Ian L. Hawkins – författare

The 95th Bomb Group achieved fame as the first unit to strike Berlin in a daylight raid and as the only combat group in Europe to win three Presidential Distinguished Unit Citations for courage and daring. B-17sOver Berlin is a unique compilation of vivid personal tales of the legendary 95th, told by the surviving crewmen themselves and the English villagers who knew them. Crashes, captures, thrilling escapes—these are the true stories of the furious air combat over Germany, Norway, and Poland that helped turn the tide of World War II.

The 95th Bomb Group (Heavy), the most highly decorated bomb group of World War II, participated in every major mission of the war in Europe from May 1943 through the war’s end and was awarded an unprecedented three Presidential Unit Citations. Flying the celebrated B-17 Flying Fortress, the 95th was the first U.S. bomb group to bomb Berlin-a feat that put it on the centerfold of Life magazine-and the last group to lose a plane over Europe in World War II. Over six hundred men in the 95th never came home. The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond is the first book to cover a World War II bomb group from its inception through the present day. Utilizing interviews with nearly a hundred air war veterans, dozens of unpublished crew memoirs, all the bomb group’s official mission reports from the National Archives, and nearly a hundred other sources, author Rob Morris (assisted by air war historian Ian Hawkins) provides a deep tactical and human understanding of the group. Also included are the stories of the veterans’ wives and families, who fought a different kind of war at home, and the residents of Horham, whose tiny English village was suddenly on the war’s front lines. Intensely human, exhaustively researched, and lovingly told, this book is certain to be a classic in the field and a resource for anyone interested in the workings of a World War II bomb group.