The B-17 Tomahawk Warrior

<p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Tomahawk Warriors a crew of nine who perished in a 1944 B-17 Flying Fortress crash in England was a mystery of WWII until explained in this book. It would have lain in partial obscurity if it were not for the author's initial involuntary involvement. As a child he witnessed what would become a dogged determination in his lifetime later to tell this story. As the faint light of dawn was breaking the morning of August 12 1944 a crippled American B-17 bomber flew perilously close over the roof of the author's house in Southern England. Around 30 seconds later it crashed and exploded. In 2016 the author David E. Huntley after almost a lifetime came across the story of the crew known as the 'Tomahawk Warriors' and recognized it as the accident he had witnessed as a child.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He started his own research and began asking himself many questions about the disaster. How did this plane crash and why particularly in that location? For what reason was the plane misnamed 'The Tomahawk Warrior' through all those years? What strange circumstance led the author to come into possession of the navigator's diary that no one knew even existed? Why did one airman not take his place on board that day and become a part of the 'missing airman' legend?</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Despite the coincidence that the plane of the 'Tomahawk Warriors' and the plane of Lt. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. crashed on the same day; Huntley revealed a further significant link between them. This incident adds a further little-known aspect about the Kennedy's in American history.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Based on Declassified Secret Operational Records analysis of other official and unofficial records the author's personal observations on the day of the accident and his pursuit of other facts those mysteries became fully resolved. This story provides a distinct understanding of the immense courage those young 20 to 26-year-old American airmen displayed. Mission after mission they climbed aboard their craft and carried out their respective duties at 28000 ft in sub-zero temperatures hoping their electric-heated protective clothing would not short out during the 9 to 10-hour flight. They prayed that flak and enemy fighters would give them that 70 percent chance of getting back home.</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The book offers vivid descriptions of those who got shot down baled out and died or got captured to spend the rest of the war as POWs.The narrative places its emphasis on the lives of the heroes who served in WWII and their loved ones who have grown up in their shadows. He obtained a posthumous honor to the deceased crew as well as a Permanent Commemorative Marker and brought relief and closure to the descendants' relatives. This is not a post-mortem of wartime machinery but a window into the lives of some heroes who sacrificed themselves for a cause as well as a personal insight into the familial relationships with their loved ones at home. </span></p>