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Late in 1944, thirteen U.S. B-24 bomber crews bailed from their cabins over the Yugoslavian wilderness. Bloodied and disoriented after a harrowing strike against the Third Reich, the pilots took refugee with the Partisan underground. But the Americans were far from safety. Holed up in a village barely able to feed its citizens, encircled by Nazis, and left abandoned after a team of British secret agents failed to secure their escape, the airmen were left with little choice. It was either flee or be killed. In The Lost Airmen, Charles Stanely Jr. unveils the shocking true story of his father, Charles Stanely-and the eighteen brave soldiers he journeyed with for the first time. Drawing on over twenty years of research, dozens of interviews, and previously unpublished letters, diaries, and memoirs written by the airmen, Stanley recounts the deadly journey across the blizzard-swept Dinaric Alps during the worst winter of the Twentieth Century-and the heroic men who fought impossible odds to keep their brothers in arms alive.

The true story of the B-25 pilot who “fought a personal aerial war to retrieve his family from Japanese captivity in the Philippines... stirring” (Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan 1942–1945).Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper was one of the few surviving veteran pilots who saw action over such fearsome targets as Rabaul and Wewak. Not just another flag-waving story of air combat, Jayhawk describes the war as it really was—a conflict with far-reaching tentacles that gripped and tore at not only the combatants, but also their families, their friends, and the way they lived their lives.Jay Stout examines the story of Cooper's growing up in gentle and idyllic pre-war Manila and how he grew to be the man he was. Stout reviews Cooper's journey to the United States and his unlikely entry into the United States Army Air Forces. Trained as a B-25 pilot, Cooper was assigned to the iconic 345th Bomb Group and flew strafing missions that shredded the enemy, but likewise put himself and his comrades in grave danger. A husband and father, Cooper was pulled two ways by the call of duty and his obligation to his wife and daughter. And always on his mind was the family he left behind in the Philippines who were in thrall to the Japanese.“A story of love, honor, service, sacrifice, and endurance, captured in page-turning prose that honors a decorated aviator who was truly a giant among the many from America's greatest generation.” —Stephen L. Moore, author of Rain of Steel: Mitscher's Task Force 58, Ugaki's Thunder Gods, and the Kamikaze War off Okinawa

A historian examines the U.S. Navy's efforts to stop Axis forces from attacking Allied merchant ships providing supplies during World War II. During the Second World War, a battle was waged to cut the lifeline of food and armaments sailing across the Atlantic from North America. It evolved into a far-ranging conflict beyond the North Atlantic and the eastern seaboard of the United States. It covered the frigid waters off Iceland down to the warm waters of Florida, through the Caribbean Sea, across the ocean to the Bay of Biscay, the Mediterranean Sea, down to Africa, and across the South Atlantic to Brazil's southern tip. Nazi Germany's efforts to deny supplies from reaching Europe came at a high price, losing 783 U-boats and approximately 30,000 men between 1939 and 1945, with land and carrier-based naval air units sinking 83 German submarines of the 159 sunk by American aircraft. Axis forces saw their submarines targeted as well in the Atlantic, with Imperial Japanese submarine I-52 and the Italian Archimede falling victim to American naval aircraft armed with depth bombs or acoustic homing torpedoes. All the dramatic action is captured in Sighted Sub, Sank Same. This book contains over 200 color and black and white photographs, as well as personal interviews, interrogation reports, personal correspondence, and after-action reports, weaving a fascinating history about the naval air campaign in the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Mediterranean Theaters during World War II. Praise for Sighted Sub, Sank Same “Richly illustrates the navy's battle for the Atlantic from the air.” —The National WWII Museum “Gives the reader a real feeling of that relentless hunt.” —Baird Maritime

“A superb, edge-of-the-seat account of [Elwyn] Righetti's stellar combat career during the final months of the air war against Germany” (Eric Hammel, author of Two Flags over Iwo Jima).A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet most compelling, colorful and controversial commanders of World War II.Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that made excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off, as he quickly achieved ace status and scored more strafing victories—twenty-seven—than any other Eighth Air Force pilot.Ultimately, Righetti's calculated recklessness ran full speed into the odds. His aircraft was hit while strafing an enemy airfield only four days before the 55th flew its last mission. Almost farcically aggressive to the end, he coaxed his crippled fighter through one more firing pass before making a successful crash landing. Immediately, he radioed his men that he was fine and asked that they reassure his family. Righetti was never heard from again.Vanished Hero tells a story “worthy of a Hollywood blockbuster... It is a fitting tribute to both Righetti and the man who collected his life's journey” (Military Heritage).“An excellent biography of a true American hero... a worthy contribution to an understanding of the application of air power in the Second World War.” —History News Network