Through Blue Skies to Hell: America's "Bloody 100th" in the Air War over Germany Paperback – May 31, 2024

The story is hard to realize but heartbreaking. I received my book from Dick Ayesh himself and got it autographed. He was a wonderful man married to a beautiful woman. A good friend.

An Informative and well researched account of the heroes of the 8th USAAF. Takes you into the cockpit of the Flying Fortress

Interesting book

I got a personal look at the bomber's life. At the beginning of World War II, a bomber crew had a 2/3 probability of being shot down or become dead. Those were pretty bad odds. As the war progressed and bomber tactics changed, that 2/3 probability changed to 1/3. It was a dangerous war. Many of those fighting on the ground had even steeper odds, but the air personnel had to become courageous during the dangerous bomb run. This book details the air combar operations of a bombadier. Sion details the adventures of his uncle Lt. Richard Ayesh and his B-17 crewmates.I like this book, and the author did a good job of explaining some of the processes and technologies of bombing enemy held cities and factories. I think this is a nice addition to any World War II library.

I have to agree with those that gave this book a one star rating and can not possibly imagine anything close to 5 stars. As others have pointed out, the book is poorly written, full of inaccuracies and repetitive. Even in a book intended for a broad audience, its summary commentary and conclusions were often misleading and sometimes just inaccurate. These characteristics can sometimes be found in books written by veterans without writing experience but it is surprising here. The one saving grace was that some of the diagrams were interesting (in particular the one showing V-1 and V-2 impact locations), but not enough so to save the book. I would recommend Combat Crew for a personal account of the air war and Masters of the Air for an in-depth overall look.

"Through Blue Skies to Hell," by Edward Sion, started out as a tribute to his uncle who flew 34 combat missions in a B-17 with the 100 Bombardment Group. He finished with his uncle's diary as the book's centerpiece, supplemented by very readable discussions of the technical and strategic contributions of the allied bombing campaign against Germany.Sion's book is intended for the mainstream reader interested in World War II strategic bombing. His style brings to life dry topics such as the Norden bomb sight. Detailed discussions of this technological marvel could cure the most devoted reader's insomnia, but Sion's readable prose combined with apropos diagrams will keep readers engaged.The Wizard's War between Germany and the Allies saw the development of numerous radar and electronic countermeasure systems. Sion includes chapters on some of these other technological marvels such as the German Wassermann, Freya, Würzburg-Reissen, and Lichtenstein radar systems. From the allied side, he includes radar guided bombing systems such as the GEE, H2S and H2X, the last of which is supplemented by an amazing photo of its radar image of the D-Day landings.In warfare, technological advances drive new tactics and strategy. Sion again does an outstanding job describing contentious issues such as target selection, which caused a rift between US and British bomber strategists, into terms for the layman. More importantly, he provides the strategic context for how the ground war in western Europe was progressing, and how the bomber campaign contributed to the overall allied efforts.With the technological and strategic environments in context, Sion then presents his uncle's diary. After each diary entry, he provides a layman's analysis of each mission describing the bomb payload and where the aircraft flew in the bombing formation. In a few instances, he also included personal interviews with other crew members to share additional perspectives on the more memorable bombing missions.Sion concludes the book with a discussion on the moral implications of strategic bombing, again placing the bombings and destruction into strategic context. The intellectual arguments are very similar to those presented in other works such as "Among the Dead Cities", by A.C. Grayling. Sion's arguments are more succinct, yet just as effective.My only complaint is that Sion seems to be unjustifiably critical of the British, especially his perspective that the tactic of area bombing used by the British was immoral. With the luxury of 5 decades of hindsight, it is difficult for today's strategists to appreciate the true historical context of these strategic decisions. He is equally critical of the United States' firebombing of Japan, but I just felt he was too harsh on the British.This book is well-researched, well-supported by diagrams and photographs, and easy to read. I highly recommend "Through Blue Skies to Hell" for any airpower enthusiast. If you enjoyed, Stephen Ambrose's "Into the Wild Blue", you will enjoy this one too.

This was a good book, but it was not written by the person who actually flew 35 missions in a B-17 over Europe & Germany. The book was written by a nephew about his Uncle. Granted, the nephew used his Uncle's diaries in writing about these missions, and tapped many resources that complement the diaries, such as his relatives recollection of his Uncle's stories. However, recollections by relatives years after the fact, are certainly far from first hand accounts. The Uncle died before the Nephew ever knew him. If you are expecting "The Forgotten Soldier", you will be disappointed. Overall, still a good read.

There's a lot of general historical information about the war against Germany, but not too much about the direct experiences of the 100th Bomb Group. The title is somewhat misleading and the book is a disappointment. There are much, much better books about the "Bloody" 100th. Buy them instead.

nothing good book