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Rating: 
Summary: A welcomed addition to any book collection
Review: Although there have been several disappointing reviews of this book I personally found it informative from several points. First off my father was a crew member on B-24 Liberators and this gave me an insight as to how a "Liberator" crew flew their missions. As far as being to technical and boring I didn't find it so, there are some missions that were "Milk Runs" but the author points these out prior to reading them and makes up for them with experiences he and his crew had while not flying combat missions. This is also the first book I have read that mentions the "Davis Wing", which I personally found very informative.
Rating:
Summary: A welcomed addition to any book collection
Review: Although there have been several disappointing reviews of this book I personally found it informative from several points. First off my father was a crew member on B-24 Liberators and this gave me an insight as to how a "Liberator" crew flew their missions. As far as being to technical and boring I didn't find it so, there are some missions that were "Milk Runs" but the author points these out prior to reading them and makes up for them with experiences he and his crew had while not flying combat missions. This is also the first book I have read that mentions the "Davis Wing", which I personally found very informative.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent technical details
Review: As other reviewers have alluded to, this book is not a riveting account of bomber combat along the lines of Crosby's "Wing and a Prayer" or Smith's "The Wrong Stuff". That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for the extensive technical information on equipment and navigation processes used by B-24 navigators. This title is not simply full of dry information, it contains several interesting anecdotes about the 467th BG and life at Rackheath.While other reviewers complain that this book is not "exciting" enough, I completely disagree. I have read several "exciting" memoirs written by WWII aircrew members, and to be honest it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate one book from another. The details Stewart provides are what separate this memoir from others out there, giving today's reader a glimpse of the technology and practices of the day. If like me you have already devoured the "exciting" memoirs, do yourself a favor and pick this one up for a change of pace. While this book would not make a good introduction to 8th AF operations for the uninformed, it more than satisfies for those who enjoy the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent technical details
Review: As other reviewers have alluded to, this book is not a riveting account of bomber combat along the lines of Crosby's "Wing and a Prayer" or Smith's "The Wrong Stuff". That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for the extensive technical information on equipment and navigation processes used by B-24 navigators. This title is not simply full of dry information, it contains several interesting anecdotes about the 467th BG and life at Rackheath. While other reviewers complain that this book is not "exciting" enough, I completely disagree. I have read several "exciting" memoirs written by WWII aircrew members, and to be honest it can sometimes be difficult to differentiate one book from another. The details Stewart provides are what separate this memoir from others out there, giving today's reader a glimpse of the technology and practices of the day. If like me you have already devoured the "exciting" memoirs, do yourself a favor and pick this one up for a change of pace. While this book would not make a good introduction to 8th AF operations for the uninformed, it more than satisfies for those who enjoy the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A different perspective of life on a World War II B-24 crew
Review: From my perspective as a former Strategic Air Command (SAC) B-47 and B-52H radar navigator (bombardier)who went through nav school in 1950, I found Stewart's book more interesting than the casual reader might, but I can understand the disappointment of the non-professional reader. Nevertheless, his explanations of navigation and his duties were well done, and I especially enjoyed his candid description of life on and off a bomber base during his combat tour in England. . One glaring mistake was his statement that there were no B-17 units in the 15th Air Force. There were six, including the 98th Bomb Group, which I was later in myself as a B-47 nav in Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1958-60, when it was a wing. I was also surprised to find so many spelling errors, e.g.,intervalometer, especially for a Ph.D. who taught at the University of Michigan, my alma mater. Navigators such as Stewart was in B-24s are indeed relics, as he says, but I don't think the B-52H radar navigators and navigators on crews that operated so successfully in Desert Storm or in Kosovo more recently will agree.
Rating:
Summary: give the guy a break
Review: Not the most entertaining book but not bad either.Some reviewers have come down a little hard on it.It's a little too technical for some readers but not so filled with errors as some reviewers here claim.Stewart corrects at least one error later in the book. Put it this way:if you want to read just ONE book about bomber crews this isn't the one.It's a little too dry.If you are interested in the subject and can afford to buy several books then this one can be included.
Rating:
Summary: give the guy a break
Review: Not the most entertaining book but not bad either.Some reviewers have come down a little hard on it.It's a little too technical for some readers but not so filled with errors as some reviewers here claim.Stewart corrects at least one error later in the book. Put it this way:if you want to read just ONE book about bomber crews this isn't the one.It's a little too dry.If you are interested in the subject and can afford to buy several books then this one can be included.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't spend the money.
Review: There have been a spate of first person accounts of World War II action in the last few years, spawned, I suppose, by the fact that the veterans of that conflict are aging and want to leave a record behind. How disappointing that a young man's war experiences in the extraordinarily dangerous skies of Europe should be so badly presented. There is no life in the narrative and a large (too large) portion is devoted to technical matters and equipment. Perhaps time has diminished the emotions that a 19 year old in flak filled airspace felt and that is too bad. Rather than presenting the survival of his missions -- no mean achievement in itself -- in the fashion he did, it would have been better to have shared a few memories with his family. Don't spend your money on this if you expect the drama, excitement and fear of air combat. If you must read it, get it from a library. I salute the author for his service but not for his writing.
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