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

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. This difficult task fell largely to the US, which, at the outset, lacked the necessary men, material, and training. Over the ensuing years, thanks to visionary leadership and diligent effort, the US Army Air Force developed strategies and tactics and assembled a well-trained force that convincingly defeated the Luftwaffe.

©2010 Jay A. Stout (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A marvelously written work! Stout...offers stirring firsthand accounts of the strategies and doctrines that won the air war over Europe." (Col. Walter J. Boyne [Ret.], USAF, former director of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum)

ARMY AIR CORPS HEROES

A great story about the average men we hold in high esteem - WWII airmen.

The book’s description of aircraft crewmen’s experiences is quite interesting

The author’s description of individual bomber crewmen’s experiences is quite interesting and scary. It shows that the author must have done very thorough research for the book

Good information but not exactly new ground.

A good look at the air war against Germany, with special focus on how their efforts wore down the Luftwaffe.

Other than that it was a fairly standard tale of the European Air War, which is always interesting, but not always new.

great book!!

very consise and well laid out, presents a great broad and specific look at the entirety of the air war in europe during ww2 from both the individual fliers to the leadership of the us army air force

For any WWII Aviation buff

Very interesting and compelling first hand accounts. The narrator did fine. I think he could have done a little better voice inflections to distinguish quotes from the narrative, but it doesn't affect the overall quality at all.

Lots of detail about equipment and management

The narration was good and there was detail I’d never heard before. My great uncle was shot down in his P51 Mustang outside of Berlin May 24, 1944 (75 yrs ago while I was listening to this book). He had named his plane Kit Carson after our home town. My vantage has been as family historian seeing a branch of the family just come to a stop. These stories helped fill in a lot of details.

Great anecdotes.

This book is not well organized (or I could not recognize how it was organized) but it is full of interesting vignettes that more than make up for that one drawback.

The performance is excellent.

World War 2 Air Force history

It was an extremely informative book on a subject that I considered myself to be rather well versed. Sometimes was a little like a thesis but enjoyed the info. My Dad was a P47 pilot late in the war and I found myself seeing him in the book

the end of the Luftwaffe

lest we forget the brave souls of our greatest generation! the background of this air group is amazing and haunting.

Like being there. . . .

Of the many, many books I read and listen to, this is one of the best in that you feel as though you could be right there. What a fabulous bunch of real heroes. It is one of those books you simply cannot wait to get back to. . . and hate to finish! WWW