"H-E-L-L Hawks!" -- new P-47 book by Jones/Dorr

[skywalking]

Veteran aviation author Robert F. Dorr and astronaut and pilot Thomas D. Jones have produced H-e-l-l Hawks!, a riveting account of the gritty and unheralded war, long overlooked by military historians, fought by the young Thunderbolt pilots of the Ninth Air Force.

H-e-l-l Hawks! is the untold story of an aerial band of brothers (most barely twenty years old) who were part of a crucial Allied effort to bring airpower to bear on the front-line German armies. At the tip of this aerial spear were pilots and ground crews who worked and lived amid the cold and mud of their front-line airfields in conditions not much better than those of the GIs they supported each day. The authors follow the 365th Fighter Group, the H-e-l-l Hawks, from England-based interdiction missions supporting the D-Day invasion, across the Channel to their close-air-support base in a Norman apple orchard, to tank-busting sorties in the flak-filled skies over the Bulge, and finally to Germany for the final defeat of Hitler's Reich.

Through dozens of interviews and dramatic images, the authors let the voices of pilots and ground crewmen tell what it was like to fly daily into the teeth of Luftwaffe fighters and Wehrmacht flak to help win the victory in Europe. H-e-l-l Hawks!, published by Zenith Press in 2008, is available in stores and online.

H-e-l-l Hawks! by Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones. 336 pages. ISBN: 0760329184

http://www.zenithpress.com/Store/ProductDetails_39383.ncm
http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Hawks-American-Savaged-Wehrmacht/dp/0760329184

Contact: Thomas D. Jones -- skywalking1@gmail.com; http://www.AstronautTomJones.com; Robert F. Dorr -- robert.f.dorr@cox.net


Apologize for the hyphens -- software changes book title name to "HECK". It's actually "H-E-L-L Hawks!" without the hyphens.

[Chicoartist]

Great book - highly recommended. I'm reading it currently. Just got past the 18th December action (there's a few paintings in there ... ), and about to get into the Bodenplatte episode.

Shhh, nobody tell me how it comes out!

Wade

PS - edit - oh, I see you're the co-author, Tom. One of your Flight Surgeons at NASA is a client of mine (D. Alexander). Got a few paintings ready to send him!

[mtpopejoy]

I concur. Great book. It was amazing the pounding this group took. Not the glamorous "fighter pilot" lifestyle they all probably thought they were signing up for.
It is nice to see the 9th Air Force getting some love for the tactical contributions they made to make the European invasion a success.
Regards,
Mark

[Jack Cook]

I enjoyed it but don't understand with all the research why 78th FG 8th
AF KIA ace Grant Turley is on the cover

[mas]

Funny you should mention this book. I purchased one last week at the Air Zoo museum in Kalamazoo, MI only to find out yesterday that the book has a major printing error with some pages duplicated and some omitted. I sent the publisher, Zenith Press, an email asking for a good copy and they just told me I have to take it back to where I purchased it. That's about a 4 hour drive from here. It's their mistake, not mine nor the Air Zoo's and I think Zenith should send me another one. What do you think?

[Jack Cook]

I'm going to send that to a good friend who has written a number of books for them and is currently doing a "bail out" project for them in which the supposed author backed out on them but spent his advance and is 'broke'.

[B25PBYGUY]

Superb reading! If one contacts Tom Jones, at the link provided in the post, its possible to receive signed copies as well.
There are enough airworthy Thunderbolts to make an HBO series!

[JDK]

Funny you should mention this book. I purchased one last week at the Air Zoo museum in Kalamazoo, MI only to find out yesterday that the book has a major printing error with some pages duplicated and some omitted. I sent the publisher, Zenith Press, an email asking for a good copy and they just told me I have to take it back to where I purchased it. That's about a 4 hour drive from here. It's their mistake, not mine nor the Air Zoo's and I think Zenith should send me another one. What do you think?

I don't know the US law, but it's normal consumer rights to ask for it to be returned to the place purchased, or the manufacturer (some factors expect trying the retailer first). I suggest you contact the shop where you bought it and ask if you can post it back to them for them to post you a replacement (and checked!) copy. If that's not possible, contact the publisher and ask again, offering to return the faulty copy.

As both a bookseller and as a publisher, I've always offered to replace a faulty copy, no fuss.

HTH

[Jack Cook]

From my friend John who writes for Zenith among others.
You've got to take the book back to where you bought it. That's pretty standard. Yeah, it does suck. This is why it is important to flip through the book before you buy it. I just checked my copy of the book and it is fine. Happens occasionally, usually to a small number of books.

[skywalking]

Jack Cook expressed curiosity about why Turley and an Eighth AF P-47 are on the cover of H-E-L-L Hawks. The answer is marketing. The publisher chooses a photo for the cover that gives them the best "grab," and the authors have little to do with cover design. Once chosen, we wrote for the photo a generic caption on the 4th page, noting how pilots and ground crews worked closely to get the mission done. We don't claim the cover photo is a shot of a H-e-l-l Hawk or Ninth AF Thunderbolt. We did the best we could, and we think the cover photo reflects the spirit of the men in the 365th FG and Ninth AF. .

Happy reading, all.
TJ

[Jack Cook]

A very odd choice for a photo considering it's on the cover of turley's biography
There are so many great 9th AF and 365th FG shots out there. I've got 1 or 2 myself
Here's Turley's bio a nice book and I recommend it!!
http://www.legendexpress.biz/NewFiles/aboutbookGrant.html

[Chicoartist]

. . . Here's Turley's bio a nice book and I recommend it!!
http://www.legendexpress.biz/NewFiles/aboutbookGrant.html

EGADS! I'm seeing seeing double double! Turn it off, Jack! Turn it off!

Wade

[gary]

I believe the MOF in Seattle is having a symposium and book signing event with the Hellhawks this saturday in Seattle.......

[Chicoartist]

Speaking of Seattle, I just finished the chapter on Lt. Col. Donald Hillman's adventures after his shoot-down - fascinating! Those who have read the book will know what the connection is to the city.

Great book as I say above, and it will always occupy a proud place on my shelves, but like Jack as an aviation historian myself (me with canvas and brushes) I think it's a stretch to justify the selection of an 8th AF ace and his ground crew as being 'representative of the spirit' of a well-known - and pretty well documented in photographs - 9th AF outfit. The 365th FG, at the very least, deserves their own shot on the cover. I have a hard time imagining the living 365th FG pilots seeing Turley on 'their' cover and saying to themselves, "Wow ... captures OUR spirit perfectly!" Per Tom's comments I don't blame the authors one bit (because I am familiar with the usual practice of the author(s) having little say as to the actual "look" of the book), I blame the cover 'designer'.

As an artist who knows a little bit about design, I'd argue that the Turley shot directly implies that he and his ship are indeed "H-e-l-l Hawks", not merely 'representative' of the group's esprit de corps. I also saw the, uh, "carefully worded" caption for the cover ... nah ...

When it's reprinted, and it will be because the contents of the book are destined for "classic" status, I'd bring it up in a meeting.

FWIW,

Wade

[Jack Cook]

Spot on Wade!!!
BTW ditto on Don Hillman has he's way cool!!
Also if ya didn't know he commanded the 93rd BW at Fairchild
and made the cover of Life when he commanded the 94th FS
titled "Jet Pilot".
http://www.2neatmagazines.com/covers/1946cover/1946-Dec-9.jpg