America in the Air War

The Epic of Flight

by Edward Jablonski

Hardcover, blue padded leatherette w/ color pictorial inset.

Genres: History, Aviation, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Edward Jablonski was the author of several biographies on American cultural personalities, such as George Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Alan Jay Lerner and Irving Berlin, as well as books on aviation history.

Jablonski was born in Bay City, Michigan to a family of Polish-American journalists and writers. His father had been a writer for Sztandar Polski and another relative, Paul F. Jablonski, wrote for the Bay City Times. Early on he fell in love with the music of George and Ira Gershwin. A fan letter he wrote to Ira while in school quickly turned into regular correspondence and eventually a lasting friendship with the lyricist.

While Jablonski was interested in music, his true fascination was with aviation. Supposedly, he spent much of his time watching the planes at the James Clements Airport near the South End of Bay City. He had grown up, he said later, listening to the music of the day as he ''hung around the airport watching the planes.'' As a schoolboy he also started a correspondence with Gershwin. Later on in his life, he became interested in aerial warfare. Telling an interviewer in 1986, "Aviation makes possible the most deadly form of warfare ever -- the perversion of one of man's greatest inventions."

He served in the United States Army Field Artillery in New Guinea during World War II. For his actions in New Guinea, he was awarded the Silver Star.

After leaving the army, he attended junior college in Bay City as a pre-journalism major. He continued his studies at the New School for Social Research, receiving his bachelor's in 1950. He also completed postgraduate work in anthropology at Columbia.

While working for the March of Dimes charity in New York, Jablonski wrote articles and music reviews for a number of small magazines as well as liner notes for albums; this was the beginning of a fifty-year freelance career.

At the time of his death, he was working on "Masters of American Song", which would have been a comprehensive history of American pop music.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 found the Army Air Forces with only slightly more than one thousand combat-ready airplanes. Who could have predicted that, over the next four years, that number would grow to more than eighty thousand aircraft and America would stand at the forefront of the battle in the air?

“America in the Air War,” part of The Epic of Flight series, provides readers with an overview of America’s role in the air war of the Second World War. Using both narrative and photographs, readers can explore the rise of American airpower, the war in the European theater and in the Pacific. The unfolding story is a testament to both the men and the machines that fought for freedom.

Recommended for readers interested in aviation, warplanes, and/or American history.

[C.A. Craven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just the right balance of words and helpful images to really get a clear picture of WWII's fighter plane battles, without being overwhelmed with too much information.

[The Nutmeg · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great overview for beginners and amateurs like me! :)

[Professor · Rating 3 out of 5]

America in the Air War simply has to cover too much ground-all of the fronts the U.S. Air Force was involved in-in too short a space. Like all of these Time Life books, if you want a shallow overview with pretty pictures, it's not a bad place to start, but it's hardly a scholarly book on the subject. Even within these confines, however, there is too much material to cover, and much of it feels rushed.