Wings of Morning: The Story of the Last American Bomber Shot Down Over Germany in World War II

Childers, a history professor at the University of Pennsylvania, recounts the haunting story of one 12-man U.S. bomber crew during WWII. On a bombing run over Regensburg, on the eve of the German surrender, their B-24 Liberator was downed so swiftly by flak that only two crewmen could parachute to safety. One of those who perished was the author's uncle, Howard Goodner. This account is the product of his family's curiosity about Sgt. Goodner's tour of duty. Childers's detective work and reconstruction is impressive, covering training in the States, life on and off the base in England and the bombing missions over enemy territory. The narrative has extra depth and dimension from the focus on worried families of the airmen and the different ways each coped with the loss of its son. The book reads like a novel. One of the more interesting ``subplots'' concerns the demoralization of one crewman, as Childers evokes this man's dread between flights. Childers visited the crash site and interviewed German villagers, who provided details about the bomber's destruction and the disposition of the crewmens' bodies. (May)