Books and Videos of Interest

George Preddy: Top Mustang Ace
Joe Noah & Sam Sox

This book takes you along on all Preddy's greatest missions, including the August 6, 1944 mission over Berlin on which he shot down a record six ME 109s!

Written by Preddy's cousin Joe Noah and ace historian Samuel L. Sox, Jr., this book tells this great ace's story first hand, through Preddy's diary excerpts, the personal remembrances of those who flew with him and official combat reports.

Preddy, The Mustang Ace - Video

Preddy, The Mustang Ace is a highly acclaimed mini-documentary of America's highest scoring Mustang ace. Witness the action-packed career of one of the most skillful fighter pilots of WWII. See the gun camera film when he shot down six Me 109s in five minutes.

Michael O'Leary says this video breaks new ground: "Absolutely first rate ... Highly recommended"

The Greatest Generation
Tom Brokaw

Veteran reporter and NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw went to France to make a documentary marking the 40th anniversary of D-day in 1984. Although he was thoroughly briefed on the historical background of the invasion, he was totally unprepared for how it would affect him emotionally. Flooded with childhood memories of World War II, Brokaw began asking veterans at the ceremony to revisit their past and talk about what happened, triggering a chain reaction of war-torn confessions and Brokaw's compulsion to capture their experiences in what he terms "the permanence a book would represent.

The Greatest Generation Speaks : Letters and Reflections
Tom Brokaw

The popularity and credibility of charismatic news anchor Tom Brokaw ensured bestseller status for The Greatest Generation, Brokaw's homage to the Americans who survived and overcame the depression and World War II. The Greatest Generation Speaks expands his thesis that we owe a huge debt of gratitude to those tough and courageous men and women for ensuring the freedoms and comforts that Americans enjoy today. Their stories, culled from letters, interviews, and personal histories of the Greatest Generation and their family members, are anecdotal but extremely powerful, showing how men and women were sustained by simple ideals of patriotism, family, and fair play. This individualistic portrait is exactly how Americans saw themselves: Brokaw's book is a valid reflection of the times.

The Mighty Eighth : The Air War in Europe As Told by the Men Who Fought It
Gerald Astor

The harrowing tale of the aerial counterattack mounted from British soil follows the Army Air Corps and newly created Eighth Air Force on their mission to deep into the heart of the German war machine.

To Win the Winter Sky
Danny S. Parker

This book covers Operation Bodenplatte, Jan 1, 1945, when the fighter bases were attacked by large numbers of German fighters. That's the day that 12 487th pilots of the 352nd took off under a strafing attack and shot down 23 German fighters over and near Asch, Belgium without a loss.

Aces and Wingmen II: Men, Machines and Units of the United States Army Air Force
Danny Morris

Review coming soon!

Mustang Aces of the Eighth Air Force
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Series, No. 1
Jerry Scutts

This is a great book for an introduction into the Mustang and the men who flew them and became Aces. There are other books / biographies devoted to much more detail about the Pilots and the P-51 aircraft, but for a high level look and different variations this book gets my vote.

One chapter is dedicated to the 352nd and there are several color profiles of famous 352nd aircraft.

Long Reach Deep Fighter Escort Tactics of VIII Fighter Command
Osprey Aircraft of the Aces Series, No. 31
Michael O'Leary

This volume focuses on a previously unpublished official Army Air Force report commissioned by the Eighth Air Forces VIII Fighter Command (FC) in May 1944. The detailed document chronicled the frontline experiences of 24 pilots who had seen extensive service in the frontline escorting B-17s and B-24s on daylight raids deep into Germany. Exactly half of those pilots who contributed to The Long Reach subsequently achieved ace status, all contributing their "pearls of wisdom." A tremendous wealth of first-hand accounts never before seen in print that were actually written at the time in the European Theater of Operations. 26 original artworks specially commissioned for this volume, all of which have been painstakingly researched from original sources.

Missions Remembered: Recollections of the World War II Air War
The Men of the Middle Tennessee WWII Fighter Pilots Association

Written by the fighter pilots themselves and compiled and edited by John K. Breast, this is a unique anthology of the personal exploits of members of the Middle Tennessee WWII Fighter Pilots Association. This is a book you can enjoy in ten minutes of ten hours with 85 individual accounts written by 35 pilots. Collectively they flew nearly every type of fighter in every theater of war and won almost every kind of medal that can be awarded to a pilot. This book graphically illustrates the courage, the exhilaration of combat - and the exhaustion - of that era in a way no work of fiction can.

Happy Jack's Go Buggy : A Fighter Pilot's Story
Jack Ilfrey and Mark S. Copeland

Originally written in 1946, this autobiography of this 20th Fighter Group ace has been expanded with many new photographs, a special color section, and detailed aircraft profiles.

Jack is an entertaining writer who takes you with him in his P-38 as you read the combat stories which brought him early acedom flying over North Africa and later in the 8th Air Force flying out of England. Jack's exploits are legend and it is exciting to fly combat with him in his book.

Donald's Story
Sandra Merrill

Sandra Merrill has achieved the remarkable task of telling three stories at once...Donald and his family then, her experience of rediscovery now, and the overall history of the 4th Fighter Group in WWII.

To Fly and Fight : Memoirs of a Triple Ace
C. E. "Bud" Anderson

Triple Ace Col. "Bud" Anderson takes you to his first encounters with aircraft as a young boy in rural California. With WWII Captain Anderson finds himself flying missions over Nazi Germany and encountering a number of talented Luftwaffe pilots as the 357th FG makes its effort for Air Supremacy in 1944.

Mustang Ace : Memoirs of a P-51 Fighter Pilot
Robert J. Goebel

Bob Goebel relates his experiences clearly and succinctly, and those experiences are most interesting to the WWII flying buff. He even makes his days before combat flying interesting and informative. His narration of combat flying is thrilling and suspenseful!

Herky! : The Memoirs of a Checkertail Ace
Herschel H. Green

Here is the dramatic life story of one of the legendary USAAF fighter pilots of WWII who fought across the skies over the Mediterranean and southern Europe in the great aerial campaigns against the Luftwaffe.

Gabby : A Fighter Pilot's Life
Francis Gabreski and Carl Molesworth

The memoir of an fighter pilot who achieved ace status in two wars. In WWII he became the ETO's top ace, with 28 confirmed kills in aerial combat. Gabreski was sent to Korea in 1951 as a wing commander. Flying F-86 Sabrejets in Korea, he was credited with downing more than six enemy planes.

Thunderbolt! : An Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace
Robert S. Johnson

THUNDERBOLT provided me a chance to sit in the cockpit of a P-47 in the ETO. Cpt. Robert "Bob" Johnson walks you through his young childhood, love of flying and the motivation to be the best while other pilots in the 56th FG had real doubts about the new pilot. He will talk to you about techniques, chance encounters with the enemy and almost being killed. If you enjoy WWII history with the 8th AF in Europe you will find it hard to put this great book down.

Fighter Combat : Tactics and Maneuvering
Robert L. Shaw

Explains the art and science of air-to-air combat as no book has before. The culmination of eight years of effort by veteran fighter pilot Robert L. Shaw, this book brings together for the first time in one volume all the theory, mechanics, history, and spirit of the past seventy years of air combat.

North American Aviation : P-51 Mustang (Production Line to Frontline)
Michael O'Leary

This book follows the P-51 from the raw metal phase, through construction and testing, to the combat theatres. Using the best official and private archival black & white and color material available, all the facts behind the Mustang's construction are revealed.

Allied Fighter Aces : The Air Combat Tactics and Techniques of World War II
Mike Spick

Mike Spick, examines in detail every major theater of the air war in WWII, compares the aircraft and operational conditions, and highlights individual tactics and methods of individual aces.

Several books describing the activities of the 352nd FG in Europe are currently out-of-print. Amazon can often find these books if you make a request! Click on any link to jump to the amazon site. Good luck!