The last fighter pilot : the true story of the final combat mission of World War II
by Brown, Don, 1960- (Author), Yellin, Jerry (Author)
Summary
"From April to August of 1945, Captain Jerry Yellin and a small group of fellow fighter pilots flew dangerous bombing and strafe missions out of Iwo Jima over Japan. Even days after America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, the pilots continued to fly. Thoug... Full description
- Preface: springtime in America
- The Seventy-Eighth Fighter Squadron
- The first night in Hell
- A graveyard for bombers and the need for Iwo Jima
- Assessing the threat
- Hell rains from the skies
- The Chichi Jima problem: the last impediment for the fighters
- Hitting Chichi Jima
- In the mind of the enemy
- Prelude to a massacre
- Massacre of the night fighters
- Jerry hopes for a chance
- The rain; and news; breaks
- On to Japan
- The Second Empire mission and the death of a president
- Baseball, softball, and the southern boy from Clemson
- The raid on Osaka
- Five hours over Chichi Jima
- Heartbreak over Tokyo
- The blazing winds of August
- Jerry hears the news
- The enemy stalls
- Over Tokyo
- Epilogue: the final salute.