A Wing and a Prayer

A Wing and a Prayer is Harry Crosby's remarkable story of his experiences as a navigator with the "Bloody 100th" Bomb Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force during World War II. The 100th, which began operating out of an air base in East Anglia in the spring of 1943, earned its nickname because of its appalling losses. Flying missions almost daily against strategic targets all over Europe in B-17's — the legendary four-engine bomber known as the "Flying Fortress" — by the end of the war the 100th had lost two hundred planes and 86 per cent of its original crews.
Crosby arrived with the first units and stayed until the war ended two years later. He was promoted to Group Navigator and survived thirty-seven missions — most airmen were sent home after twenty-five — including the three longest, to Trondheim, Norway; to Russia via Berlin; and to Africa via Regensburg, Germany. As lead navigator Crosby flew on most of the worst missions, experiencing dozens of harrowing and terrifying hairbreadth escapes from German anti-aircraft flak and fighter defences, and he writes about them with heart-stopping vividness, emotion, occasional humour, and a refreshing candour that make his narrative immensely appealing and real.
He also describes his reaction to "a funny kind of war" that combined the stress of leading two thousand planes to destroy Germany in the morning, of seeing his friends blown out of the sky, and then spending the evening in London with grateful English men and women.
His compelling and exciting book is a major contribution to the literature of World War II, and is sure to become a classic of that genre.



by Harry H. Crosby
Published by Robson Books 1993 1st edition. 336pp illustrated, index, maps, diagrams 16x24 mint, d/j fine.






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"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

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