The Wrong Stuff: The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator. . - Touch and Go - book review

Air & Space Power Journal, Winter, 2002 by Rick Spyker

The Wrong Stuff: The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator by Truman Smith. University of Oklahoma Press (http://www.oupress.com), 1005 Asp Avenue, Norman, Oklahoma 73019-6051, 2002, 368 pages, $17.95 (softcover).

No firsthand account of air combat can truly put the reader "in the cockpit," but The Wrong Stuff comes razor close. Lt Col Truman Smith, USAF, retired, writes about the life of a bomber pilot during World War U. During four months in the spring and summer of 1944, Smith flew his B-17 Flying Fortress on 35 grueling combat missions over France and Germany. Almost 60 years later, he describes each of those missions with remarkable clarity and blunt honesty, vividly describing how he faced down German fighters, flak, and his own intense fear in the skies over war-tom Europe. Not just a combat log, The Wrong Stuff also delves into daily life in a bomber squadron, relating humorous anecdotes from Smith's experience in wartime England. Now required reading at the US Air Force Academy, this excellent memoir will appeal to anyone interested in combat aviation during World War II.