Description

The epic story of how the Twentieth Air Force was built into the most advanced strategic weapon of World War II and the prototype for today’s strategic Air Command is filled with action, heroic adventures, and technological triumphs. With a veteran’s insights, Wilbur Morrison describes the expert teamwork which offset the tremendous obstacles facing General Henry (“Hap”) Arnold, Chief of Army Air Corps, from the outset. The B-29 had to be designed, built, tested, and proved in an impossibly short time. But perhaps the greatest enemy of all was geography: The men in General Curtis LeMay’s command flew B-29s carrying their own fuel over the Himalayas from India, where they were based for the operations over China, Southeast Asia, and ultimately, Japan. Replete with first-hand reports and anecdotes, here are accounts of air battles against suicidal Japanese pilots, and of political infighting. The cast of characters includes supporters such as FDR and General George Marshall, and such prominent wartime figures as Chennault, Stilwell, and Chiang Kai-shek. The author details LeMay’s little-known, successful tactic that wiped out virtually every major Japanese city long before the A-bombs were dropped. POINT OF NO RETURN argues convincingly that LeMay’s strategy made not only the American atom bombing of Japan unnecessary, but also the development and future use of nuclear weapons.