The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond: The 95th Bomb Group in War and Peace

This title recounts the definitive history of the 95th Bomb Group from World War II to today. It includes rare images from the 95th’s archives of the men and the planes they flew. It combines oral and archival history to give the story a personal dimension. The 95th Bomb Group (Heavy), the most highly decorated bomb group of World War II, participated in every major mission of the war from May 1943 through the war’s end and won an unprecedented three Presidential Unit Citations (known as the Distinguished Unit Citation before 1966). Flying the celebrated B-17 Flying Fortress, the 95th was the first U.S. bomb group to bomb Berlin - a feat that put it in the centerfold of LIFE magazine - and the last group to lose a plane over Europe in World War II. Over 600 men in the 95th never came home. The Wild Blue Yonder and Beyond is the first book to cover a World War II bomber group from its inception through the present day. Utilizing interviews with nearly a hundred air war veterans, dozens of unpublished crew memoirs, all the bomb group’s official mission reports from the National Archives, and nearly a hundred other sources, the book provides a deep tactical and human understanding of the group. Also included are the stories of the veterans’ wives and families, who fought a different kind of war at home, and the residents of Horham, whose tiny English village was suddenly on the war’s front lines. Intensely human, exhaustively researched, and lovingly told, this book is certain to be a classic in the field and a resource for anyone interested in the workings of a World War II bomber group.