Being there . . . . seated behind one of our boys piloting a P-47C Thunderbolt from the 62 nd
Fighter Squadron of the 56 th Fighter Group aligned in formation over the English Channel in May
1943 to protect B-17s and B-24s on their way to crush and smash into smithereens German
marshalling yards, storage grounds, railroad bins, acres of tracks, and still usable troop trains.
(See book jacket cover). Even then, Germany was dying from relentless nighttime bombing
(thanks, brave RAFers), and, by day, our mighty VIII Fighter Command officers and pilots.
Despite heavy casualties, our combined Allied side was going to win this dastardly war, thanks
to our effectiveness in bombing, day and night, night and day. Amid the thrill of joining the P-
47C protective bombing group and the joy of returning to base victorious, you’ll darn right want
to know the full and complete story of the creation, development, and operation of the Eighth
Air Force VIII Fighter Command. Right? Thanks to his unflinching research ethic, and a smooth,
pleasurable narrative style, author Tom Cleaver teaches, not as if in a barren classroom, but as
a father to a mature son or daughter. Good news or bad. Warts and all. You will learn what
happened, almost on a daily basis, to the VIII Fighter Command between August 19 th , 1942, and
the end of operations over Germany on May 5, 1945. For one thing, you’ll be able to share with
friends and family it fielded 15 fighter groups destroying 9,000 enemy aircraft in the air and on
the ground. Good. The Eighth Air Force suffered more casualties, killed and wounded than the
U.S. Marine Corps did between the invasion of Guadalcanal and the capture of Okinawa in June
of 1945. Bad. Climbing out of the P-47C Thunderbolt’s cockpit, you must, upon stretching your
legs, hurtle out to order on Amazon, or drive to buy the 464-page nugget of printed reading
gold for a genuine, intuitive emotional empathy of what the pilots and their ground crews
experienced, along with the historical contexts behind the decisions and actions taken by the
combatants throughout those daily nightmares.
AS GERMANY DIED SLOWLY FROM ALLIED AIR STRIKES INTO HER HEART DAY AND NIGHT, THE
COST IN LIVES AND PLANES WAS GROWING SO PROHIBITIVELY HIGH AND BITTER THE OUTLOOK
OF THE RAF AND U.S. ARMY AIR FORCE BOMBER COMMANDS WINNING WWII APPEARED LOST
Reviewed and Highly, Highly Recommended by Don DeNevi
“CLEAN SWEEP – – VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe, 1942 – 1945”, by Thomas
McKelvey Cleaver, Foreword by Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, USAF (Ret.). OSPREY PUBLISHING,
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: 2023, 464 pages, hardcover, 6 ½”x 9 ½”, $32. Visit,
www.ospreypublishing.com.
Every World War II buff in the universe has heard of Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. After all,
how much of an enthusiast can you be if you haven’t read his “Under the Southern Cross”
(2021), “The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club” (2021), “Going Downtown” (2022), and “The Cactus Air
Force” (2022), alongside his fellow-genius, Eric Hammel. He wrote the cult classic, “The Terror
Within”, having served as a Hollywood screenwriter for thirty years It should be noted he
served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. Truly, a good man, writer, and exemplar to us
fledglings.
In “Clean Sweep”, Tom has collected first-hand accounts from the WWII participants over
the past 50 years, meeting pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee, and Chuck
Yeager, as well as interviewing leading Luftwaffe pilots such as Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and
Walter “Count Punski” Krupinski – – thus stamping “Clean Sweep” as imprimatur, a vivid
narrative history of the operational force and impact of the VIII Fighter Command told through
accounts gathered from both sides.
So much praise has been heaped on “Clean Sweep” that I must share with readers my
favorite. LtCol Jay A. Stout, USMC (Ret.), author of “Fighter Group: The 352nd ‘Blue- Nosed
Bastard’ in World War II”, wrote, “The brilliance of Tom Cleaver’s latest effort – ‘Clean Sweep’ –
rests on the back of his grub-around-in-every-corner-and-under-every-rock research. He brings
shiny gems to us – – accounts, recollections, facts and perspectives that are fresh, and that
complete a story that is too often told with soulless numbers and numbering narratives.
Heartily recommended.”
