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by John E. Bommarito (Author)
WE KEPT 'EM FLYING takes you on a 5-year "tour-of-duty" with a U.S. Army Air Corps service squadron during World War II. Its 267 pages tell how the 212 men of the 57th helped win the air war over N. Africa, Sicily, Italy, France and Germany using mechanical skills and hand tools as their weapons. Working just behind front lines in seven different theatres of war, they were constant targets of an enemy bent on destroying Allied air power. Writing in an informal "you were there" style, the author recounts the entire existence of the 57th, from its formation in 1941 to its disbanding in 1945. You will be with the men of the 57th every step of the way, from basic training in Portland, Oregon, through their many battlefield exploits across Africa and Europe, to their celebrations of triumph in Germany. You'll learn what it was to be a member of the ground crew attached to a fighter-bomber attack group always moving its base forward, right on the heels of the advancing infantry. The author shows you the integral part played by the 57th throughout the progression of the European conflict. He has gathered historical facts from U.S. Air Force archives and drawn on the memories of the few remaining members of the 57th to present to the public a little known aspect of WWII.
