Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot [Paperback]

Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II -and they were legion -Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7th, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of war, Stewart was already in uniform - as a private on guard duty south of San Francisco at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame afterMr. Smith Goes to Washingtonand his Oscar-winning turn in The Phadelphia Storyin 1940, had enlisted several months earlier.

Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilotchronicles his long journey to become a bomber pilot in combat. Author Starr Smith, the intelligence officer assigned to the movie star, recounts how Stewart's first battles were with the Air Corps high command, who insisted on keeping the naturally talented pilot out of harm's way as an instructor pilot for B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators. By 1944, however, Stewart managed to get assigned to a Liberator squadron that was deploying to England to join the mighty Eighth Air Force. Once in the thick of it, he rose to command his own squadron and flew twenty combat missions, including one to Berlin.

“My father would feel honored by this book.” —Kelly Stewart Harcourt, daughter of Jimmy Stewart

We would have made Jimmy a group commander [equivalent to an army regiment] if the war had lasted another month. - General Jimmy Doolittle.

An excellent biography of a distinguished airman and fine human being. - Roger Freeman, author ofThe Mighty Eighth: A History of the U.S. 8th Air Force.

How wonderful it is that Starr Smith has finally directed a literary light on the personal history of Jimmy Stewart. . . . I welcomed Starr's book. It is needed and wanted. Bravo! - Gay Talese.

This is a very well researched and written book. . . . It fills a place in history about no mere actlƒE