Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot by Starr Smith, Walter Cronkite (Foreword by)

From the Publisher

Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II -and they were legion -Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7th, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of war, Stewart was already in uniform - as a private on guard duty south of San Francisco at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and his Oscar-winning turn in The Phadelphia Story in 1940, had enlisted several months earlier.

Jimmy Stewart, Bomber Pilot chronicles his long journey to become a bomber pilot in combat. Author Starr Smith, the intelligence officer assigned to the movie star, recounts how Stewart's first battles were with the Air Corps high command, who insisted on keeping the naturally talented pilot out of harm's way as an instructor pilot for B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-24 Liberators. By 1944, however, Stewart managed to get assigned to a Liberator squadron that was deploying to England to join the mighty Eighth Air Force. Once in the thick of it, he rose to command his own squadron and flew twenty combat missions, including one to Berlin.

“My father would feel honored by this book.” —Kelly Stewart Harcourt, daughter of Jimmy Stewart

"We would have made Jimmy a group commander [equivalent to an army regiment] if the war had lasted another month." - General Jimmy Doolittle.

"An excellent biography of a distinguished airman and fine human being." - Roger Freeman, author of The Mighty Eighth: A History of the U.S. 8th Air Force.

"How wonderful itis that Starr Smith has finally directed a literary light on the personal history of Jimmy Stewart. . . . I welcomed Starr's book. It is needed and wanted. Bravo!" - Gay Talese.

"This is a very well researched and written book. . . . It fills a place in history about no mere actor but a courageous and selfless man, Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart, USAF." - General Michael E. Ryan, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

“I have met a few movie stars, but of them all, I think that Jimmy Stewart was most like those modest heroes he portrayed. Now journalist Starr Smith has raised the curtain on Stewart’s gallant service as a bomber pilot and air combat commander in World War II.” —Walter Cronkite, from the Foreword

What People Are Saying

Gay Talese
How wonderful it is that Starr Smith has finally directed a literary light on the personal history of Jimmy Stewart. I welcomed Starr’s book. It’s needed and wanted. Bravo!
—noted author & journalist

Wayne Flynt
Jimmy Stewart was that rare public man who performed his duty without calling attention to himself. . . . Stewart has found his biographer in Starr Smith, a man who knew Stewart, who knew the World War II Army Air Corps, and who surely knows how to write.
—Professor of History, Auburn University

Roger A. Freeman
. . (This book) is an excellent biography of a distinguished airman and fine human being. . . . not a Hollywood star in uniform but a dedicated officer whose primary interest was the campaign of the Eighth Air Force. It is the work of a very accomplished writer. . . (one) who really knows his craft. When you turn the last page, you cannot but have a clear understanding of Jimmy Stewart’s character.
—air power historian and author, The Mighty Eighth

Walter Cronkite
I have met a few movie stars, but of them all, I think that Jimmy Stewart was most like those modest heroes he portrayed. Now journalist Starr Smith has raised the curtain on Stewart’s gallant service as a bomber pilot and air combat commander in World War II.
—from the Foreword

Michael E. Ryan
This is a very well-researched and written book. Starr Smith has filled it with personal anecdotes about a World War II hero. It fills a place in history about no mere actor, but a courageous and selfless man.
—Retired General and former Chief of Staff, United States Air Force

Jimmy Doolittle
We would have made Jimmy a group commander if the war had lasted another month.
—General, World War II commander of the Eighth Air Force in England

Kelly Stewart Harcourt
My father would feel honored by this book.
—daughter of Jimmy Stewart

Product Details

• ISBN: 0760328242
  
• ISBN-13: 9780760328248
• Format: Paperback, 288pp
• Publisher: MBI Publishing Company
• Pub. Date: November 2006
• Sales Rank: 43,406