Military Books - Military Times

Bomber war's last days

It is easy to forget the courage of British and American bomber crews who waged the final air offensive against Germany in 1944 and 1945.

Numbers give us a clue: The United States lost 10,000 bombers in World War II.

The odds were no better for crews of four-engine British Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling bombers. As John Nichol and Tony Rennell write in "Tail-End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War, 1944-45," a Lancaster crew stood a less than 50 percent chance of completing 25 combat missions.

The authors use the term "Tail-End Charlies" to refer to the British and American aviators who fought at the end of the bomber campaign over Europe. The term is also British slang for a tail gunner. Alone and isolated in the rear fuselage, stalked by flak and fighters, the tail gunner faced challenges, but the authors are wrong in calling his the most dangerous job on a plane. Any ball-turret gunner in the belly of a B-24 would have gladly switched spots.

"Tail-End Charlie" also had a third definition, referring to a bomber that fell out of formation and lagged behind, making it meat on the table for German Messerschmitts and Focke-Wulfs. Nichols and Rennell give us some sense of what it was like to be with a crew in this plight, but the book leaves us wanting more detail.

In Europe, bomber crews were crammed inside narrow metal tubes near the edge of the stratosphere with no pressurization, enduring temperatures well below freezing, being hammered about like sardines in a can while they operated their sextants, radios and machine guns and chatter -- often in desperate tones -- over the intercom. "Tail-End Charlies" gives us some of this, but the tale frequently diverts to strategic-level issues, such as the Allied decision to bomb Dresden.

One wants the book to be brimming with firsthand accounts of the men who were there. We do meet some: American Richard Timberlake, a co-pilot, is so inexperienced he doesn't recognize that a black cloud ahead is German anti-aircraft fire. Lt. Bill Dewey, an American pilot, watches German fighters attack and hears their bullets ripping into his bomber. Lt. Norman Kempton, at the controls of a B-17, loses his place in formation and continues on to the target anyway.

But the authors conducted few original interviews and rely too much on previously published works. They devote almost two pages to quotes from B-17 pilot Bert Stiles' classic "Serenade to the Big Bird"; readers might be better off finding a used copy of the superior but out-of-print volume. Moreover, the British authors of this book meant for sale on both sides of the Atlantic do not give American crews equal treatment in their narrative.

A younger military reader who hasn't already read dozens of books about the European bombing campaign will learn much from this interesting and informative account. For those who grew up with Stiles' work, Roger Freeman's histories of the Eighth Air Force and movies such as "Command Decision," adding "Tail-End Charlies" to our bookshelf will give us little that seems fresh and new.

‘Tail-End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War, 1944-45.’ By John Nichol and Tony Rennell. Thomas Dunne Books. 432 pages. $26.95.

Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of books on military topics, including "Chopper," a history of helicopter pilots. His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.