THE LADY BE GOOD

by Dennis E. McClendon ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 14, 1962

In April of 1943 an American B-24 bomber dubbed Lady Be Good disappeared over the Libyan desert after a bombing raid over Italy. Sixteen years later an oil exploration crew found the plane---practically intact---sitting on the desert some 400 miles south of where it had been based. The author, an Air Force major and professional writer, attempts to reconstruct what happened to the plane and its crew of 9 men. He traces the plane from its factory to North African duty, and he tells how its crew were trained and brought together to fly it. Recreating vividly the tense atmosphere and arduous conditions of the desert air base where Lady Be Good wound up, he tells what fighting was like in that desperate year of 1943. But the real story is how---16 years later---the wreck was found and how American archives were checked to establish its crew's identity. Gradually, as oil workers spread out from the scene of the wreck in their line of exploration, the bodies of all but one of the crewmen were recovered. Telling who they were, and what happened to other men who had flown on the same plane, the book stands as a record of a bizarre moment in the history of World War II.

Pub Date: May 14, 1962

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: John Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1962

Categories: NONFICTION