Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Overview
The role of the bomber has proved to be one of the most controversial aspects of twentieth-century warfare. Bombers tells the story of the bomber with a blend of narrative and personal accounts, recording-the history of the principal bombing raids and the skill and courage of those who flew them.
The Second World War marked the massive deployment of the bomber by the main combatants as a major tactical and strategic weapon: notably Germany's use of Blitzkrieg in the opening years of war; the RAF/USAAF combined bomber offensives; the use of dive and torpedo-bombers in the Pacific war by the US and Japan; and the USAAF's fire raids on Tokyo, followed by the dropping of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Bringing this in-depth study up to the modern day, Wragg examines the United States' controversial campaign of extensive bombing in Vietnam during the 1960s and 70s, which led to serious divisions at home. He also discusses how, during the Gulf War in 1991, credit went to the cruise missiles, despite the deployment of bombers. With the decision in 1999 by a NATO coalition, led by the USA and Great Britain, to launch punitive air strikes against the Milosevic regime in the former Yugoslavia, cruise missiles and bomber aircraft (both conventional and stealth) were once more in action. With the growing use of cruise missiles, could it be that the manned bomber may soon become the first element of air power to be made redundant in this age of high technology?
Fully illustrated with a wide selection of photographs, Bombers will appeal to all with an interest in this key weapon of twentieth-century warfare.
Synopsis
The story of the bomber is told with a blend of narrative and personal accounts, recording the history of the principle bombing raids and the skill and courage of those who flew them. David Wragg begins with a brief overview of the origins of the concept of aerial bombardment, which astonishingly go back several thousand years. He then describes the early raids of World War I and the use of the bomber between the wars by the Germans in the Spanish Civil War, the Italians in Abyssinia, and by the Japanese in China. World War II marked the massive deployment of the bomber by the main combatants as a major tactical and strategic weapon and, bringing this in-depth study up to date, Wragg examines the controversial campaign of extensive U.S. bombing in Vietnam during the 1960s and 1970s. He also discusses whether, with the growing use of cruise missiles, the manned bomber may soon be the first element of air power to be made redundant in this age of high technology.