Mission To Tokyo By Robert Dorr
I bought this book, thinking that I had read so much about the 8th Air Force. I was very familiar with most of the strategic bombing campaign like Sweinfurt and Polesti. I saw Mission to Tokyo and thought this would be an excellent opportunity to learn about some of the history of the B-29 raids over Japan.
Robert Dorr uses the same formula of writing that Stephen Ambrose used. He gives short biographies of the various crew members and tells the reader about their hometowns. I am sure that you are all very familiar with the writing style. The author starts out with trials of designing such a complex aircraft teething problems that occurred in the B-29s development. Two of the most glaring problems were the electrical system and the R-3350 engines. Through the low level incendiary attacks that devastated vast areas of Japanese cities.
A couple of more subjects that Dorr covers. The first is the development of the B-32 Dominator. I know of the airplane, but virtually nothing about the B-32. The other subject that he covers, though it is a short subject. It was in regards as the only B-29 crew member to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. His name was Henry Eugene "Red" Erwin, Sr. and that man deserved the Medal of Honor like no other. I cannot imagine doing what he did.
I was a bit disappointed in the book. I did learn a lot, but it was not as an enjoyable exercise as I thought it would be. I thought Dorr really missed the mark while writing about the crew members. I am insure if he wrote about too many crew mwmbers or did not go in depth enough. I know I wanted to know the crew members better and I did not get that. I also would have liked to have learned more from the Japanese perspective, again there was a little bit, but not enough.
I can recommend the book, but wait until hit hits the bargain self, I wish I had.
Thanks for reading,
Mike
No comments:
Post a Comment