HSW Author & Lecture Series: Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler's Wehrmacht May 31, 2009

Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler’s Werhrmacht
By Robert F. Dorr and Thomas D. Jones

Hell Hawks! (2008, Zenith Press) is the story of a band of young American fighter pilots and their gritty fight against Hitler’s vaunted military. The “Hell Hawks” were the men and machines of the 365th Fighter Group. Beginning just before D-Day, June 6, 1944, the group’s young pilots (most were barely twenty years old and fresh from U.S. flight training schools) fewl to support Eisenhower’s ground forces as they advanced across France into Germany. Living in tents atop the cold mud of their frontline airfields, the Hell Hawk’s daily routine had much in common with that of the G.I.s they supported. Their war did not stop until the Nazi surrender on May 8, 1945. During their year in combat, the Hell Haeks paid a heavy price for victory. Sixty-nine pilots and airmen died in the fight across the continent. The group’s daily confrontation of sudden, violent death forged bonds between the men that remain strong sixty years later. Robert F. Dorr (born 1939) is a military aviation writer and retired senior U.S. diplomat who has authored 70 books and numerous articles on international affairs, military issues, and the Vietnam War. He write the weekly “Back Talk” opinion column for The Military Times and the monthly “Washington March” feature of Aerospace America. Thomas D. Jones is a veteran NASA astronaut, scientist, speaker, author, and consultant. He has spent 53 days working and living in space. Tom writes frequently about space exploration and aviation history. His last book Sky Walking: An astronaut’s Memoir (2006, Smithsonian Books-Collins). (Ages 16 to Adults) RSVP@historydc.org or 202.383.1828. FREE

Official Website: http://www.historydc.org