Combat Crew: The Story of 25 Combat Missions Over Europe From the Daily Journal of a B-17 Gunner

by John Comer

John Comer kept a journal of the twenty-five missions he flew in 1943 when the casualty rate on his base was close to 80 percent. His book is handwritten history, recorded within hours after the battles occurred. Comer vividly creates his experiences as top-turret gunner/flight engineer in a B-17 Squadron that was thrown against the best pilots the Luftwaffe could offer. In 1943 the Army Air Force had no long-range fighters to protect the B-17s as they flew deep into enemy territory. Immediate, straightforward, and compelling, Combat Crew is a classic of aerial warfare.

1 pages, Audio CD

Published March 1, 2021

About the author

John Comer flew 25 combat missions over Occupied Europe and Germany in 1943, including the infamous raid on the Schweinfurt ball-bearing plant that is still referred to in the Air Force as Black Thursday.

After completing his tour with the 8th Air Force, Comer returned to the States and was assigned to train new pilots. Believing this duty to be the most hazardous of all, he volunteered to return to combat and flew 50 more missions in Italy for a total of 75. He retired in 1974 after a successful career in sales and lived in Dallas, Texas. He published his World War II memoirs in 1986 and found a worldwide audience. He died at the age of 95 in 2005.