Being there . . . . above 20,000 feet, whether in crystal clear air or, below, rain and windy
weather, to join in witnessing Americans pilots by day, or those of the Royal Air Force by night,
pummel Germany’s high priority cities, military centers, and war industries into smithereens. By
mid-1942, day after day, night after night, pilot after pilot, whether American or British, must
have been echoing each other, “Oh, the sad, sorry Nazis or non-Nazis.. Men and women, mostly
elderly civilians and children, are being crushed or burned alive by our firestorms.” Despite
heavy casualties on both sides, much-needed victories began to outdistance failures and losses.
By July 1944, bomber men and fellow crewmembers on the Allied side began to believe the
road to total annihilation of the Third Reich and its leaders was open with war’s end in sight. A
year later, they were right. Soon thereafter, USAAF Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker and B-17 Ball
Turret Gunner Bob Harper were headed home, their dangerous bombing flights over Germany
war stories to be held in abeyance, NAY, expectancy, for the next 80 years.
YES, THE YANKS AND THEIR MIGHTY AIRFORCE, BOMBER MEN, AND AIRCREWS HAD ARRIVED
TO HELP THE ROYAL AIR FORCE BOMB HITLER TO SMITHEREENS, BUT THE DAYTIME FLIERS
WOULD FIRST HAVE TO ABSORB AND SMOTHER A BUNCH OF BITTER LESSONS. BUT THEY HAD
IRA C. EAKER (1896 – 1987) TO LEAD THEM. A BRILLIANT PILOT AND, LIKE MOST IN THE U.S.
EIGHTH AIR FORCE, A RESOLUTE BELIEVER IN THE NORDEN BOMBSIGHT – “WE CAN DROP A
BOMB INTO A PICKLE BARREL FROM 20,000 FEET!” – HE PRESSED HARD FOR A ROUND-THE-
CLOCK COMBINED BOMBER OFFENSIVE. THERE TO ASSIST HIM WAS B-17 BALL TURRET
GUNNER BOB HARPER AND HIS STORIES SUPPORTING THE 35 MISSIONS, ALL UNDER HEROE,
THEN, LIEUTENANT GENERAL IRA EAKER. THANKS TO THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS PRESS
(EAKER) AND SCHIFFER PUBLISHING (BOB HARPER), WE HAVE TWO TRULY REMARKABLE LIFE-
IN-AERIAL COMBAT STORIES TO INTEREST AND AMAZE.
Both reviewed and highly, highly recommended by Don DeNevi
“THE US EIGHTH AIR FORCE IN WORLD WAR II – – Ira Eaker, Hap Arnold, and Building American
Air Power, 1942 – 1943”, by William J. Daugherty. University of North Texas Press, World War II
Aviation: 2024, 400 pages, 30 b&w illus. 3 maps, Notes 6 ¼” x 9 ¼”, hardcover, $34.95. Visit:
www.untpress.unt.edu.
“FLYING FORTRESS GUNNER – – B – 17 Ball Turret Gunner Bob Harper’s 35 Combat Missions
Over Germany”, by Bill Cullen. Schiffer MILITARY Publishers; 2023, 6 ¼” X 9 ¼”, 287 pages,
hardcover, $24.99. Visit, www.Schifferbooks.com.
Two perfectly matched books to get us through the final months of spring, focus first on the
Daugherty history of the famous Eighth Air Force; then, follow in his own words, how Brigadier
General Eaker’s B-17s, and soon to arrive B-24s, if immediately deployed, would easily win the
war. Daylight precision bombing was the method he insisted upon, the Flying Fortress the main
weapon he chose to accomplish it. To prove his point, on August 17, 1942, at the age of 46, he
flew in one of his 12 remaining Flying Fortresses to bomb the marshalling yards at Rouen – – the
first all-American bombing attack made by the USAAF in western Europe. Promoted lieutenant
general in 1943, the mild-mannered Eaker, the following year, was promoted Commander of
Allied Forces in the Mediterranean. Flying from bases in Italy, Ira’s new combined fleet of 17s
and 24s continued the offensive against Germany, playing a major role in the Italian campaign,
especially the tough decision to bomb the monastery of Monte Cassino. Then, almost
immediately, he turned to devote all his attention to participating in directing the invasion of
southern France.
From Ira’s brilliant bombing strategies in the Mediterranean, let us pivot to author Bill
Cullen’s hero, Bob Harper, who fought in the Flying Fortress during every one of his 35
missions. Based at Ridgewell Airfield in England, he and the 381 st Bomb Group flew near-death
missions over heavily defended industrial centers all over western Germany. Shot down twice,
Bill was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Via his letters home, combat reports, and
extensive interviews with author Bill, Bob describes his extremely dangerous encounters on
board the legendary Eighth’s B-17s. Even the even-keeled Bob Harper was occasionally gripped
by frightening-fear curled up in his tiny ball turret underneath the aircraft. Sure, he was small, 5
feet, 4 inches, weighing 110 pounds (my cat Lexi, the little lump of Snot, is larger), but, buff,
imagine being confined like that as Luftwaffe-winged machine-gun fire ripped through or along
the undercarriage toward your turret. Apparently, Bob always kept his personal fright and near
panic in check within the thick plastic-glass turret, or, underneath his constant smile upon the
17’s return and his hours of debriefing in the flyers’ lounge. By the way, in November 1945, he
was assigned his 36 th mission, his “ . . . return home to St. Louis, Missouri, to enjoy civilian life
again”. Bob Harper, the last surviving member of his combat crew, lived to be slightly more
than a hundred years old. In 2019, he wrote,
“I only did my very small part. We all felt that we were lucky when it was all said and done,
and that it was a miracle that we came through it. The weather. The flak. The enemy, the
German fighter pilots who were quite good at what they did. And the B-17 flying 5 miles above
the earth, wingtip to wingtip, a necessary invitation to collision and disaster. Despite what felt
like terrible odds, each morning when we climbed into that B-17 together, we were a team,
supporting each other the best we could . . . I hope that in a small way, my crew and the many
men of the 381 st BG helped make a difference in ending that terrible war.”
Thanks, Bill Cullen, and you, too, SCHIFFER editors and publishers, and, Bob Harper,
especially to you, for such a splendid, mesmerizing story, including welcoming us to squeeze
into that tiny turret with you.
