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Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London
Alan Axelrod's Lost Destiny is a rare exploration of the origin of today's controversial military drones as well as a searing and unforgettable story of heroism, WWII, and the Kennedy dynasty that might have been. On August 12, 1944, Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., heir to one of America's most glamorous fortunes, son of the disgraced former ambassador to Great Britain, and big brother to freshly minted PT-109 hero JFK, hoisted himself up into a highly modified B-24 Liberator bomber. The munitions he was carrying that day were fifty percent more powerful than TNT. Kennedy's mission was part of Operation Aphrodite/Project Anvil, a desperate American effort to rescue London from a rain of German V-1 and V-2 missiles. The decision to use these bold but crude precursors to modern-day drones against German V-weapon launch sites came from Air Corps high command. Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle, daring leader of the spectacular 1942 Tokyo Raid, and others concocted a plan to install radio control equipment in "war-weary" bombers, pack them with a dozen tons of high explosives, and fly them by remote control directly into the concrete German launch sites―targets too hard to be destroyed by conventional bombs. The catch was that live pilots were needed to get these flying bombs off the ground and headed toward their targets. Joe Jr. was the first naval aviator to fly such a mission. And―in the biggest manmade explosion before Hiroshima―it killed him.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published May 19, 2015
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486 people want to read
About the author
Alan Axelrod
175 books53 followersAlan Axelrod, Ph.D., is a prolific author of history, business and management books. As of October 2018, he had written more than 150 books, as noted in an online introduction by Lynn Ware Peek before an interview with Axelrod on the National Public Radio station KPCW. Axelrod resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 10, 2017
Analysis of Joseph Kennedy, Jr., as well as the war time exploits of his father and brother John. The author also traces the development of explosive drone aircraft and explores the myths surrounding his death.
August 13, 2015
Lost Destiny is a book about Joseph Kennedy, Jr. and his participation in Project Anvil, an attempt to destroy German wonder weapon launching sites. It describes the lives of both Kennedy Jr. and his father, the isolationist, pro-appeasement US ambassador in London. After the first several chapters, the book flips to describe the technology of the German wonder weapons, such as the V-1 rocket and V-2, the first ICBM. In this part of the narrative, it also describes Allied attempts to prevent these wonder weapons wreaking havoc. After these chapters, Axelrod then describes Operation Anvil and its predecessors. Operation Aphrodite was an American attempt to destroy the Wonder Weapons with explosive packed B-17 Flying Fortresses (designated CQ-17). Aphrodite is a US Army Air Force Operation which ends with no successes at all and the loss of several pilots. After this setback, the Navy takes over using two PB4Ys, Navy versions of the B-24 Liberator. Joe Kennedy Jr is the pilot of one of these and is killed when his PB4Y blows up. Axelrod primarily describes Project Anvil rather than the life of Joe Kennedy Jr. He also ruminates a little on what could have happened if Joe Kennedy Jr had lived, because allegedly Joe Kennedy Jr was smarter than JFK... These 'what ifs' are not provable. Thus, Axelrod's book is interesting reading but not at all a biography of Joe Kennedy Jr.
January 23, 2016
This book was of interest, but my view of Joe Jr was that he was less intelligent than JFK and resentful of his war exploits (if you want to call them that), which led him to continue to volunteer for extremely dangerous flights which led to his death.
He wasn't a natural pilot, which raises the question of why JFK Jr flew an airplane.
He wasn't a natural pilot, which raises the question of why JFK Jr flew an airplane.
October 31, 2024
Fascinating account of the "forgotten Kennedy" - Joe Kennedy Jr. who was the first-born son of Joseph P. Kennedy and the first member of that family to die tragically. Because his soldier's death was unremarkable (so many died in the war), the loss of his young life was not seen as a harbinger of the "Kennedy curse" until the rest of the clan began to experience untimely deaths.
The book focuses mainly on the mindset and personality of Joe Kennedy Jr., how he came to be on the doomed plane and the aftermath. I was disappointed that the book is relatively short and assume that not much material on him exists. While much of what the author reveals about his father is not new (his isolationism and defeatism, sympathy toward Hitler, anti-Semitism and disasterous turn as the U.S. Ambassador to Britain) I found it interesting to read how his eldest son was not inclined to question his father's views while JFK, while still susceptible to his father's influence, remained open minded enough to change his views once he had done some fact-finding himself (a trait common to good journalists, a streak of literary talent that JFK had). It foreshadows his versatility as President while Joe, had he been alive to be elected, strikes the reader as a shallow jock, more brawn than brains and so in love with the idea of one-upping his brother as to make him blind to a mission that had so many red flags as to appear kami-kaze.
As a result, I came away with a sense that his death was more absurd than tragic. Joe Kennedy Jr. was not so much heroic as myopic, was not a deep thinker and had a disturbing short-sightedness that led him onto the plane. Seen in this light, the "curse" of the Kennedys seems to be more that all their family members couldn't resist "macho" or "daring" challenges, even when the signs of danger were obvious. It was amazing nevertheless to read how such a poorly thought-out plan - using pilots to babysit remote controlled planes, what we would call "drones" today - had recorded only needless deaths, yet more missions were still being scheduled and carried out anyway. It reminded me of Catch-22, where the pilots keep going on missions for no purpose.
Overall this brief work was enjoyable to read but I wanted more. Much of the book reads like a research paper, because I didn't see quotes from any original interviews conducted specifically for this book. Since Ted Kennedy died, I don't know if there any living Kennedys who could have provided more insight, which is probably why the author was limited to the literature. However, I liked his writing style and how he subtly highlighted the ironies of the situation - while the hero's father believes Hitler will ultimately win and that London is doomed, his son goes on a suicidal mission to ostensibly "save" London.
The book focuses mainly on the mindset and personality of Joe Kennedy Jr., how he came to be on the doomed plane and the aftermath. I was disappointed that the book is relatively short and assume that not much material on him exists. While much of what the author reveals about his father is not new (his isolationism and defeatism, sympathy toward Hitler, anti-Semitism and disasterous turn as the U.S. Ambassador to Britain) I found it interesting to read how his eldest son was not inclined to question his father's views while JFK, while still susceptible to his father's influence, remained open minded enough to change his views once he had done some fact-finding himself (a trait common to good journalists, a streak of literary talent that JFK had). It foreshadows his versatility as President while Joe, had he been alive to be elected, strikes the reader as a shallow jock, more brawn than brains and so in love with the idea of one-upping his brother as to make him blind to a mission that had so many red flags as to appear kami-kaze.
As a result, I came away with a sense that his death was more absurd than tragic. Joe Kennedy Jr. was not so much heroic as myopic, was not a deep thinker and had a disturbing short-sightedness that led him onto the plane. Seen in this light, the "curse" of the Kennedys seems to be more that all their family members couldn't resist "macho" or "daring" challenges, even when the signs of danger were obvious. It was amazing nevertheless to read how such a poorly thought-out plan - using pilots to babysit remote controlled planes, what we would call "drones" today - had recorded only needless deaths, yet more missions were still being scheduled and carried out anyway. It reminded me of Catch-22, where the pilots keep going on missions for no purpose.
Overall this brief work was enjoyable to read but I wanted more. Much of the book reads like a research paper, because I didn't see quotes from any original interviews conducted specifically for this book. Since Ted Kennedy died, I don't know if there any living Kennedys who could have provided more insight, which is probably why the author was limited to the literature. However, I liked his writing style and how he subtly highlighted the ironies of the situation - while the hero's father believes Hitler will ultimately win and that London is doomed, his son goes on a suicidal mission to ostensibly "save" London.
April 25, 2020
Really Should be titled ....
What a complete a$$ Joseph Kennedy Sr was as a father and a US ambassador. As to the actual military incident that took Joe Jrs life, Wikipedia has more actual information. Does make the point that the Project was the forerunner of the military drones used today, although since said project had 18/18 failures, and 5 casualties (5 fatal) and was scrubbed, one could disbelieve that. Although to paraphrase Edison, apparently the US Navy determined 18 ways not to make a remotely operated bomb in 1945. Author doesn’t seem to think much of his purported subject as a person or a pilot and strongly implies it was best for the US as a whole that Joe Jr did die and leave his potential political legacy in the far more capable hands of his younger brother.
And I have a hard time believing the author’s assertion that John, Robert nor Edward Kennedy ever made an attempt to find out the actual reasons their brother died.
What a complete a$$ Joseph Kennedy Sr was as a father and a US ambassador. As to the actual military incident that took Joe Jrs life, Wikipedia has more actual information. Does make the point that the Project was the forerunner of the military drones used today, although since said project had 18/18 failures, and 5 casualties (5 fatal) and was scrubbed, one could disbelieve that. Although to paraphrase Edison, apparently the US Navy determined 18 ways not to make a remotely operated bomb in 1945. Author doesn’t seem to think much of his purported subject as a person or a pilot and strongly implies it was best for the US as a whole that Joe Jr did die and leave his potential political legacy in the far more capable hands of his younger brother.
And I have a hard time believing the author’s assertion that John, Robert nor Edward Kennedy ever made an attempt to find out the actual reasons their brother died.
February 4, 2025
I loved this book, Mr. Axelrod you`ve hit a home run with Lost Destiny! There is so little that I know about Joseph Patrick Kennedy jr. that I just thought he died on the runway trying to takeoff. God what a sad way and waste to lose your life on a secret mission that wasn`t working out after multiple attempts at getting planes up in the air and then bailing out leaving radio frequency to fly the plane to its destination. My guess is that either the cargo fell while making a turn to get back on course or the arming devise pre detonated. Joseph would have had gone on to run for president or senator and had a great life...What a tragic loss!
April 2, 2023
A well researched book. Good insights on Joseph Kennedy Sr. And Joseph Kennedy Jr. Good learnings on not to create competition among family members.
Read
March 15, 2017lots of background and extra material that may or may not lend to story. Was very woody
February 14, 2015
It's hard to imagine a more screwed up, poorly thought out, incompetent plan as the one that killed four men and injured several more. The idea had been to blow up important Nazi targets, especially the plants where the dreaded V-2 and suspected V-3 rockets were being built. But the mission failed completely. No targets, let alone high value targets, were hit, and highly trained war pilots were killed, not by enemy fire, but because of malfunctioning parachutes and other avoidable problems.
Lost Destiny is about the Aphrodite Project and its successors, a plan to send unmanned bombers filled with napalm to destroy Nazi rocket factories. Since Joseph Kennedy, Jr. was one of the pilots who died during the mission, the story is also about him, but there isn't a lot to tell about a man who was still going to law school when he quit at age 26 and joined the Navy in 1941 to become a pilot. Author Alan Axelrod also tells the more interesting story of Joe's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., self-made businessman, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, father of Jack, Robert, Ted, and the rest.
But the bulk of the book is about the half-baked plan to take old Army Air Force B-17 and B-24 bombers and their Navy equivalents, strip them hollow, fill them with napalm, and remote control them from airborne "mother" planes, from bases in England to targets in France. The sticky wicket in the plan was that such heavy planes could not take off remotely, so a pilot and an engineer would take the fully loaded plane up, stabilize the flight, hand over remote control to the mother plane, then bail out before reaching the Channel. Piece of cake.
Of course the pilots and crew did have training in bailing out, but they were not expert paratroopers and even so, they would be bailing out at speeds of around 200 knots instead of the normal 100 knots. The other risk was that the plane, on being handed off to remote control, would fail to synchronize and might well crash in populated areas before they reached the Channel.
And if those risks were not enough, there was a childish rivalry between the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy that kept the services from co-operating on the joint project. They were competing and kept some information from each other so that their service would be first to score a hit. This is possibly what led to Kennedy's death on board his flying firebomb, since it accidentally exploded before he had a chance to bail out.
The writing is crisp, the description of the missions was riveting. Never mind the Kennedys or "what could have been" -- the story of smart men doing stupid things is the story that resonates.
Lost Destiny is about the Aphrodite Project and its successors, a plan to send unmanned bombers filled with napalm to destroy Nazi rocket factories. Since Joseph Kennedy, Jr. was one of the pilots who died during the mission, the story is also about him, but there isn't a lot to tell about a man who was still going to law school when he quit at age 26 and joined the Navy in 1941 to become a pilot. Author Alan Axelrod also tells the more interesting story of Joe's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., self-made businessman, U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain, father of Jack, Robert, Ted, and the rest.
But the bulk of the book is about the half-baked plan to take old Army Air Force B-17 and B-24 bombers and their Navy equivalents, strip them hollow, fill them with napalm, and remote control them from airborne "mother" planes, from bases in England to targets in France. The sticky wicket in the plan was that such heavy planes could not take off remotely, so a pilot and an engineer would take the fully loaded plane up, stabilize the flight, hand over remote control to the mother plane, then bail out before reaching the Channel. Piece of cake.
Of course the pilots and crew did have training in bailing out, but they were not expert paratroopers and even so, they would be bailing out at speeds of around 200 knots instead of the normal 100 knots. The other risk was that the plane, on being handed off to remote control, would fail to synchronize and might well crash in populated areas before they reached the Channel.
And if those risks were not enough, there was a childish rivalry between the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy that kept the services from co-operating on the joint project. They were competing and kept some information from each other so that their service would be first to score a hit. This is possibly what led to Kennedy's death on board his flying firebomb, since it accidentally exploded before he had a chance to bail out.
The writing is crisp, the description of the missions was riveting. Never mind the Kennedys or "what could have been" -- the story of smart men doing stupid things is the story that resonates.
July 17, 2015
LOST DESTINY is a very fine book about the doomed flight of Joe Kennedy, Jr. towards the end of WWII. Or, to be precise, it is the mash up of two very fine books, one about Kennedy and one covering a doomed project that was proposed to save London.
Alan Axelrod has done his homework in both cases. Operation Aphrodite/ Project Anvil was a joint operation designed to destroy the extremely hardened bunkers the Germans were suspected of using to build and launch the V-1 and V-2 bombs that were harassing London and the south of England. Regular bombing was having little or no effect upon the sites and so a more desperate plan was hatched. Father by the famous General Jimmy Doolittle and using the best brains the Army Air Corps had available, the plan was to remotely fly old B-24 Liberator Bombers, drastically stripped of everything besides rudimentary flight controls and a pilots seat, directing these gigantic bombs onto precise locations at the missile sites.
Packed with high explosives, the pilot made the takeoff, then, at a set point, both he and the electronics man set the explosive charges and bailed out letting a mother ship take command of the “Bomb” and guiding it to the target.
Young Joe Kennedy was the final pilot of the mission and long before reaching their assigned jump point, the plane, acting erratically under the remote control, exploded, killing both pilot and lone crewman.
The first section of the book relates the story of the Kennedy family and the rivalry between Joe and his younger brother John F. This is the more fascinating of the two intertwined parts, telling of the rise of Joe Sr., his time as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, his feud with Roosevelt, and his views on the war. It also depicts his drive for the presidency and, when that route in politics was deigned him, how he groomed his sons for the job.
This is a fascinating and thought provoking look into another corner of the Kennedy legacy. The biographic sketches are well drawn while the military details are both accurate and eye opening. This is one book to have on your selves, but what category to place it in eludes me at the moment.
This is yet another example of the uselessness and waste of war.
I won this book through Goodreads
Alan Axelrod has done his homework in both cases. Operation Aphrodite/ Project Anvil was a joint operation designed to destroy the extremely hardened bunkers the Germans were suspected of using to build and launch the V-1 and V-2 bombs that were harassing London and the south of England. Regular bombing was having little or no effect upon the sites and so a more desperate plan was hatched. Father by the famous General Jimmy Doolittle and using the best brains the Army Air Corps had available, the plan was to remotely fly old B-24 Liberator Bombers, drastically stripped of everything besides rudimentary flight controls and a pilots seat, directing these gigantic bombs onto precise locations at the missile sites.
Packed with high explosives, the pilot made the takeoff, then, at a set point, both he and the electronics man set the explosive charges and bailed out letting a mother ship take command of the “Bomb” and guiding it to the target.
Young Joe Kennedy was the final pilot of the mission and long before reaching their assigned jump point, the plane, acting erratically under the remote control, exploded, killing both pilot and lone crewman.
The first section of the book relates the story of the Kennedy family and the rivalry between Joe and his younger brother John F. This is the more fascinating of the two intertwined parts, telling of the rise of Joe Sr., his time as Ambassador to the Court of St. James, his feud with Roosevelt, and his views on the war. It also depicts his drive for the presidency and, when that route in politics was deigned him, how he groomed his sons for the job.
This is a fascinating and thought provoking look into another corner of the Kennedy legacy. The biographic sketches are well drawn while the military details are both accurate and eye opening. This is one book to have on your selves, but what category to place it in eludes me at the moment.
This is yet another example of the uselessness and waste of war.
I won this book through Goodreads
June 12, 2015
Alan Axelrod could’ve called this retrospective on the late Joe Kennedy, Junior’s life, “What Might Have Been.” That’s the whole point behind the actual title of this 2015 biography. Had Kennedy not been assigned to America’s early attempt at drone warfare, he might well have been running for President ahead of his younger brother Jack in the 1960 election. As most of us already know, the elder brother did lose his life in an effort to save London during World War II. In these 269 pages, Axelrod gives us the details behind Kennedy’s ill-fated mission; that lost destiny.
Sadly, however, Joe Kennedy, Junior sort of takes a back seat in this war journal. Axelrod spends an entire opening prologue on what lead up to World War II and Kennedy’s father, Joe, Senior’s role in that history. We see Joe Junior in his role as the politically chosen son in the first chapter. Kennedy’s naval aviation career takes off in the next chapter. Then the star of this literary show, Kennedy, all but disappears for the next, (are you ready for this?), six chapters. His name is rarely mentioned. Axelrod focuses here exclusively on the highly-detailed history of the USAAF’s Operation Aphrodite and the US Navy’s Project Anvil experiments.
It appears here in total that Axelrod is far more fascinated by the life and times of Joe Kennedy Senior as well as America’s attempts to protect London from Germany’s long range missiles. He seems less interested in detailing Joe Kennedy Junior’s lost political destiny. Bottom line, this is more an expose of a highly secretive but fatally flawed and disastrously-run military exercise. If we want to know more about Joe Kennedy, Junior, the man, apparently we’ll have to look elsewhere. In this case, the younger Kennedy seems to be just an afterthought.
Sadly, however, Joe Kennedy, Junior sort of takes a back seat in this war journal. Axelrod spends an entire opening prologue on what lead up to World War II and Kennedy’s father, Joe, Senior’s role in that history. We see Joe Junior in his role as the politically chosen son in the first chapter. Kennedy’s naval aviation career takes off in the next chapter. Then the star of this literary show, Kennedy, all but disappears for the next, (are you ready for this?), six chapters. His name is rarely mentioned. Axelrod focuses here exclusively on the highly-detailed history of the USAAF’s Operation Aphrodite and the US Navy’s Project Anvil experiments.
It appears here in total that Axelrod is far more fascinated by the life and times of Joe Kennedy Senior as well as America’s attempts to protect London from Germany’s long range missiles. He seems less interested in detailing Joe Kennedy Junior’s lost political destiny. Bottom line, this is more an expose of a highly secretive but fatally flawed and disastrously-run military exercise. If we want to know more about Joe Kennedy, Junior, the man, apparently we’ll have to look elsewhere. In this case, the younger Kennedy seems to be just an afterthought.
June 27, 2018
Axelrod brings to life the son of Joe Kennedy, Sr. But first, we learn about Joe Kennedy, Sr. and all his plans to make his first-born son the first Catholic president. The first half of the book is more about the Kennedy family -- and especially the ambitions of the dad for his sons. It is not a pretty family picture but an engaging one.
The second is about Joe, Jr.'s decision to join the Army Air Corps and his volunteering to take on an especially dangerous mission.
The connection of these two themes is held back until the final pages of the book.
Readers who want to learn more about the Kennedy we never knew will like this book. Axelrod also provides us with the decisions generals make that change history for the young men who they lead.
It's a bio and an informative read about WWII.
The second is about Joe, Jr.'s decision to join the Army Air Corps and his volunteering to take on an especially dangerous mission.
The connection of these two themes is held back until the final pages of the book.
Readers who want to learn more about the Kennedy we never knew will like this book. Axelrod also provides us with the decisions generals make that change history for the young men who they lead.
It's a bio and an informative read about WWII.
September 28, 2015
Many people that are familiar with the Kennedy family history may already have read about the short life of Joseph Kennedy Jr. This book is a good substitute if you have not. It's best value is providing an excellent history of America's drone development and usage during WWII. Air Force leaders decided that especially hard targets used in the V1 and V2 launchings were too hard to be destroyed by regular bombing. Only flying an unmanned remote controlled bomber filled with explosives would destroy these targets.
The problem was that remote controls were to primitive to use during take-off so a real pilot was required to get the plan in the air after which he would bail out when a second plane assumed remote control.
The problem was that remote controls were to primitive to use during take-off so a real pilot was required to get the plan in the air after which he would bail out when a second plane assumed remote control.
July 2, 2015
The 20th century is not usually my area of history. I am interested in the Kennedy family, however, and when I saw this book on the giveaways I decided to enter. I was lucky enough to win and am glad I did. It's a very interesting book and offers a very different perspective both on WWII and on the Kennedys. I like how it is narrative rather than strictly factual, as this makes Joe Kennedy more human and accessible. I would definitely recommend this book for 20th century history buffs and neophytes like myself.
January 24, 2016
This book was ostensibly about Joseph Kennedy, Jr.'s death in WWII. But it was about more, I thought. Kennedy seemed to be striving for his dad's approval and competing with JFK for success in the war. Sad that he was killed while still feeling he needed to accomplish something outstanding in order to count in his family. Or at least that is how I felt after reading the book. The book was like two different stories, (1) The Kennedys and (2) defeat of the V1 and V2 rockets in agonizing detail (6 chapters dedicated to development of plans).
March 15, 2015
More a history of the British American and German efforts to create large bombs guided by a pilot in an accompanying plane (drones of a sort) from WWI through WWII. Joe Kennedy Jr lost his life in one of the attempts at this.
Does give background on Joe Jr and his father Joe Kennedy, the defeatist American Ambassador to London, but to me, there were two books here, with only a minor connection.
The 4* is based on the military history.
Primarily secondary sources.
Does give background on Joe Jr and his father Joe Kennedy, the defeatist American Ambassador to London, but to me, there were two books here, with only a minor connection.
The 4* is based on the military history.
Primarily secondary sources.
November 9, 2015
To write about the death of Joe Kennedy, Jr., in WWII, the author had to take us back to walk through the father's story and then through the son's. To understand the death itself in, basicly, a prototype of unmanned aircraft, the author walks us through the history of unmanned aircraft in the US, England, and -- to some extent -- Germany. In short, quite an interesting book.
September 22, 2015
Lost Destiny is a story of Joe Kennedy Jr. It is also an account of the superior German technology during World War II and the allies' desperate weapons race to counter the German forces. ~ http://bookreviews.infoversant.com/lo...
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