Jimmy Stewart Bomber Pilot

by Smith, Starr; Cronkite, Walter

• ISBN13: 9780760328248
• ISBN10: 0760328242
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-11-15
• Publisher: Zenith Press

Summary

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 actor but a courageous and selfless man, Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart, USAF." - General Michael E. Ryan, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force. "I have met a few movie stars, but of them all, I think that Jimmy Stewart was most like those modest heroes he portrayed. Now journalist Starr Smith has raised the curtain on Stewartrs"s gallant service as a bomber pilot and air combat commander in World War II." -Walter Cronkite, from the Foreword

Author Biography

A career journalist, Starr Smith lives in Montgomery, Alabama, where he continues to write for regular publication.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Walter Cronkite	9	(3)
A Daughter's Tribute by Kelly Stewart Harcourt	12	(1)
Introduction	13	(6)
CHAPTER 1 Home in Pennsylvania	19	(8)
CHAPTER 2 A Farewell to Hollywood	27	(4)
CHAPTER 3 Bad News at Salt Lake City	31	(6)
CHAPTER 4 Colonel Dwight D. "Ike" Eisenhower In Louisiana	37	(8)
CHAPTER 5 A Winter in Boise	45	(8)
CHAPTER 6 A Summer in Sioux City	53	(10)
CHAPTER 7 The Wright Crew	63	(10)
CHAPTER 8 Combat Life at Tibenham	73	(20)
CHAPTER 9 A Mission to Bremen	93	(18)
CHAPTER 10 Brunswick and Berlin	111	(10)
CHAPTER 11 New Ways at Old Buc	121	(18)
CHAPTER 12 Jimmy and Andy—"The Buzzin' Twins"	139	(16)
CHAPTER 13 D-day—The Sixth of June	155	(8)
CHAPTER 14 Ed Murrow and Jimmy Stewart in London	163	(10)
CHAPTER 15 The Bombing of Switzerland	173	(6)
CHAPTER 16 A Farewell to the ETO	179	(8)
Postscripts
A. Gloria	187	(8)
B. The General	195	(12)
C. The Jimmy Stewart Museum in Indiana	207	(6)
D. The Mighty Eighth Air Force Heritage Museum	213	(12)
E. Folded Wings	225	(6)
Thanks	231	(8)
Epilogue	239	(39)
Bibliography	278	(5)
Periodicals and News Sources	283	(1)
Index	284