Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II

National Archives Museum
Online

New date; rescheduled from April 12.

In the first major history of American glider pilots, the forgotten heroes of World War II, author Scott McGaugh will discuss the story of no guns, no engines, and no second chances.This book distills war down to individual young men climbing into defenseless gliders made of plywood, ready to trust the towing aircraft that would pull them into enemy territory by a single cable wrapped with a telephone wire. Based on their after-action reports, journals, oral histories, photos, and letters home, the book reveals every terrifying minute of their missions.They were all volunteers for a specialized duty that their own government projected would have a 50 percent casualty rate. None faltered.