AIR WAR EUROPA

Chronology

Eric Hammel

THE GREAT AERIAL CRUSADE OF WORLD WAR II: There was never a military

campaign like it, and there never will be another. Here is an opportunity to follow the great

crusade as it unfolded in the air over the Nazi empire in North Africa and Europe. This

exhaustive chronology sheds a fascinating light on the course of America’s air war against

Germany and her allies.

* The Air War Europa Chronology is a day-by-day accounting of all the major combat

missions undertaken by United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy aviation

units in the European, Mediterranean, and North African theaters of operations in World

War II.

* A special introductory narrative explains the crucial evolution of fighter tactics over

western Europe—and how it led to the inexorable defeat of Hitler’s vaunted Luftwaffe.

* All U.S. Army Air Forces theater fighter aces are covered— including unit affiliation,

date and time ace status was attained, and date and time of highest victory tally (over ten).

* Information pertaining to the arrival, activation, transfer, departure, and decommissioning

of air commands, combat units, and special units. Comings and goings of the

commanders of major aviation units are also covered.

* Provides a rich contextual framework pertaining to related ground campaigns; international

and high-command conferences and decisions influencing air strategies and campaigns;

and breakthroughs in the development of special techniques and equipment, such

as the evolution of the role of escorts and the strategically crucial introduction of fighter

auxiliary fuel tanks.

* Bibliography, guide to abbreviations, maps, and two indexes.

Eric Hammel is the author of forty military history books, including Pacifica Military History’s Air War Pacific Chronology; Fire In the Streets; Six Days in June; Aces Against Japan, and Guadalcanal: Starvation Island.