Amazing Grace (eBook)

Janet Morris Belvin (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024 | 1. Auflage
244 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3509-6395-3 (ISBN)

Infos

When a beautiful nurse and a self-assured bomber pilot meet at a USO dance, sparks fly. The Army Air Force pilot steers his B-17, the Amazing Grace, in dangerous bombing runs over Germany while the nurse tends to the wounded in a field hospital in France. Meeting again in a Nazi prisoner of war camp with enemy guns pointed at their chests, the lovers wonder if they will ever find their way back home. From North Carolina and Virginia to London, France, and Germany, this work of historical fiction brings together two people in love, determined to help the war effort so they can go home.

Janet Morris Belvin lives in Virginia with her husband Paul and is the author of four other books: 'Southern Stories from the Porch Swing,' 'The Refuge,' 'The Bookshop on Beach Road,' and 'Sycamore Hill.' Belvin loves banjo music, Motown music, and hymns, though she can't play or sing a note. She enjoys horseback riding, reading, and traveling with her husband, especially to World War II sites. Her favorite thing to do is to spend time with her three children, three bonus children, and nine grandchildren.

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When a beautiful nurse and a self-assured bomber pilot meet at a USO dance, sparks fly. The Army Air Force pilot leads dangerous bombing runs in his B-17, The Amazing Grace, over Germany while the nurse, stationed in a field hospital in France, tends to the wounded. Meeting again in a Nazi prisoner of war camp with enemy guns pointed at their chests, the lovers wonder if they will ever find their way back home. From North Carolina and Virginia to London, France, and Germany, this work of historical fiction brings together two people in love who are determined to help the war effort. In an escape attempt from the prisoner of war camp, they give medical assistance to a Jewish refugee and see firsthand the horrors of the Holocaust. It seems the two are destined for each other. But will an injury to one of them cause a rift that can't be overcome?

Textauszug

Prologue

Army Air Force bomber pilot Captain Joseph Frank Jordan stood on the tarmac in the hot morning sun and looked up, grinning at his B-17 with its colorful nose art. Joe had been writing to a girl back home named Grace, Grace Ellen Gallagher, and he hated to admit it, but he had fallen for her – hard. Joe had never considered himself someone who would be tied down to just one girl. So his feelings for Grace were a bit of a surprise – amazing, really. After showing Grace’s photo to his crew, they all agreed that she was quite a looker. So, with the Colonel’s permission, he’d paid Sweeney Allen, a mechanic with a flair for art, a commission of $50.00 to paint on the nose of Joe’s bomber the words “Amazing Grace” in gold atop a gorgeous blonde nurse wearing a pair of white angel’s wings. The crew all agreed that it was a fitting name for the plane that they hoped would carry them into battle safely. Then he’d written to Grace, telling her he’d named his plane, a B-17 Flying Fortress, the “Amazing Grace.”

It was to be Joe’s thirtieth mission on this day, evidence of an incredible streak of good luck which he credited to the nose art bearing Grace’s name. He just had to get this mission under his belt and he’d be on his way home. Based at RAF Grafton-Underwood, England with the 8th Air Force, he flew with the Eagle Squadron of the 384th Bombardment Group. Joe had flown the twenty-nine earlier missions mainly over Germany and France.

Today, in another dangerous daylight bombing raid, he was headed again to a huge chemical plant, IG Farben, the world’s largest chemical cartel. The factories in Frankfurt produced thirty to forty percent of all the chemicals, dyes, and pharmaceuticals needed in manufacturing by Germany and its Axis partners. Like the huge ball-bearing plant, Schweinfurter Kugellagerwerke in the town of Schweinfurt and the U-Boat pens at Bremen, Farben was frequently targeted by the Allied bombers. The Nazi Wehrmacht relied heavily on the use of the products produced in these factories, so, of course the Allies aimed their bombs at them regularly. The desired effect would be to cripple the German Military forces. Taking out any one of these plants meant fewer planes, guns and cannons to be used against the Allies.

Joe was proud to pilot his B-17, the massive plane known as a Flying Fortress, nicknamed a “Fort.” It had a huge payload of bombs. The long-range bomber could fly at a top speed of 310 miles per hour for nearly 2,000 miles. Designed in 1935, the B-17 was a long-range heavy bomber built to destroy enemy industrial targets through high altitude precision bombing. The plane itself was stable at high altitudes because of its 100-foot wingspan. Because of its stability, the planes could fly in very tight formations, practically wing to wing. The bomber had acquired its nickname, “the Flying Fortress,’ when a Seattle Times reporter Richard Smith, on viewing it for the first time, noted its many machine gun mounts. “That plane is a regular flying fortress,” he’d said. The plane’s maker, the Boeing Corporation, liked the nickname so much that the company trademarked it.

Joe had volunteered earlier to fly alongside the Royal Air Force’s Eagle Squadron and was based now in England. The group’s mission on this day would send 230 B-17’s to Frankfurt. Giving his bomber an affectionate tap, he headed for the base conference room for a pre-flight meeting. After the briefing, the Grafton Underwood chaplain, Father Gideon Harris, stepped to the front of the room for a short devotional.

“Lads,” he said, “We’ve been here before. You know what you’re about to face this morning. A daylight bombing run is fraught with danger. I don’t really have the words to tell you how proud all of us are of you. Your parents, wives and families and friends back home are waiting to see you when you finish your missions. Let’s get this one done and come back home. So, boys, let’s mount up with wings of eagles today. I’ll be praying for you.”

The chaplain shook hands with all the men in the room, giving some of the younger ones a quick hug. Then they left for their mission, determination showing on all their faces.

Waiting outside the administration building was a Jeep driven by a young corporal. Joe jumped into the vehicle for the short ride to his plane where he met his nine crewmen on the tarmac. As a group, they all walked to the plane, some of the men winking at the angel wings on its nose. One of the crewmen said “Let’s go, baby, and give us a good ride.”

In addition to the pilot and co-pilot, the crew included a navigator, bombardier, radio operator, flight engineer, and four gunners. At go time, Joe and the crew entered the plane and settled themselves in their various locations about the interior. The gunners went straight to work checking the thirteen 50-calibre machine guns onboard.

Working in their hangars for most of the previous night, the ground crew had given the plane’s four engines a final thorough check. In the meeting they’d just left, Joe and his team had been briefed about the flight plan, the weather, any expected opposition, and the altitude to be flown. A flight time had been set with his navigator and the crew had all synchronized their watches. The bombardier moved to the bomb bay to ensure that the bombs had been hung securely. Once over their target, he’d pull the pins and arm the bombs.

In the cockpit, Joe patted the small New Testament, a gift from his parents, in the left-hand breast pocket of his uniform shirt. Covered in steel meant to protect its owner from bullets and flak (a contraction of the German word FLiegerAbwerKanone, meaning “flyer defense cannon” or “anti-aircraft gun” as the Allies called it) the Testament’s pages inside eased his worry. He’d read its words night after night in his bunk and they gave him comfort. After Joe looked once more at a small photo of Grace he kept inside the Testament and ran through his extensive checklist one more time, the co-pilot started the engines.

Joe checked the other planes in what was to be a staggered box formation as they headed to Germany. Determining that all planes were ready to fly, he contacted the tower to get clearance for taxi and take off instructions. The pilots moved their planes into formation and at the designated H-hour (the time for the commencement of the attack - 0630 hours) prepared for take-off. The B-17s were to be escorted by several squadrons of Royal Air Force Spitfires who would serve as interceptors, photo-reconnaissance, and fighter-bombers over the Channel and all the way to the day’s target.

The flight over the English Channel was uneventful but soon, the B-17s began to be peppered with assaults from German antiaircraft gunners. The attacks continued all the way until they reached Frankfurt. One by one, Joe saw, out of the cockpit window, four Messerschmitts at ten o’clock firing at the formation. As a result, three of the B-17s were lost along with the ten crewmen on each plane.

But Joe’s team and the rest of the Flying Fortresses peeled off and found their target easily in the clear weather. They dropped their payloads, making a direct hit on the chemical plant, in spite of the damage inflicted upon the Fortresses. After the completion of their mission, the pilots turned with relief to head back to England. But suddenly the formation was attacked and strafed by more German fighters appearing from twelve o’clock. Most of the damaged B-17s were able to limp back to their base in England bearing dozens of wounded men. But the Amazing Grace was not to be among them.

A barrage of flak from German guns had pelted Joe’s plane, disabling a port engine which caught fire immediately. The crew were buffeted around in the plane causing Joe and his co-pilot to lose their focus temporarily. Adding to the chaos, the sound of shrapnel on the thin aluminum skin of the bomber could be heard by the crewmen inside.

An 88 mm shell burst outside with a flash and a bang causing the port wing to catch fire. Luckily, the left wing gunner was able to extinguish the fire fairly quickly. But with only two functioning engines, Joe’s Amazing Grace wasn’t able to outrun the twin- engine Messerschmitt 110 that was on his tail. The ensuing battle took only a matter of moments. Joe realized he’d have to abandon the aircraft, even though they were at low altitude over German territory. He gave hurried bail-out instructions on the intercom to the crew and checked his parachute. The bombardier and navigator bailed out first, through the door below the nose, followed by the rest of the crew as the plane began to spin to the ground.

Joe tapped his co-pilot Duke on the shoulder to signal him to go next, but realized that his co-pilot had been hit. Duke signaled to Joe to leave him, but Joe checked his co-pilot’s parachute and insisted on helping him out the door. He held onto his co-pilot until Duke drifted far enough away to pull his chute. Then Joe was able to pull his own ripcord, falling 100 feet in three seconds. Joe was abruptly jerked up as his parachute opened, the canopy filling rapidly with air. Swinging in the wind, he looked around to spot his crew, but saw only his co-pilot.

He looked around as he was going down, the ground rising up to meet him. His hand grasping for the Testament in his pocket, he began a prayer.

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Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 9.9.2024
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Historische Romane
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3509-6395-3 / 9798350963953