Savage Skies, Emerald Hell
The U.S., Australia, Japan and the Ferocious Air Battle for New Guinea in World War II
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Savage Skies, Emerald Hell
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Narrated by:
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Rich Miller
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By:
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Jay A. Stout
About this listen
While the Marine Corps island-hopped across the Pacific from Guadalcanal to Saipan to Iwo Jima, the U.S. Army was locked in a grueling, multiyear fight for the jungle island of New Guinea, which in Japanese hands threatened both Australia and the vital supply lines stretching to the United States. Forces under Douglas MacArthur intended to deny the Japanese this opportunity and use New Guinea as a stepping stone on the road back to the Philippines and, beyond it, Japan. A critical component of that campaign was waged in the air, where American pilots supported ground troops and took the battle to the Japanese in scattered villages and beaches, along the way fighting not only the Japanese, but also the dangers of the island's mountainous terrain and thick jungles, the weather, and the surrounding ocean.
Savage Skies, Emerald Hell is the story of the stirring and terrible air combat that made winning the fight for New Guinea possible. It includes accounts from fighter, bomber, and transport crews and places their actions within the broader context of strategy and tactics, also providing descriptions of equipment and the experiences of the mechanics and support men who made it all possible. It is a riveting narrative of World War II in the air, combining deep primary research and Jay Stout's personal experience as a fighter pilot.
©2024 Jay A. Stout (P)2024 Tantor MediaListeners also enjoyed...
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 812
The American 345th Bomb Group - the Air Apaches - was legendary in the war against Japan. The first fully trained and fully equipped group sent to the South Pacific, the 345th racked up a devastating score against the enemy. Armed to the teeth with machine guns and fragmentation bombs, and flying their B-25s at impossibly low altitudes - often below 50 feet - the pilots and air crews strafed and bombed enemy installations and shipping with a fury that helped cripple Japan.
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2 out of 5 stars
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Boring and unorganized unit history
- By R. Denton on 04-25-19
By: Jay A. Stout
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Jayhawk
- Love, Loss, Liberation and Terror over the Pacific
- By: Jay A. Stout, George L. Cooper
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 74
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story5 out of 5 stars 60
Born in the Philippines to an American father and a Filipina mother, George Cooper is 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, friends, and the way they lived their lives.
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5 out of 5 stars
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An absolute must for any student of the Pacific Air War
- By Ginger on 10-07-20
By: Jay A. Stout, and others
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Warbody
- A Marine Sniper and the Hidden Violence of Modern Warfare
- By: Joshua Howe, Alexander Lemons
- Narrated by: Mike Lenz
- Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 4
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3
Alexander Lemons is a Marine Corps scout sniper who, after serving multiple tours during the Iraq War, returned home seriously and mysteriously ill. Joshua Howe is an environmental historian who met Lemons as a student in one of his classes. Together they have crafted a vital book that challenges us to think beyond warfare's acute violence of bullets and bombs to the "slow violence" of toxic exposure and lasting trauma.
By: Joshua Howe, and others
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Rain of Ruin
- Tokyo, Hiroshima, and the Surrender of Japan
- By: Richard Overy
- Narrated by: Ralph Lister
- Length: 6 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall3 out of 5 stars 3
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Performance2.5 out of 5 stars 3
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Story3.5 out of 5 stars 3
In 1945, US air attacks in Japan killed 300,000 civilians in three hours of night bombing and two nuclear strikes. The firebombing of Tokyo in March burned almost the entire city, killed some 85,000 residents, and left more than 1 million homeless. The atomic blast in Hiroshima in August killed some 119,000 civilians and 20,000 soldiers. After a second nuclear attack days later in Nagasaki and a declaration of war by the Soviet Union, Japan accepted defeat.
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2 out of 5 stars
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The Voice ruins the book.
- By Bryce on 05-28-25
By: Richard Overy
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The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe
- The U.S. Army Air Forces Against Germany in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 472
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 430
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 423
In this dramatic story of World War II, Jay A. Stout describes how the US built an air force of 2.3 million men after starting with 45,000 and defeated the world's best air force. In order to defeat Germany in World War II, the Allies needed to destroy the Third Reich's industry and invade its territory, but before they could effectively do either, they had to defeat the Luftwaffe, whose state-of-the-art aircraft and experienced pilots protected German industry and would batter any attempted invasion.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must read for WWII buffs
- By david on 07-27-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Fifteen
- Murder, Retribution, and the Forgotten Story of Nazi POWs in America
- By: William Geroux
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 11
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 10
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 10
The revelatory true story of the long-forgotten POW camps for German soldiers erected in hundreds of small U.S. towns during World War II, and the secret Nazi killings that ensnared fifteen brave American POWs in a high-stakes showdown.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Great Read
- By John Hines on 06-16-25
By: William Geroux
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Hell's Angels
- The True Story of the 303rd Bomb Group in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,415
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,282
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,273
Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany’s industrial and military might were crippled. The first target was the Luftwaffe—the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. The United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain’s already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group—Hell’s Angels.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Captivating
- By rswaf86 on 11-12-21
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Battle of Manila
- Poisoned Victory in the Pacific War
- By: Nicholas Evan Sarantakes
- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
In 1945 the United States and Japan fought the largest and most devastating land battle of their war in the Pacific, a month-long struggle for the city of Manila. It was a key piece of the campaign to retake control of the Philippine Islands, which itself signified the culmination of the war, breaking the back of Japanese strategic power and sealing its outcome. In The Battle of Manila, Nicholas Sarantakes offers the first in-depth account of this crucial campaign from the American, Japanese, and, significantly, Filipino perspective.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Masterful, Balanced Account of a Pivotal Battle
- By Scott Brownell on 06-12-25
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Death of the Wehrmacht
- The German Campaigns of 1942
- By: Robert M. Citino
- Narrated by: Tom Beyer
- Length: 16 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 34
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 34
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 34
From the overwhelming operational victories at Kerch and Kharkov in May to the catastrophic defeats at El Alamein and Stalingrad, Death of the Wehrmacht offers an eye-opening new view of that decisive year. Building upon his widely respected critique in The German Way of War, Citino shows how the campaigns of 1942 fit within the centuries-old patterns of Prussian/German warmaking and ultimately doomed Hitler's expansionist ambitions.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Lucidity!
- By Anonymous User on 08-02-24
By: Robert M. Citino
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Naples 1944
- The Devil's Paradise at War
- By: Keith Lowe
- Narrated by: Richard Trinder
- Length: 15 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 2
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 2
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Story5 out of 5 stars 2
Keith Lowe has chronicled the end of WWII in Europe in Savage Continent and the war's aftermath in The Fear and the Freedom. In Naples 1944, he brings listeners another chronicle of the terrible and often unexpected consequences of war. Even before the fall of Mussolini, Naples was a place of great contrasts filled with palaces and slums, beloved cuisine and widespread hunger. After the Allied liberation, these contrasts made the city notorious. Compared to the starving population, Allied soldiers were staggeringly wealthy.
By: Keith Lowe
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Vanished Hero
- The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 57
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 49
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet 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 had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great Performance for a Great Story!
- By Carter L. on 11-03-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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American Raiders
- The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets
- By: Colonel Wolfgang W. E. Samuel
- Narrated by: Basil Sands
- Length: 18 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall0 out of 5 stars 0
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Performance0 out of 5 stars 0
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Story0 out of 5 stars 0
The last battle of World War II was not for military victory but for the technology of the Third Reich. In American Raiders, Wolfgang Samuel assembles from official Air Force records and survivors' interviews the largely untold stories of the disarmament of the Luftwaffe and of Operation Lusty—the hunt for Nazi technologies.
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The Invisible Spy
- Churchill's Rockefeller Center Spy Ring and America’s First Secret Agent of World War II
- By: Thomas Maier
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 9
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 9
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Story5 out of 5 stars 9
As a tough but smart Italian American kid, Ernest Cuneo played Ivy League football at Columbia University and was in the old Brooklyn Dodgers NFL franchise before becoming a city hall lawyer and “Brain Trust'' aide to President Roosevelt. He was on the payroll of national radio columnist Walter Winchell and mingled with the famous and powerful. But his status as a spy remained a secret, hiding in plain sight. During this time, Cuneo began a close friendship with British spy Ian Fleming and helped inspire Fleming's James Bond novels.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Incredible read
- By Customer007 on 06-12-25
By: Thomas Maier
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The Airborne Mafia
- The Paratroopers Who Shaped America's Cold War Army
- By: Robert F. Williams
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 10 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 1
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 1
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Story5 out of 5 stars 1
The Airborne Mafia explores how a small group of World War II airborne officers took control of the US Army after World War II. This powerful cadre cemented a unique airborne culture that had an unprecedented impact on the Cold War US Army and beyond.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Must Read. Great Overview of the Transformation and Impact of Airborne Forces.
- By Shawn B on 03-31-25
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Unsung Eagles
- True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 545
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 481
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Story5 out of 5 stars 481
The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who - in the aggregate - actually won it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great look into what so many gave for & to us.
- By Duane on 08-02-21
By: Jay A. Stout
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The Origins of the Modern World
- A Global and Ecological Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-first Century, 2nd Edition (World Social Change)
- By: Robert B. Marks
- Narrated by: Michael Sears
- Length: 8 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 48
This clearly written and engrossing book presents a global narrative of the origins of the modern world from 1400 to the present. Unlike most studies, which assume that the "rise of the West" is the story of the coming of the modern world, this history, drawing upon new scholarship on Asia, Africa, and the New World, constructs a story in which those parts of the world play major roles.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Hard to listen to
- By adam bardaro on 02-26-20
By: Robert B. Marks