About this item
A gripping account of the heroism of bomber planes in 1943 -- the year the "Dambusters" embarked on a campaign to try to win World War II in one quick stroke. The year 1943 saw the beginning of an unprecedented bombing campaign against Germany. Over the next twelve months, tens of thousands of aircrews flew across the North Sea to drop bombs on German cities. They were opposed not only by the full force of the Luftwaffe, but by a nightmare of flak, treacherously icy conditions, and constant mechanical malfunction. Most of these courageous crews were either shot down and killed or taken prisoner by an increasingly hostile enemy. This is the story of the everyday heroism of these crews in the days when it was widely believed that the Allies could win the Second World War by air alone. American pilots had a special role in the "Dambusters" campaign in particular. Even before the attacks on Pearl Harbor, scores of eager pilots travelled across the Canadian border to train with other future "Dambusters," all eager to take part.Authoritative and gripping, Airborne in 1943 brings these remarkable men and women to vivid life. 16 pages of B&W photographs
About the Author
Kevin Wilson is the author of two collections, Tunneling to the Center of the Earth (Ecco/Harper Perennial, 2009) , which received an Alex Award from the American Library Association and the Shirley Jackson Award, and Baby You're Gonna Be Mine (Ecco, 2018) , and three novels, The Family Fang (Ecco, 2011) , Perfect Little World (Ecco, 2017) and Nothing to See Here (Ecco, 2019) , a New York Times bestseller and a Read with Jenna book club selection. His new novel, Now is Not the Time to Panic, will be published by Ecco in November of 2022. His fiction has appeared in Ploughshares, Southern Review, One Story, A Public Space, and elsewhere, and has appeared in Best American Short Stories 2020 and 2021, as well as The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012. He has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, and the KHN Center for the Arts. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his wife, the poet Leigh Anne Couch, and his sons, Griff and Patch, where he is an Associate Professor in the English Department at the University of the South.
