In this engaging book we see how an 18-year-old miner shoveling ore from deep in the ground in Utah suddenly found himself, only two years later, 30,000 feet in the air over Nazi Germany, piloting a Flying Fortress in the first wave of America's air counteroffensive in Europe.
Like thousands of other young Americans, Ray Brim was plucked by the U.S. Army to be a combat flyer, and was quickly pitted against the hardened veterans of the Luftwaffe. Brim turned out to have a natural knack for flying, however, and was assigned to the select squadron developing lead Pathfinder techniques, while experimenting with radar. He was among the first to test the teeth of the Luftwaffe's defenses, and once those techniques had been honed, thousands of other bomber crews would follow into the maelstrom, from which 80,000 never returned.
This work gives us vivid insights into the genesis of the American air campaign, told with the humor, attention to detail and humility that captures the heart and soul of our Greatest Generation. Brim was one of the first Pathfinder pilots to fly both day and night missions leading bomb groups of 600-plus bombers to their targets. At the onset of his missions in the spring of 1943, B-17 crews were given a 50-50 chance of returning. Each of his raids were nerve-wracking forays into the unknown; with struggles to survive the damage to his plane due to flak and German fighter attacks, in order to bring his 10-man crew home, often wounded but still alive.
AUTHOR: Raymond E. Brim was born in 1922 in the mining town of Dividend, Utah where he grew up the son of the bookkeeper and the town's only nurse. He studied political science at the University of Utah but dropped out to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He trained as a fighter pilot; however was assigned to a B-17 bomber, 482nd Squadron, where he flew missions over Germany during 1943 and 1944. As a Pathfinder pilot Ray pioneered radar technology leading both day and night raids as far as Berlin. Currently retired and living in Salt Lake City, Ray, at age 93, still enjoys recalling his days as a WWII pilot and later Air Force career, from which he retired as a Colonel.
By:
Raymond E Brim
Imprint: Casemate Publishers
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781636244631
ISBN 10: 1636244637
Pages: 312
Publication Date: 30 June 2024
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword Preface Acknowledgments Part I Dividend, Utah, 1922–1941 1. A Town Called Dividend 2. A Dividend Childhood 3. Down in the Mines 4. The Blind Date That Changed My Life Part II The War Years, 1941–1944 5. Enlisting in the Army Air Corps 6. Learning to Fly 7. The BT-13 and the AT-6 8. Bomber Pilot 9. Going A.W.O.L. 10. Final Days in the States 11. Overseas 12. England at Last 13. Escape and Evasion Training 14. Mounting a Mission 15. Preparation 16. Mission One—Lorient Submarine Base 17. Missions Two and Three—The Piccadilly Princess 18. Missions Four and Five—Tested to the Limits 19. Missions Six and Seven—The Dutch Coast 20. Pathfinding in the Eighth Air Force 21. Time Off 22. Mission Eight—First as a Pathfinder 23. Missions Nine and Ten—Experimental Flying 24. Missions Eleven and Twelve—John Ford Gets Wounded 25. Mission Thirteen—The Bloody Hundredth 26. Missions Fourteen and Fifteen—The Milk Run 27. Missions Sixteen through Twenty—Counting Down 28. Mission Twenty-One—The Big “B†29. Missions Twenty-Two through Twenty-Five—the Home Stretch 189 30. Special Orders Part III After the War, 1945–1975 31. The Black Days 32. Project Sandstone 33. All Over the Map 34. The Aleutian Islands 35. An Air Force Career 36. Command and Staff College, and Afterwards Epilogue Appendices
Raymond E. Brim was born in 1922 in the mining town of Dividend, Utah where he grew up the son of the bookkeeper and the town's only nurse. He studied political science at the University of Utah but dropped out to enlist in the Army Air Corps. He trained as a fighter pilot; however was assigned to a B-17 bomber, 482nd Squadron, where he flew missions over Germany during 1943 and 1944. As a Pathfinder pilot Ray pioneered radar technology leading both day and night raids as far as Berlin. Colonel Ray Brim died in 2019 at the age of 96 in the company of family and friends.
Reviews for Pathfinder Pioneer: The Memoir of a Lead Bomber Pilot in World War II
""The memoir offers a pleasant read, filled with the details of service. Enjoyed it.""-- ""Historical Miniatures Gaming Society"" ""Along the way he exposes the reader not only to much detail about the air war over Europe - including hours long missions under fire - and offers many little insights into commonplaces of wartime life and military service at the time, but also to life in contemporary America and Britain, punctuated here and there with some sly humor... this is an excellent personal account of the war as seen from the cockpit of a B-17.""-- ""The NYMAS Review"" ""No feature length film, or read, can match, ""12 O'clock High"" unless it [...] Pathfinder Pioneer. [Brim] via his lucid and impassioned chapters written a hint less than 80 years after the events, may be the most enthralling ever put to print.""-- ""ARGunners.com""
