There seems to be little written about the B-29 campaign agains mainland Japan. After Doolittles surprise raid in April,1942, American bombers did not return to the Japanese mainland until late 1944. The air war was intensive in 1945 during the last months of the war. Major Japanese cities were devastated and American bomber losses were high. This book is the personal account of one pilot and his thirty five missions.

With the capture of the Marianas Islands (Saipan, Tinian, and Guam), the United States possessed bases for their new B-29 Superfortress bombers. These planes could now hit targets deep within Japan. Flying at speeds well in excess of 300 mph and packing a formidable armament of remote-controlled machine guns, these planes could defend themselves extremely well in battles with Japanese fighters. Plus, they could haul bomb loads approaching 20,000 pounds to targets in Japan.

In this fine book, author Gorden Robertson Jr. gives a first-hand account of what it was like to pilot one of these massive bombers deep into Japan. Flying 35 missions during his tour of duty, Robertson and his crew faced flak, fighters, and the constant fear of mechanical failure. Many of Robertson's missions were flown at low altitude, which made their plane even more vulnerable. Despite these constant threats, Robertson and his crew managed to survive the required 35 missions. Some writers believe that the European theater was more difficult for bomber pilots to fly in, but the Japanese also inflicted heavy damage on the B-29s.

I am a big fan of first-person accounts of events in World War II, and author Robertson does a fine job of describing what it was actually like to pilot a B-29. He details each of his crew's 35 missions and describes his encounters with fighters, searchlights, and flak. He also tells the reader what it was like to land a crippled plane on Iwo Jima. The story reads like a novel, and I learned a great deal that I didn't know before about the B-29 offensive.

I give this fine book my highest recommendation. Fans of World War II aviation will surely enjoy reading about Robertson's missions.

An excellent book for any WW II aviation reader. Get it, read it and give it to a friend.

Pilot Gordon Bennett Robertson Jr.'s first fire-bomb run over Tokyo in March, 1945 took him through boiling thermals produced by the burning city 5,000 feet below. They bounced his B-29 up and down and then flipped the sixty-ton bomber onto its back. He was able to recover only through a Split-S maneuver he'd practiced flying fighters in training.

And so it goes through thirty-five missions over the Japanese Empire in Robertson's always tense, sometimes thrilling memoir which kept me up late finishing it over several nights. I've long had a special interest in the B-29, but never before felt that I was on the flight deck with the pilots in their helmets and flak suits threading their way through blinding search-light beams and the hail of shrapnel from the anti-aircraft bursts.

Robertson, president of the 29th Bomb Group's reunion association, helped put it to rest last year after twenty-two years because the surviving membership is getting too old to cope with it any more. Their memorabilia is on display where most of them first met the big bomber, in the Bombers On The Prairie Museum at their old training field in Pratt, Kansas. But this book surely will live on, a testament to the young men who flew the big silver birds that finally helped bring Imperial Japan to its knees.

My mother worked with a survivor of Wake Island. I have trained with Taiwanese, who told me stories of the WW II Japanese. Blood thirsty maniacs.

We must remember that the Japanese and Germans were horrible. If they had won, it would have been as Chrchill portrayed it. They deserved everything they got, and bought and paid for it many times. I honor this great man for his service.

The book was informative and very well written. One minor quibble: The Germans were also insanely cruel to the Russians and the Poles. And I say this as a Jew.

Robertson is a gifted writer, not only a veteran with an interesting, heroic story to tell. The wit and readability of this account are well above average for the genre. I also liked the focus on the missions one by one, which brings to life the evolution of B-29 targets and tactics from the shift to night fire raids in March 1945 to the end of the war, the period in which Robertson's crew flew their 35 combat missions. The coverage of his stateside training and duty as an instructor, from 1942 until his transfer to a B-29 unit in mid 1944, is more generic. Similar stories are told in many other accounts of US Army and Naval aviators in WWII, though again Robertson tells a story better than most. I think he could have left out the part of the epilogue which defends the morality of the fire bombings at some length in terms of Japanese atrocities. He adds nothing new to that mainly recent debate, and it comes off to this modern reader as defensive, with due respect Robertson's contention that later generations just can't understand. The telling of the operations first hand is the real value of this book, an excellent book.

Great detail. Lots of action. Very easy to read. Great drama in bombing raids that put you in the cockpit. A must for all WWII enthusiasts.

The author, former B29 pilot in WWII, tells us about his 35 missions with the 29th Bomber Group, 314th Bomb Wing, 21st Bomber Command, 20th US Army Air Force, from March thru August 1945. Besides his own career as a military instructor and pilot, Robertson presents several curiosities about the day-by-day life, inicially in several training bases in ConUs and later, in a huge air base on the island of Guam. Included is an epilogue, where are related the post-war fate of several of his crew members and other people related to his combat tour in the Pacific Theater of Operations.

I purchased a copy of this book when it first appeared on the booklists. Being a pilot and an aircraft historian, I completed the book in one long night. To say that Col. Robertson is a terrific writer is an understatement. This book is extremely well writen and holds your attention throughout. I have read many books on WWII and the air engagements within that conflict. I can say without equivication that this is the finest book of that genre. Do not miss this outstanding story!

This is unquestionably one of the very best books written about the aerial battle over the Japanese homeland that eventually defeated the Japanese Empire and brought about the end of World War II. Airplane Commander Gordon Benett Robertson, Jr. eloquently describes his training and the missions of the B-29 Superfortresses of the 20th Air Force. The story of this magnificent aircraft and its crews is must read for all historians.

David Braden, Past President
20th Air Force Association