Winner of the San Diego Book Awards for Military/Politics, this is the true story of the Eighth Air Force's legendary 303rd Bomb Group   Although the United States declared war against Germany in December 1941, a successful assault on Nazi-occupied Europe could not happen until Germany's industrial and military might were crippled. The first target was the Luftwaffe--the most powerful and battle-hardened air force in the world. The United States Army Air Forces joined with Great Britain's already-engaged Royal Air Force to launch a strategic air campaign that ultimately brought the Luftwaffe to its knees. One of the standout units of this campaign was the legendary 303rd Bomb Group--Hell's Angels.   This is the 303rd's story, as told by the men who made it what it was. Taking their name from their B-17 of the same name, they became one of the most distinguished and important air combat units in history. The dramatic and terrible air battles they fought against Germany ultimately changed the course of the war. INCLUDES PHOTOS Praise for Hell’s Angels “[An] epic tale of the World War II aerial campaign over Europe... Hell's Angels is a gripping and awe-inspiring book.”—Nathaniel Fick, author of One Bullet Away “It's all there—the boredom, the devotion, the horror and even the humor in an industrial war fought on a global scale that we'll never see again. Unit histories just do not get any better.”—Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind and Forgotten Fifteenth. “Jay Stout is a triple-threat aviation historian—an experienced combat aviator, a meticulous researcher and a compelling story teller. His uncanny eye for authentic detail allows Hell’s Angels to be the incredible story of the 303rd Bomb Group and the bombing campaign that crippled Nazi Germany. Stout makes a hard-ridden topic seem fresh and new again. Highly recommended.”—Walter J. Boyne, Author/Historian “Jay Stout’s reputation as a hard-hitting, authoritative, yet easy-to-read aviation author is upheld with this book. Readers looking for new insights and material will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.”—Donald Caldwell, author of JG 26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe “A well-researched, beautifully written, and deeply evocative paean to the 303rd Heavy Bombardment Group—and all the young American heavy-bomber crewmen who, from 1942 to 1945, went out, facing a high probability of death or imprisonment, to grind the German industrial base to dust.”—Eric Hammel, Author of The Road to Big Week “Jay Stout has done a masterful job. The life and death struggles are told using the mission records, personal writings and experiences of one of the Eighth Air Force's most successful bombardment groups. All who wish a complete understanding of the role played by the Eighth Air Force and the strategic bombing of Germany should read this book.”—Keith Ferris, Artist and Military Aviation Historian Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Jay A. Stout is a retired fighter pilot who works as a senior aviation analyst for one of the world’s preeminent defense corporations. During his twenty-year military career he logged a remarkable 4,700 flight hours, including thirty-seven combat missions during Operation Desert Storm. His writing has been read on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and he has been widely hosted as an aviation and military expert on various television and radio news shows including Fox, NPR, and Al Jazeera. He is the author of Unsung Eagles: True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II ; Fighter Group: The 352nd “Blue-Nosed Bastards” in World War II;  and many other military nonfiction titles. INTRODUCTION I surely wish this was all over and we could be thinking about coming home but there is a long hard job ahead yet and there will probably be no going home for many. I just hope that the people back there realize what everyone is going through for them. —Letter home, John McGarry, February 19441 ROBERT HALLIGAN STEPPED OUT of the familiar sweat-and-oil-and-cigarette stink of the dispersal tent and into the fresh, gray wet of the English morning. Only a handful of the 303rd’s B-17s were visible through the fog. The gray blanket likewise muffled the aircraft-readying noises made by hundreds of maintenance men and their equipment as they prepared more than three dozen bombers for the day’s mission. There had been a mix-up in aircraft assignments, but it was finally settled that the John McGarry crew would fly Spirit of Flak Wolf to Marienburg, Germany; Halligan was the crew’s navigator. The big ship hulked on its hardstand directly in front of him. Halting rivulets of water traced paths down its sides and gave it a muscular sleekness. Halligan watched the bomber’s crew chief walk one of the four propellers through several revolutions to redistribute the oil that had drained into the lower cylinder heads overnight. Swaddled in layers of flying gear, Halligan clumped to the forward access hatch under the nose of the B