Hell Hawks!: The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht | 
 enlarge | Authors: Robert F. Dorr, Thomas D. Jones
Publisher: Zenith Press
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 20198
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.4
ISBN: 0760329184
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544973
EAN: 9780760329184
ASIN: 0760329184
Publication Date: June 15, 2008
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Hell Hawks! is the story of the band of young American fighter pilots, and their gritty, close-quarters fight against Hitlers vaunted military. The "Hell Hawks" were the men and machines of the 365th Fighter Group. Beginning just prior to D-Day, June 6, 1944, the groups young pilots (most were barely twenty years old and fresh from flight training in the United States) flew in close support of Eisenhowers ground forces as they advanced across France and into Germany. They flew the rugged, heavily armed P-47 Thunderbolt, aka the Jug. Living in tents amid the cold mud of their front-line airfields, the 365ths daily routine had much in common with that of the G.I.s they supported. Their war only stopped with the Nazi surrender on May 8, 1945. During their year in combat, the Hell Hawks paid a heavy price to win the victory. Sixty-nine pilots and airmen died in the fight across the continent. The Groups 1,241 combat missions -- the daily confrontation of sudden, violent death -- forged bonds between these men that remain strong sixty years later. This book will tell their story, the story of the Hell Hawks.
Book Description
The story of the band of young American fighter pilots, and their gritty, close-quarters fight against Hitler's vaunted military. The "Hell Hawks" were the men and machines of the 365th Fighter Group. Beginning just prior to D-Day, June 6, 1944, the group’s young pilots (most were barely twenty years old and fresh from flight training in the United States) flew in close support of Eisenhower's ground forces as they advanced across France and into Germany.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 6 more reviews...
 War through the eyes a P-47 veteran November 28, 2008
Hell Hawks provides well documented, first hand accounts of P-47 crews on the front lines of World War II from D-Day to V-E Day. It is as much a collection of individual stories as it is a chronological account of their (and the Allied Army) march through Europe.
Mssrs. Dorr and Jones retell these stories eloquently, not holding back on the emotional state of pilots and the ugliness of war. We see the consequences of inexact targeting among civilian and military targets, the detachment pilots had to maintain in order to focus on their jobs, German citizens taking retribution out on downed pilots, distain for incompetence of ranking officers and the sheer heroism displayed by the pilots and ground crews as they trudged through the mud and inhospitable living/operating conditions to complete their missions.
This book provided me a much better understanding of a less recognized but critically important aspect of the war.
As a collection of stories, the book was at times disjointed. More detailed maps and a glossary of protagonists would have helped me to keep track of the story. All in all, this is a great book and an appropriate tribute to those men of the 365th FG.
A Band of Brothers With Planes November 20, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Hell Hawks! is a Stephen Ambrose-style history of a "band of brothers with planes" --- a recounting in their own words by Americans who serviced and flew the P-47 Thunderbolt in the European theater of WWII.
The rugged, heavily armed P-47, affectionately known as "the Jug," was built in greater numbers than any other American fighter, but rarely receives recognition. (The Pima Air Museum, for example, doesn't have one to display.) The men of the 365th Fighter Group, who supported, maintained and flew the P-47 across the Continent, waged a grim, gritty, mostly air-to-ground war in which the enemy was personal, the fighting point-blank. Viewed from above, one appreciates what a crucial role air power played in the Allied victory.
The pilots' description of their aerial life-and-death dogfights against skilled German fliers is gripping reading, backed up with gun camera shots of winged prey in their sights. More often, however, they were bombing and strafing military targets on the ground: vehicle convoys, railroads, strategic buildings and German tanks attacking Allied forces.
Co-authors Jones and Dorr spent five years researching and interviewing 171 of these ordinary men who became heroes. Jones is an Air Force Academy distinguished graduate, a former B-52 pilot, and an astronaut who flew four shuttle missions. Dorr is an Air Force veteran, a retired U. S. diplomat, and an author.(Disclosure: I met Bob Dorr when he was a diplomat in Seoul in the 1960s.)
Hell Hawks! uses never-before-published photos and first-hand personal accounts to create a fascinating narrative of WWII. As the 365th leapfrogs its temporary airfields eastward across Europe - from France to Belgium and right into Germany - one watches the war progress like a giant chess game, much as General Eisenhower must have seen it on his tactical maps.
Hell Hawks! is recommended for any military history buff, or any student of the 20th century.
Reviewed by John Stickler.
Combat History of a 9th AF Fighter-Bomber Group! September 27, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Back in 1975, Charles Johnson wrote/published THE HISTORY OF THE HELL HAWKS, a massive, well-illustrated 620+ page chronicle of the 9th AF's 365th Fighter Group in WWII. That book is THE definitive history of the "Hell Hawks" but Bob Dorr and Thomas Jones' new HELL HAWKS book makes a nice complement to Johnson's book. And, since Johnson's book is long out of print with copies selling for $350.00(!), the Dorr/Jones book should fill the bill nicely.
HELL HAWKS is certainly well-written and does a good job of relating the combat activities of the 365th. According to the book, over 80 Hell Hawks personnel or family members were interviewed for the book and it shows in the vivid descriptions of air combat found in the book.
To be honest, I would have given HELL HAWKS 4 1/2 stars if that was possible. It did a marvelous job of relating the Group's combat achievements but didn't have as much information on behind-the-scenes/life-in-the-squadron matters, etc. which I personally enjoy reading about.
The book has an 8-page photo insert and, as others have mentioned, a cover photograph showing an 8th AF 78th FG ace!
HELL HAWKS will do just fine for air combat enthusiasts. It's a well-written, fast-paced account of air combat and equally thrilling ground attack missions 9th AF-style. Recommended.
****
Damn, Am I sorry I sold my copy of Johnson's book years ago...$350.00!?!
Well done!!! August 24, 2008
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
365th veteran Charles Johnson wrote his comprehensive "History of the Hell Hawks" in the early '70s but only a limited number were published and if a copy can be found, it is very expensive. This new look at the group reasserts the history of this important outfit into the public eye. More importantly, the authors captured more personal stories of the 365th members that otherwise would soon be lost forever. For those who don't want to read through a long boring group history, this is the book for you! It is very well written and fast paced. I thank the authors for this wonderful work. Jay Jones, author of "The 370th Fighter Group in World War II".
Dorr Scores Well, As Expected August 18, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
As the owner of many of Bob Dorr's books, I have come to expect that anything he produces will be well-researched, well-presented, and very well-written. "Hell Hawks!" is right up there not only with Dorr's other works but with the best in Be There combat writing. Here's an example: "The German pilot ran flat-out low...threading the needle between a church steeple and tall brick smokestack. Narrow streets raced under the wings of Kraman's P-47 as he engaged the throttle button triggering emergency water injection. His Pratt & Whitney surged as Kraman squeezed off short bursts at his quarry, the enemy banking abruptly left and right to throw off the American's aim. Across the Rhine, farther into Germany, the pair raced east..."
Dorr and co-author Thomas D. Jones (USAF Academy grad, ex-B-52 driver, veteran of four NASA space shuttle flights) also rightly recognize the guys who weren't strapping into the 365th Fighter Group's P-47s: "The men with stripes on their arms didn't pilot Jugs, but they made warfare in the Jug possible." We tend to forget that the aircraft of WW II, after all, were just 15 years removed from Lindbergh's Ryan NYP of 1927 but were very complex machines. The authors salute the men with the stripes well.
The results of close to 200 interviews of 365th FG veteans, other combat vets, family members, and more, plus four years of research, "Hell Hawks!" is loaded with the day-to-day details of fighting a tenaciously fierce enemy, demonstrating throughout the book that ground attack combat was a deadly way to earn your flight pay. The authors bring the personalities of the young pilots alive as well as provide a big picture of Allied strategy and the pace of war from D-Day to victory. This is an excellent book not only for military historians but for anyone who enjoys aviation writers at the top of their game. Splendid!
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