Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner

John Comer

May 2015 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Patrick Lawlor

About this audiobook

John Comer kept a journal of the twenty-five missions he flew in 1943 when the casualty rate on his base was close to 80 percent. His book is handwritten history, recorded within hours after the battles occurred. Comer vividly creates his experiences as top-turret gunner/flight engineer in a B-17 Squadron that was thrown against the best pilots the Luftwaffe could offer. In 1943 the Army Air Force had no long-range fighters to protect the B-17s as they flew deep into enemy territory. Immediate, straightforward, and compelling, Combat Crew is a classic of aerial warfare.

About the author

John Comer flew 25 combat missions over occupied Europe and Germany in 1943, including the infamous raid on the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plant. After completing his tour, he returned to the States and trained new pilots. He retired in 1974 and lived in Dallas, Texas. John died at the age of 95 in 2005.

Patrick Lawlor has recorded over three hundred audiobooks in just about every genre. He has been an Audie Award finalist multiple times and has garnered several AudioFile Earphones Awards, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and many Library Journal and Kirkus starred audio reviews.