During the preparation of the Normandy Invasion, the American high command realized soon enough that the 8th Air Force, which was wholly committed to strategic bombing, could not undertake the close support of ground units in this major offensive. The keystone of operation "Overlord" would indeed be mastery of the skies: tactical aviation had to be able to intervene quickly and precisely, and to operate from bases on the Continent.

The heavy bombers, as they were dependent on large and permanent airfields, could not be called upon for such tasks. The concept of on-call tactical air support was therefore paramount in the Overlord plans and the 9th Air Force was transferred to England for this purpose.

The book contains hundreds of large format period pictures of actual missions, planes and crews; as well as personal mementoes and reproductions from servicemen's scrapbooks. There are color plates of all the famous aircraft and their colorful livery (including nose art) together with full-color reenactment shots of the aircrew allowing for all the details of their flying clothing and equipment to be seen in extreme.

Author: Pons, Gregory
Pages: 196
Language: English
Edition: 1
Year of publication: 2008
Dimensions: 32 x 30 cm
Binding: Hardcover
Weight: 1.50 kg