What is the best book about the Bomber Mafia?
The Bomber Mafia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a 2021 book by Malcolm Gladwell that examines the Bomber Mafia of World War II.
What's new in 'the Bomber Mafia'?
Fans of Revisionist History will recognize some of the characters from the last season of the podcast, but The Bomber Mafia expands on these episodes and includes new original interviews, archival footage, and a fresh analysis of one of the most important events in military history.
What is the Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell about?
Malcolm Gladwell’s new audiobook, The Bomber Mafia, is a riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war. You’ll hear the voices of generals, the sound of aircrafts and bombs crashing.
Was the Bomber Mafia effective in WW2?
When the United States entered World War II, the Bomber Mafia's doctrine proved of little military use and costly in implementation with the realities of current technology under real-world combat conditions.
Is the bomber mafia a podcast?
Revisionist History: Presenting: The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell on Apple Podcasts.
Where can I listen to the bomber mafia?
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell | Audiobook | Audible.com.
Is the bomber mafia a good book?
Gladwell is a wonderful storyteller. When he is introducing characters and showing them in conflict, “The Bomber Mafia” is gripping. I enjoyed this short book thoroughly, and would have been happy if it had been twice as long.
Why is it called the bomber mafia?
The term "Bomber Mafia" came from the sometimes bitter debates between United States Army staff and Air Corps men who observed, and argued with, the insistence by instructors and students of the ACTS that heavy bombers were the new primary weapon of war, and that a separate air arm was required to command them.
How long is the bomber mafia audiobook?
5 hours and 14 minutesProduct detailsListening Length5 hours and 14 minutesNarratorMalcolm GladwellAudible.com Release DateApril 27, 2021PublisherPushkin IndustriesProgram TypeAudiobook5 more rows
What is the best Malcolm Gladwell book?
Outliers2008The Tipping Point: How Little Thing...2000Blink: The Power of Thinking...2005Talking to Strangers2019David and Goliath: Underdog...2013The Bomber Mafia2021Malcolm Gladwell/Books
What genre is the bomber mafia?
Self-help bookThe Bomber Mafia / GenreA self-help book is one that is written with the intention to instruct its readers on solving personal problems. The books take their name from Self-Help, an 1859 best-seller by Samuel Smiles, but are also known and classified under "self-improvement", a term that is a modernized version of self-help. Wikipedia
How did the Norden bombsight work?
The Norden bombsight functioned as a part of a whole system. As the bomber approached its target, the bombardier entered data about wind direction, airspeed and altitude into the bombsight's analog computer, which calculated wind drift and provided the correct aim point.
What is the book the bomber mafia about?
The Bomber Mafia follows the stories of a reclusive Dutch genius and his homemade computer, Winston Churchill's forbidding best friend, a team of pyromaniacal chemists at Harvard, a brilliant pilot who sang vaudeville tunes to his crew, and the bomber commander, Curtis Emerson LeMay, who would order the bloodiest ...
Is bomber mafia non fiction?
The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War is a 2021 book by Malcolm Gladwell that examines the Bomber Mafia of World War II....The Bomber Mafia.Hardcover editionAuthorMalcolm GladwellLanguageEnglishSubjectThe Bomber MafiaGenreNon-fiction8 more rows
How many pages does bomber mafia have?
150 pageMalcolm Gladwell's "The Bomber Mafia" feels like a short blog post expanded into a 150 page book that's big on storytelling but essentially a complete lightweight when it comes to content and conclusions.
Who wrote bomber mafia?
Malcolm GladwellThe Bomber Mafia / AuthorMalcolm Timothy Gladwell CM is an English-born Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1996. Wikipedia
Who are the editors of From Balloons to Drones podcast?
In our latest podcast episode, three of the editors at From Balloons to Drones, Dr Mike Hankins, Dr Brian Laslie, and Dr Luke Truxal, discuss the book and go beyond it to talk about various issues ...
Who is Brian Laslie?
Dr Brian Laslie is a US Air Force Historian and currently the Command Historian at the USAF Academy. A 2001 graduate of The Citadel and a historian of air power studies, he received his Masters’ from Auburn University Montgomery in 2006 and his PhD from Kansas State University in 2013.
What was the bomber mafia doctrine?
When the United States entered World War II, the Bomber Mafia's doctrine proved of little military use and costly in implementation with the realities of current technology under real-world combat conditions.
Who is the bomber mafia?
The book follows the story of the Bomber Mafia, a group of American military officers, especially General Haywood S. Hansell, as they developed a military doctrine of daylight strategic bombing as a means to defeat an enemy with precision high-altitude aerial bombardment. This could lead to a minimum of casualties with new technology such as the Norden bombsight. In that regard, this was at odds with Britain 's Royal Air Force ' doctrine of area bombing under the command of General Arthur Harris.
What book is Malcolm Gladwell's book about the bomber mafia?
2021 book by Malcolm Gladwell. The Bomber Mafia: A Dream, a Temptation, and the Longest Night of the Second World War. Hardcover edition.
Is The Bomber Mafia an audio book?
Upon release, The Bomber Mafia was met with mixed reviews, with reviewers praising its audiobook version but criticizing the book for a lack of accuracy and for being light on details.
What was the bomber mafia?
The Bomber Mafia were a close-knit group of American military men who believed that long-range heavy bomber aircraft in large numbers were able to win a war. The derogatory term "Bomber Mafia" was used before and after World War II by those in the military who did not share their belief, and who were frustrated by the insistence ...
What was the bomber mafia's theory?
In World War II, the Bomber Mafia's theory of the primacy of unescorted daylight strategic bombing was proved wrong. Fleets of heavy bombers were not able to achieve victory without the cooperation of the Army and Navy, and required the protection of long-range fighters for deep penetration missions. Overall casualties in the war were not minimal, and victory did not come significantly quicker. Precision in bombing was not achieved until long-range fighter escorts became available and air superiority was achieved, as opponents had warned. The strategic bombing concept, however, was a major factor in the eventual victory and became the first core doctrine of the independent United States Air Force. Its proponents continued to promote the doctrine into the Atomic Age, forming the Strategic Air Command to carry out a vision modified to fit the needs of the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare. The Bomber Mafia was gradually replaced in the 1950s and 1960s by advocates of intercontinental ballistic missile warfare.
How did the bomber mafia affect the Air Force?
The bomber mafia's strategic doctrine, changed by war and experience , helped shape the mission of the new Air Force and its Strategic Air Command.
What was the Mafia's theory of the primacy of unescorted daylight strategic bombing?
In World War II, the Bomber Mafia's theory of the primacy of unescorted daylight strategic bombing was proved wrong. Fleets of heavy bombers were not able to achieve victory without the cooperation of the Army and Navy , and required the protection of long-range fighters for deep penetration missions.
Where did the bomber mafia come from?
The term "Bomber Mafia" came from the sometimes bitter debates between United States Army staff and Air Corps men who observed, and argued with, the insistence by instructors and students of the ACTS that heavy bombers were the new primary weapon of war, and that a separate air arm was required to command them.
Where did daylight precision bombing originate?
Origins. Developed over the years 1926–1929 at Air Corps Tactical School (ACTS) at Langley Field in Virginia, a forward-looking doctrine of daylight precision bombing was promulgated by Brigadier General William "Billy" Mitchell who advocated a greatly expanded role for the bomber force.
Who was the Air Corps officer who challenged the bomber mafia?
Captain Claire Lee Chennault, senior instructor in fighter tactics at ACTS, was a vocal Air Corps officer who challenged the bomber mafia for more than a decade; he was forced into early retirement in 1937, leaving the precision bombing advocates unopposed.
What was the bomber mafia?
The Bomber Mafia, half of the subject of Malcolm Gladwell’s newest book, came along in the aftermath of that war. Surveying the destruction of the war and cognizant of the possibilities of more war in the future, a band of renegade pilots at the out-of-the-way Maxwell Field (now Maxwell-Gunter AFB) in Alabama gradually built a new doctrine of air power. These pilots noted the knock-on effects on the American aviation industry after the destruction of a ball-bearing factory in Pittsburgh and theorized that, by precisely targeting industries critical to an enemy’s military production, fleets of heavy bombers could cripple the enemy and end the war quickly and with little—or at least less—battlefield bloodshed.
Where did the Bomber Mafia raid?
The peak of the Bomber Mafia’s career came with two raids on Germany on August 17, 1943. The first raid targeted the Messerschmitt aircraft factory at Regensburg and was a diversion meant to draw off the fighters that would inevitably attack any large formation of Allied bombers.
What was the Bomber Mafia's doctrine?
The Bomber Mafia’s doctrine was the result of this confluence of theory and technology, and they finally got their chance to test their ideas with American entry into the Second World War. Members of the Bomber Mafia held key strategic positions in the Eighth Air Force in Europe. These men resisted pressure from the British to join the RAF in “de-housing” or “area bombing”—euphemisms for indiscriminate nighttime bombing of heavily populated urban areas—in favor of carefully planned large-scale daylight raids on key factories, exact implementation of the Bomber Mafia’s dearly held doctrine.
What computer was used to hit targets on the ground?
The bombsight was an extremely complex analog computer that factored in speed, altitude, windspeed, and even the rotation of the earth on its axis to enable a trained bombardier at high altitude to site, aim at, and hit targets on the ground—an unimaginable feat during the First World War.
What was the Mafia's secret weapon?
But the Mafia stuck with it, and the key to their strategy was a piece of technology, a top secret precision instrument called the Norden bombsight. The bombers of the First World War dropped bombs pretty much indiscriminately, and sometimes even by hand.
How many times was the B-17 hit?
Here’s Gladwell’s description of just one B-17 on the mission to Regensburg; the bomber was. hit six times. One twenty-millimeter cannon shell penetrated the right side of the airplane and exploded beneath the pilot, cutting one of the gunners in the leg.
Where was the second raid on Messerschmitt?
But the second raid, timed for slightly later in the day, was the main effort and aimed at a ball bearing factory in Schweinfurt —precisely the kind of industry-crippling target the Mafia had developed their ideas around.
