This volume focuses on a previously unpublished USAAF report commissioned in May 1944. In the detailed document entitled The Long Reach, 24 pilots who had seen extensive action escorting B-17s and B-24s on daylight raids deep into Germany candidly discussed their secrets to success -- and survival -- in the deadly skies over occupied Europe. The report was used as a text on combat flying for fighter pilots in training. The resulting first-hand accounts provide a tremendous wealth of information that has never before been seen in print, and which was written at the time of the war. Twenty-six original artworks, specially commissioned for this volume, include scale drawings of the P-38s, P47s, and P-51s flown by the pilots interviewed. Archival black-and-white photos were uncovered in private collections around the globe.
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