The low-key memoir of an American fighter pilot who achieved ace
status in two wars. Gabreski, the son of Polish immigrants who
settled in Pennsylvania, nearly flunked out of Notre Dame but was
nonetheless recruited by the Army Air Corps. In 1941, he was posted
to Hawaii, where he lived through the attack on Pearl Harbor. Eager
for action, Gabreski talked the Pentagon into assigning him to a
Polish RAF squadron in England; he subsequently became the ETO's
top ace, with 28 confirmed kills in 17 months of aerial combat. On
the day the author was scheduled to return home to a hero's
welcome, he flew one last mission and was shot down - and spent the
last ten months of WW II behind the wire of a POW camp. Back in the
States before V-J Day, Gabreski married his longtime sweetheart and
left the military for a sales job at Douglas Aircraft. After almost
two years of civilian life, however, he reenlisted with the rank of
lieutenant colonel. Following a brief sojourn as a test pilot,
Gabreski was sent to Korea in 1951 as a wing commander. Flying F-86
Sabrejets, he was credited with downing more than six enemy planes,
making him a double ace. Retiring in 1967 as a full colonel, the
author accepted an executive post with Grumman, where (save for a
hectic two-year stint as the politically appointed president of the
Long Island Railroad) he remained for the next 20 years. Gabreski
devotes most of his understated text to matter-of-fact accounts of
his combat experiences, leaving readers to speculate on just what
made him such a deadly dogfighter. There's also a rather full roll
call of erstwhile comrades in arms, most of whom add little to the
narrative. These cavils apart, an often ingratiating memoir.
(Kirkus Reviews)
If ever a man has earned his place in the annals of military
history, that man is Francis "Gabby" Gabreski. His exploits as a
fighter pilot in World War II and Korea are legendary; his rise
from humble beginnings to success in military and business careers
is inspiring. This is the full story of Gabby Gabreski, told in his
own words. Gabreski's life is a classic American success story.
Born to Polish immigrant parents in 1919, he nearly washed out of
Notre Dame and then flight school. He was down to his last chance,
and he made the most of it. A witness to the Japanese attack on
Pearl Harbor, Gabby had his own first taste of air combat flying
with a Polish RAF squadron. Shortly thereafter he joined the 56th
Fighter Group of the U.S. 8th Air Force, and in seventeen months he
shot down twenty-eight German planes, the highest total of any 8th
Air Force pilot in Europe. He became a hero whose name was splashed
across newspaper headlines from coast to coast. And then, on the
very day he was to fly home to his fiancee and a hero's welcome, he
took one last combat mission, crashed and, after a daring attempt
to avoid capture, finished the war in a POW camp. Gabreski returned
to combat in 1951, flying F-86 Sabrejets over Korea. He scored 6.5
more victories there, making him one of the few pilots ever to
achieve ace status in two wars and in both propeller and jet
aircraft. He retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1967 and
spent the next twenty years working in the aviation industry,
sustained, as always, by his devout religious faith and his deep
love for his family. Now, drawing on his private documents and
photographs, Gabby, along with writer Carl Molesworth, tells his
thrilling eyewitness story with a candor and a vivid style that
should earn this brave pilot a whole new generation of admirers.
General
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