Hell Above Earth: The Incredible True Story of an American WWII Bomber Commander and the Copilot Ordered to Kill

Resumen del libro

A sensational tale of combat, and an unlikely friendship in the flak-filled skies above Germany



The U.S. air battle over Nazi Germany in World War II was hell above earth. For bomber crews, death could come in a variety of ways: an unlucky flak burst, Luftwaffe fighters that could appear anywhere at any time, or pilot error while flying less than twenty feet apart. Twenty-year-old U.S. Captain Werner Goering thrived on and welcomed the adrenaline rush. Goering was an exceptional pilot. He was also the nephew of Herman Goering, leading member of the Nazi party and commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe.

When Werner qualified to become a bomber commander in 1942, J. Edgar Hoover issued a top-secret order to ensure that if Captain Goering's plane was downed for any reason over Nazi-occupied Europe, someone would be in the cockpit to shoot Goering dead. The FBI and the American military would not prevent Werner from serving his American homeland in war, but neither would they risk the propaganda coup that his desertion, or even his live capture, would represent for Nazi Germany. So in early 1943, FBI agents fanned out across the United States to find a man capable and willing to shoot Werner in the cockpit, and one who could then get the plane back home. They found Jack Rencher, a tough, insular, B-17 instructor in Yuma, Arizona, who also happened to be one of the Army's best pistol shots. That Jack and Werner became unlikely friends is just one more twist in one of the most incredible untold tales to come out of World War II.