Black Thursday

Posted on by

The longest day for the B 17 s in World War II Superb NY Times On Thursday, October 14, 1943, two hundred and ninety one B 17 Flying Fortresses set out for a strategic bombing raid on the factories in Schweinfurt Sixty of those planes never returned and six hundred and fifty men were lost during the course of that mission It was the greatest failure that the United States Air Force had ever suffered and became known as Black Thursday Martin Caidin s Black Thursday The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid is a brilliant account of that day that should never be forgotten This book uncovers in thrilling detail the build up to that fateful raid as the ground crew prepare the aircraft and the aviators are briefed on their mission ahead By consulting with first hand accounts and interviewing survivors Caidin s book takes the reader to the heart of the action as the planes burst into battle in the skies above Western Europe It is documented in the same careful kind of research which makes the whole book so successful Excellent Kirkus Reviews Martin Caidin was an American author and an authority on aeronautics and aviation Caidin was an airplane pilot as well, and bought and restored a 1936 Junkers Ju 52 airplane His book Black Thursday was first published in 1960 He passed away in 1997. Free Read Black Thursday By Martin Caidin For Kindle ePUB or eBook – kino-fada.fr This is a poetical book in some ways Many of the descriptions of airfields, planes, and flying conditions are written in almost lyrical terms, and yet the reality of Black Thursday is always there 60 B 17s did not return from bombing Schweinfurt that day 60 planes and 600 men, although some of the men did survive to be captured or, if they were as fortunate as Staff Sergeant Peter Seniawsky, who survived on the run for 6 weeks with the help o...The Truly Greatest Generation I have read hundreds of books on the histories of war Somehorrific than others going back as far as history can carry us The story described in this book ranks among the most incredibly horror filled imaginable It paints a picture of a struggle that is difficult to visualize as being within the ability of human beings to endure without them all attempting to run from in terror It says much about the quality of that generation we now refer to as The Greates The Truly Greatest Generation I have read hundreds of books on the histories of war Somehorrific than others going back as far as history can carry us The story described in this book ranks among the most incredi...This book is intense It portrays the absolute horror of the aerial war in vivid, graphic prose Reading through it made me feel a moral imperative to ensure we never fight a war like this again.A love of mine is WWII aerial warfare and while I ve read books by Martin Middlebrook, Bruce Gamble, and others I hadn t read any by Martin Caiden and have to say I m impressed While I was expecting the usual pre mission, mission, post mission with veterans inputs as well as giving us the unit inputs Mr Caiden is different there s feeling and emotion Mr Caiden does follow the script but rather than focusing on the mission and then the men Mr Caiden primarily brings the story and emotions o A love of mine is WWII aerial wa...I would strongly recommend this type of historical material bewidely included in standard public school curriculum Far too many of our citizens have never been educated in why we are so blessed, and the price that the greatest generation paid We owe them that at least If the origina...The second raid on Schweinfurt on October 14, 1943 was as successful as the first raid in August 17,1943 it wasn t It took the planners two raids, deep into Germany territory to realize that without fighter escort, the B 17 and B 24 Liberators were nothingthan target practice for the Luftwaffe pilots This book covers the second raid and the heroism shown by American pilots Can you imagine willingly flying into hell in the daylight to Schweinfurt with no fighter cover to and from the targ The second raid on Schweinfurt on October 14, 1943 was as successful as the first raid in August 17,1943 it wasn t It took the planners two raids, de...This book may not appeal to many, but as a private pilot I found it totally engrossing Although Caidin waxes poetic a bit much in the first couple of chapters, overall it s not a problem What IS a problem, however, are the numerous typos in the book Example WW H instead of WW II , in fine instead of in line and so on In I must have noticed fifty ortypos If nothing else it s distracting The book was written around 1961 or 1962 only seventeen years after WW II The author does a This book may not appeal to many, but as a private pilot I found it totally engrossing Although Caidin waxes poetic a bit much in the first couple of chapters, overall it s not a problem What IS a problem, however, are the numerous typos in the book Example WW H instead of WW II , in fine instead of in line and so on In I must have noticed fifty ortypos If nothing else it s distracting The book was written around 1961 or 1962 only seventeen years after WW II The author does a superb and incredible job of describing the horrors of aerial combat from the inside of a B 17 during the Schweinfurt raid of October 14, 1943 In the lead up to the raid, he details the screw ups and mis conceptions by commanding off...Atrocious writing, do yourself a favor and pass on this bookAs an example of just how bad the writing is, the author uses the word literally twice within a few paragraphs to describe situations which were not literally true.Beyond that, he skips back and forth cronologically making the book difficult...Incredibly Descriptive readI consider myself a self proclaimed student of WW II, and have read about the marines bivouacted on remote Pacific Islands, about US submarines trying desperately avoid Japanese escort depth charge attacks, about the Army slogging across Europe, but the air war over Nazi occupied Europe is one of the most harrowing accounts I have EVER read.These airmen HAD to stay on course as well as remain in formation for protection against the German Luftwaffe, and deliver thei Incredibly Descriptive r...IncredibleI ve read countless books and seenmovies on WW2 than I can count, but none of them provided the detail and information contained in this book The bravery of these fliers and their sacrifice cannot be overstated Additionally, the ability of the B 17 to sustain damage yet continue to fly engines shot out, control surfaces frozen or gone, huge holes And nowhere else have I seen that the Germans used air to air rockets One hit in the right place on a B 17 and the plane just disa IncredibleI ve read countless books and seenmovies on WW2 than I can count, but none of them provided the detail and information contained in this book The bravery of these fliers and their sacrifice cannot be overstated Additionally, the ability of the B 17 to sustain damage yet continue to fly engines shot out, control surfaces frozen or gone, huge holes And nowhere else have I seen that the Germans used air to air rockets One hit in the ri...

Black Thursday
  • 21 July 2017
  • Kindle Edition
  • 260 pages
  • Martin Caidin
  • Black Thursday