Maximum Effort

The air battles over Germany were among the most dangerous combat actions of World War II, if not the most dangerous. Enemy fighters, anti-aircraft artillery, and the weather combined to down an average of almost 40 bombers out of every thousand sent on a mission against the determined German defenders. Young men, aged mostly between 19 and 23, went out to fight in the skies where temperatures were 29 to 50 degrees below zero and the air did not contain enough oxygen to sustain life. However, American airmen fought and won the battle to remove the roof over Germany, and in so doing prepared the way of the invasion and ultimate defeat of the third Reich. Maximum Effort is the story of one young airman who, as a co-pilot, flew 21 missions before the statistics caught up with him and he was downed, captured, and held as a prisoner of war for a year. Now, sixty years later, he recounts the determination and the challenges of those times and shares the excitement of his many narrow escapes with the reader. You will feel you are there, making history along with him, and hoping your luck will not run out too. Buy this book and enjoy the thrills of a time gone by.