Anderson
(Foreword by)
Description
A vivid narrative 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 events of major military importance occurred on separate sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive, landing the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the new Eighth Air Force's 97th Bombardment Group 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
Price
$32.00
$29.76
Publisher
Osprey Publishing (UK)
Publish Date
May 23, 2023
Pages
464
Dimensions
6.1 X 8.9 X 2.4 inches | 1.9 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781472855480
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years, with his most recent work being the best-selling Osprey titles The Frozen Chosen (2016), Pacific Thunder (2017), Tidal Wave (2018), Holding the Line (2019), MiG Alley (2019), and I Will Run Wild (2020). He is also the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam and currently lives in Encino, California.
Reviews
"The European air war from 1942 to 1945 is a daunting subject, but Tom Cleaver's study of VIII Fighter Command contributes to our broader knowledge of 'The Mighty Eighth' with detailed coverage of personalities and events, plus insightful analysis." --Barrett Tillman, author of 'When the Shooting Stopped: August 1945'
"Drawing from USAAF and Luftwaffe post-combat reports, technical manuals, and personal accounts, Cleaver's work has a crackling immediacy, giving the reader a genuine sense of what these pilots and ground crews experienced, along with providing historical context to the decisions and actions taken by the combatants throughout the air war." --Lynn Ritger, author of 'The Messerschmitt BF 109' "The brilliance of Tom Cleaver's latest effort - Clean Sweep - rests on the back of his grub-around-in-every-corner-and-under-every-rock research. He brings shiny gems to us - accounts, recollections, facts and perspectives that are fresh, and that complete a story that is too often told with soulless numbers and numbing narratives. Heartily recommended." --LtCol Jay A. Stout, USMC (Ret.), author of 'Fighter Group: The 352nd "Blue-Nosed Bastards" in World War II' "This is a first class history of the campaign that was instrumental to Allied victory during the Second World War." --History of War "A well-focused history of the costly U.S. Air Force campaign over Europe that fatally degraded the Nazi war machine." --Library Journal "Cleaver provides a wonderful balance of narrative history with personal recollections, examining both sides of the battle and giving the reader a front seat to some of the amazing flying stories of these early heroes of air combat.... This is another excellent volume in his library of American air combat." --New York Journal of Books "Thanks to his unflinching research ethic, and a smooth, pleasurable narrative style, author Tom Cleaver teaches, not as if in a barren classroom, but as a father to a mature son or daughter. Good news or bad. Warts and all. You will learn what happened... Highly, Highly Recommended." --ARGUNNERS "Clean Sweep is an excellent book... This book was so well written that I felt bad for the young German pilots towards the end of the war... Overall, I would highly recommend this book. Clean Sweep is full of great historical characters and stories full of valor and bravery." --Litcurious
