Book 'Dead Engine Kids 35!'

I have just finished the book 'Dead Engine Kids 35!' its about an average crew flying B17's out of England, it is the diaries of three crew written on their successful return from each mission. What is good about it is it tells of their living conditions, their flying conditions, the planes (fuel loads, bomb loads), the missions flown and planes shot down. It tells of the airfields and some parts of the infrastructure and about accidents, flying, riding bicycles on ice to bomb stores exploding due to lazy bomb store crews (driving fully loaded trucks of bombs. stopping them in reverse and allowing the bombs to roll of so they do not have to unload them manually). Glatton seemed to be the airfield, they talked of others. Also two Flak shacks, large houses where they could spend time away from the war (officers near Portsmouth and enlisted men somewhere in Worcestershire).

Another anecdote was the V1's landing close to their living accommodation. Seeing V2's streak up from Holland & Germany. To their last bomb run over Berlin and how they were not at all happy about bombing civilians.

This is a good read, a good lesson in history and a good book as reference to the time of ordinary Americans fighting a war a long way from home.

I hope you will enjoy this book as much as I have.

Richard

Aquestions I would like answered is, did RAF crews remove their guns after every raid, clean them and re fit them for the next raid as the Americans did??.

Please keep this where everybody can see it as I feel the book very relevant to anybody studying the USAAF in England.

www.superbookshops.co.uk/ £4.99

I have the original edition published in 1993 for £11.95. The crew flew with the 457BG at Glatton and it is the diary of John Briol a B-17 ball turret gunner with comments from other crew members on missions flown a very good read .