World War Ii Army Airborne Troop Carriers

Beginning with a case study of the greatest airborne operation of the war, the 1944 invasion of Holland, Huston examines the inception, organization, training, equipment, strategies, Allied cooperation, and overall effectiveness of the airborne in the total war effort. Operations in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Southern France, the Pacific, and the Far East are discussed. No other book brings together as much information and documentation on the airborne. Of special interest to the veterans who took part in the great paratroop and glider movements, this book will become invaluable to students of aerial warfare and of World War II.

In World War II, the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron dropped paratroopers onto the battlefield, often in the face of heavy fire. This book relates the exploits of the 81st, which mirrored the combat experience of World War II troop carrier units.

Troop carrier and airborne teams in Europe during World War II

This story is taken from notes Austin Buck Buchanan wrote in notebooks he carried in his pocket all during World War II. Buck is no longer with us. W. L. George Collins edited and compiled Bucks notes into a manuscript that became this book. Here you will ride with Buck as he flies his plane through a field of fire so intense that one shell blows a hole in the plane big enough for a man to go through and uncountable bullet holes perforated the plane. All aircraft controls are shot out except elevator and ailerons. You will ride with him as he manages to complete his mission and bring his barely flying plane back to England. And you will ride with him through hundreds more such harrowing trips, in his C-47 with no armor plate and no guns, into other fields of fire and often impossible weather. W. L. George Collins was a pilot in the same Troop Carrier Group as Buck. His writings have been published in the United States, Europe and the Middle East. He was awarded the George Washington Honor Medal by Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, among other writing awards.

In Green Light! Martin Wolfe gives us the big picture of World War II airborne warfare in Europe through the lens of one unit, a squadron typical of some sixty others. Troop carrier squadrons delivered paratroopers behind enemy lines, tugged gliders into battle zones, and, between combat operations, freighted up to the front everything from food to artillery shells and carried back wounded infantrymen and newly freed slave laborers. Wolfe's firsthand account is an engaging and informative narrative that goes beyond the facts to investigate the feelings of the tightly knit unit. He also describes the management and training techniques that prepared the squadron for its role in four of the five main invasions of Nazi Europe. In all the literature about World War II , this is the first account to show how all levels of a squadron functioned-clerks as well as pilots, maintenance mechanics as well as flying crew chiefs, the mess hall as well as headquarters. In addition, Wolfe's is the first book to show the interplay between unit experience and high command theory—what units like the 81st Troop Carrier Squadron could actually accomplish and how concepts of airborne warfare changed at Supreme Headquarters. He explains why and how it was not until the last airborne invasion, in March 1945, that the full potential of the troop carrier was reached. Wolfe melds the recollections of ninety veterans of this squadron with a general history of Allied airborne forces in World War II. Through their words, Green Light! paints vivid portraits of the real men of the war, not the Rambos or Sad Sacks of popular culture. And through the retelling of their experiences, the book shows that the truism "war is hell" does not hold for all soldiers all the time.

Inducted in 1942, Johnson went through pilot training, then airborne operations flight training with 27th Troop Carrier Squadron, 10th Troop Carrier Group, then with 49th Troop Carrier Sqdn, 313th Troop Carrier Wing, for training in Sicily. Assigned to 36th TCS, 316th TCG, for D-Day and the Allied advance across Europe. During Operation Market Garden his C-47 was shot down and he became a POW. In addition to detailing his life as a POW, he includes details of what it was like back home for his family, particularly after he was listed as MIA after being shot down, including his parents' efforts at trying to get more details from politicians, the Army and members of his unit in England. This is a detailed personal account by a C-47 pilot who flew Unarmed, Unarmored and Unescorted over the skies of Europe, delivering men and materiel where it was needed to defeat the enemy. A Merriam Press World War II Autobiography. 35 photos and documents.

Chronicles the history of America's paratroopers in World War II and recounts the achievement of General Matthew Ridgway in successfully implementing the new airborne warfare.

In December, 1941 US Army pilots began hauling passengers and cargo around the Philippines after the Japanese attack on Clark Field, thus beginning one of the most important air force missions of World War II. As America greared up to fight the war, dozens of what came to be known as troop carrier squadrons were activated and equipped, usually with Douglas C-47 and C-53 version of the DC-8 transport. Beginning in New Guinea, US Army troop carrier crews became a crucial part of the effort to turn the tide of war. In Europe troop carrier squadrons supported Army airborne forces and provided logistical support for air force squadrons. During the Battle of the Bulge troop carrier crews kept the 101st Airborne Division supplied. After the war, troop carrier squadrons supplied the besieged city of Berlin. Troop carrier crews supported UN forces in Korea, then supported French efforts in Indochina where their successors would become crucial to US efforts in the 1960s and early 1970s. This is their story.