Osprey Combat Aircraft 36 : B-17 Flying Fortress Units of the Eighth Air Force (2)

The Boeing B-17 has come to epitomise the American war effort in Europe, the huge four-engined heavy day bomber taking the fight to Germans from the late summer of 1942 through to VE-Day. The primary operator of the Flying Fortress in Western Europe was the 'Mighty Eighth', who controlled no fewer than 27 bomb groups for much of the war. This book, which is the second of two dealing exclusively with the 'Mighty Eighth', covers the 14 Bomb Groups of the Third Air Division, each of which controlled four squadrons. The evolution of the force is traced through first-hand accounts of those individuals that took part in the action, whilst the book itself is illustrated with period images of aircraft and aircrews, as well as 40 newly-originated artworks (and nose-art scrap views) featuring aircraft from each of the air groups within the Third Air Division. Text by Martin Bowman with illustrations by Mark Styling.