Martha Gellhorn, third wife of Ernest Hemingway and a well-known war correspondent, wrote (The Face of War) of her visit to the Ardennes front and the breakthrough to Bastogne in January 1945 :

“…The road to Bastogne had been worked over by Ninth Air Force Thunderbolts before the Third Army tanks [under Patton] finally cleared the way. A colleague and I drove up to Bastogne on a secondary road through breath-taking scenery. The Thunderbolts had created this scenery. You can say the words “death and destruction” and they don’t mean anything. But they are awful words when you are looking at what they mean.

There were some German staff cars along the side of the road. They had not merely been hit by machine gun bullets; they had been mashed into the ground. There were half tracks and tanks literally wrenched apart, and a gun position hit directly by bombs. All around these lacerated or flattened objects of steel there was the usual riff-raff: papers, tin cans, cartridge belts, helmets, an odd shoe, clothing. There were, also, ignored and completely inhuman, the hard frozen corpses of Germans.

…We had watched the Thunderbolts working for several days. They flew in small packs and streaked in to the attacks in single file. They passed quickly through the sky and when they dived you held your breath and waited: it seemed impossible that the plane would be able to pull itself up to safety. They were diving to within 60 feet of the ground.

The snub-nosed Thunderbolt is more feared by the Germans than any other plane.”

Gellhorn was a frequent visitor to the Hell Hawks’ base, and even flew over the front in one of the 365th Fighter Group’s 2-seat P-47s. Some of the men resented her presence; others winked at the celebrity hoopla and Gellhorn’s friendly relationship with their commander, Col. Ray J. Stecker. Gellhorn had friends among the pilots wherever she went, and respected their work. Her book captures the destruction along the front and the attitudes of the men who rained such devastation on the heads of the Wehrmacht.

How the Hell Hawks saw the fighting in the Bulge occupies two chapters in Hell Hawks! — now the best-selling title at the National Air & Space Museum.

Celebrate American’s servicemen and women the week of Veterans Day: Join me for a Hell Hawks! talk and book signing at the National World War II Museum on November 15. My talk on this aerial band of brothers and their combat experiences flying the P-47D Thunderbolt against Hitler’s armies will take place at the Museum at Noon. I’ll be at the Museum store through 4 pm to sign copies of Hell Hawks! and talk with veterans, visitors, and those who would salute these heroes.

More information on my astronaut speaker appearances at www.AstronautTomJones.com.

Bob Dorr and I received sad news in late October about the deaths of two of our Hell Hawk veterans, both contributors and enthusiastic supporters of our work on Hell Hawks! The Untold Story of the American Fliers Who Savaged Hitler’s Wehrmacht. Jim McWhorter, past president of the 365th FIghter Group Association, passed away in Florida on Oct. 22. He was preceded on his final flight by Edgar C. Kiefer, who died in Royal Oak, MI on October 14. Both men were successful and courageous combat pilots with the Hell Hawks. McWhorter told us of his slam-bang shootdown of a Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighter on Oct. 12, 1944, an action for which he was awarded with the Distinguished Flying Cross:

“Mac” McWhorter, Red 3, with 1st Lt. Robert S. Maney flying his wing, heard Porter call out the bandits and direct the flight to “prepare to drop belly tanks in ten seconds.” “The hell with waiting,” thought Mac. “I dumped mine immediately . . . and looking up saw [my drop] was in last place!” Following Porter, he climbed through eleven thousand feet at three hundred miles per hour, chasing a flight of Messerschmitts, which scattered and fled. Bouncing one, McWhorter caught his enemy in a climbing right turn at about 270 to 300 miles per hour. He fired a burst that peppered the dark gray fighter’s left wing and chopped loose its left main gear. As the 109 tightened the turn, Mac squeezed off a second burst that riddled the 109’s fuselage and tail. Maney, concentrating on clearing McWhorter’s tail, never saw the enemy but caught a glimpse of the shell casings and belt links pouring from his leader’s wings. He thought for a terrible instant that Mac’s Thunderbolt was disintegrating, hammered by strikes from a German coming head-on.

Instead it was McWhorter who had the range. He fired again just as the enemy pilot jettisoned his canopy. Too late: Mac’s eight fifties blasted the enemy’s cockpit and engine. The Messerschmitt’s Daimler-Benz engine froze, and flames erupted from the 109’s cramped cockpit. McWhorter saw his victim, spinning and aflame, hurtle down to spray a fireball across the landscape below. “In that forty-five seconds or a minute, I didn’t have time to think about that pilot,” said McWhorter. “That 109 was just a target.” He pulled up and circled, looking for more, but by then the enemy was gone. He had a confirmed kill, and his courage and skill were recognized by the award of a Distinguished Flying Cross.

1Lt Jim McWhorter (left) with crew chief, and P-47D “Haulin’ Ass II”

Edgar Kiefer contributed to our research by sharing with us his self-published memoir, A P-47 Pilot’s Recollections of his WWII Battles (written with his son, Richard Kiefer of Boulder, CO). Both men were brave young Americans in 1944-45, a time (like today) when our nation is in vital need of their determination, dedication, and deadly earnestness in combat.

Men like McWhorter and Kiefer will be the subject of my upcoming Hell Hawks! talk to the Service Academies Association at 0745 on Friday, December 12, at the MARRIOTT HOUSTON WESTCHASE HOTEL, 2900 Briar park, Houston, Texas 77042. Hell Hawks! remains the top-selling title at the National Air & Space Museum.

For more of my astronaut speaker appearances, in Houston or nationwide, please watch this space. I’ll also be signing Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Nov. 14, 2008, from 1230-1430.

I’ll be appearing in Houston this Saturday, September 27, 2008, for a talk and book signing of Hell Hawks! from 2-4 pm at the Borders — Baybrook location in Webster, Texas.

Looking forward to seeing many old friends and learning of their experiences in Hurricane Ike. Best wishes to all there for a smooth clean-up and a quick recovery from the extensive damage inflicted by Ike.

Spread the word and join me Saturday for the extraordinary tales of the 365th Fighter Group, the Hell Hawks! This band of young pilots and airmen had an extraordinary impact on winning victory in WWII Europe.

I will be appearing on the John Batchelor radio show this Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008, along with Hell Hawks Major Dave Harmon (shown here being decorated for bravery in combat). Air time for this interview about my new book “Hell Hawks!” (with Bob Dorr) will be Sunday evening, nationwide.