Rating : - Excellent Personal Touch
I have been researching the brief life of an uncle who as a Ball Turret Gunner on a B-17. I have enjoyed this book because it gives a new perspective on the battles in the skies over Germany. Rather than a long, dull recitation of historical facts and statistics like so many books provide, Briol's diary lets you see what day-to-day life was for a gunner on a B-17 and, especially important to me, what it was like for the ball turret gunner, specifically. Other books focus on missions and planes but this gives you insite into many details that you just don't learn in other books. Your butt and back will ache with Briol's after a day-long mission to the heart of Germany crammed into that little ball. You'll feel the freezing cold he felt even through his electrically heated clothing. And you'll get a sense of the stress that broke the spirit of many men watching nearby planes explode in flight right next to you and wondering if you're next.

This book will inform, entertain and make you ache for the pain that these men suffered for all of us.

If I could recommend only two books to learn what it was like in a B-17, I would recommend "Dead Engine Kids" and "Half A Wing, Three Engines And A Prayer" by Brian O'Neill.