Tail-end Charlies : the last battles of the bomber war, 1944-45 / John Nichol and Tony Rennell.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 453-458) and index.

In the firing line -- Debating and dying -- Boys into men -- Flying fortress Britain -- Flying in the face of fear -- No early returns -- Orders from on high -- D-Day and beyond -- Back to the cities -- The last Christmas? -- Burning Dresden -- Face to face with the enemy -- Finishing the job -- Victory? -- Forgotten heroes.

"Night after night they stifled their fears and flew through flak and packs of enemy fighters to drop the bombs that would demolish the Third Reich. The airmen of the United States 8th Army Air Force, American and British Bomber Command were among the greatest heroes of the Second World War, defying Hitler in the darkest early days of the war and taking the battle to the German homeland when no one else would ... Especially vulnerable were the "tail-end Charlies"--For the Americans, which meant two things: the gunners who flew countless missions in a plexiglass bubble at the back of the bomber, and the last bomber in the formation who ended up flying through the most hell, and for the British, the rear-gunners who flew operations in a Plexiglas bubble at the back of the bomber ... [The authors] tell the astonishing and deeply moving story of the controversial last battles in the skies of Germany through the eyes of the forgotten heroes who fought them"--Publisher's description.