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The Flying Circus: Pacific War-1943- As Seen Through a Bombsight
In the late evening of April 24, 1943, the first of thirty-six B-24 Liberator bombers, manned by skeleton crews, lifted off from the airstrip at Hamilton Field, just north of San Francisco. The planes were en route to Australia and flew singly, takeoffs scheduled five minutes apart to ensure secrecy. On board was twenty-year-old James C. Wright, who went on to serve in congress for thirty-four years, serving as the Speaker of the House from 1987 to 1989.
It was the first of five legs in the overseas movement of the 380th Heavy Bomb Group, known to a small circle within the Army Air Corps as “The Flying Circus.” Wright was a second lieutenant trained as a bombardier, with just a few hours of “stick time.” He was wholly unprepared for this first night leg of the journey into the Pacific combat zone, and for the horrors of war to follow.
Wright takes the reader to the slapped-together base camp in a desolate section of Australia, close to the Japanese bases with whom the 380th traded raids almost nightly. Wright flies sorties over kangaroo wastelands and into Timor, as well as into “Suicide Alley,” where lay the airfields on the heavily defended Solomon Islands.
The Flying Circus is about the action, but it’s also about the melting pot that was the army greeting a young man from Texas, what it took to be the bombardier--whose proficiency made or broke missions—and what formed a man who would stand astride the national stage for more than three decades.
It was the first of five legs in the overseas movement of the 380th Heavy Bomb Group, known to a small circle within the Army Air Corps as “The Flying Circus.” Wright was a second lieutenant trained as a bombardier, with just a few hours of “stick time.” He was wholly unprepared for this first night leg of the journey into the Pacific combat zone, and for the horrors of war to follow.
Wright takes the reader to the slapped-together base camp in a desolate section of Australia, close to the Japanese bases with whom the 380th traded raids almost nightly. Wright flies sorties over kangaroo wastelands and into Timor, as well as into “Suicide Alley,” where lay the airfields on the heavily defended Solomon Islands.
The Flying Circus is about the action, but it’s also about the melting pot that was the army greeting a young man from Texas, what it took to be the bombardier--whose proficiency made or broke missions—and what formed a man who would stand astride the national stage for more than three decades.
214 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 9, 2024
My grandfather was also a bombardier in the 380th 529th. Having died of a heart attack at age 42, my father and I had little idea of what his legacy was like. The Flying Circus does a WONDERFUL job painting a picture of what it was like flying in the Pacific Theater! I HIGHLY recommend reading The Flying Circus if interested in WW2 history!
March 5, 2010
Absolutely wonderful read! You will love this book if you love WWII novels
January 16, 2017
Well written with lots of action. Good descriptions of the battles which makes it fast reading. Well worth the read especially when you know who the author is and what he did after the war....
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews