Half A Wing, Three Engines And A Prayer by Brian D. O'Neill, is an amazing book. Through apparently exhaustive research and cross-referencing of records, and veteran recollections, Mr. O'Neill has given us an experience of actually flying daylight bombing raids over Europe that is unparalleled in depth and in its' multi-dimensional nature, conveying the spatial relationships of activity within the bomber combat formations. While following one particular crew through a 25 mission (late '43-early '44) tour, with the 303rd Bomb Group, "Hell's Angels", he visits other crews, corroborating combat events from differing points of view in the bomber formation. While one man, in one plane, in one position in the formation might've been looking up and to his left, when he saw a particular bomber explode in the midst of a formation; the same explosion was seen by a tail-gunner in another plane, looking down and right. Yet another airman, a co-pilot, watched the same plane disappear in a blinding explosion right off his right wing. With this type of spatial cross-referencing and "story-triangulation", the complex flight formations suddenly become three-dimensional. Fully-fleshed out and given personality in the non-flying moments of the book, the pilots, crews and even the individual aircraft, are then glimpsed, from all sides, as they go about their grim task.

I have spent the majority of my life, reading books on this one subject. I have, long since, had an organizational understanding of how "elements" are comprised of planes, "squadrons" are comprised of elements, "groups" are comprised of squadrons, "wings" are comprised of groups, and so on. For the first time, a book has given me some physical understanding of the movement of these huge numbers of combat aircraft through the European skies; as well as numerous harrowing, hair-raising, tragic and sometimes even humorous tales of the men manning those planes. From take-off, and assembly, over the IP (Initial Point) and target and through the agonizing, clock-dragging return home, this is one of the very best books ever written on this subject. Buy it.

29 of 29 found the following review helpful:


Excellent Acount of B-17's in the Air War over Germany  Oct 26, 1999 By Aussie Reader ""Rick""
This is an excellent account of the American Air effort over Europe during 1943-44. The author follows the wartime experiences of one crew from the 303rd "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group using personal accounts and official records. This book is very much like Gerald Astor's 'The Mighty Eight' and is as just as good, if not better. The story of Sgt Joseph Sawicki, pages 207 to 217, brings home the horror and absolute bravery of these men. I would hope that one day soon Sgt Sawicki's exceptional bravery is recognised and he receives the medal of Honour, even though its over 50 years too late! Recommended to all who enjoy this period of history and well done to the author!

12 of 12 found the following review helpful:


An Untold Story  Feb 17, 2000 By Douglas Ruppel
I want to publicly thank Brian O'Neill for the time he took in developing the "Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer". For my father, Sgt Edward Ruppel (my he rest in peace) this was very difficult for him to talk about the war. Over the years he would talk to me from time to time about some of the things that happened, but as a rule he wouldn't say very much about the war. Brian was able to get alot of the stories to print. I remember something my dad said to Brian," your asking me to bring back memories that has taken me almost 40 years of my life to forget" Maybe the true inner stories can never be told, but Brian you have shown at least the what really happened. May he truely rest in pease now that his story has been told.

15 of 16 found the following review helpful:


I used this as my book report on it  Jun 01, 2006 By Alex Salazar
Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer , written by Brian O'Neal, is the historical account of a B-17 Bomb Wing in Europe during the Second World War. Though many crews and other wings are followed in the book, the central story is that of the 303rd "Hell's Angels" Bomb Group and the B-17 crew of Lt. Bob Hullar. The period covered is from training in 1942 to combat over Europe from 1943 to 1944.

Though several previous histories of Air Combat in World War II had been written, few had given the full perspective of the individual bomber crew. For B-17s, this consisted of 10 men, 3 of whom were officers and the rest enlisted. Together they flew the airplane, operated navigation instruments and radios, sighted and dropped the payload, and used machine guns to fend off attacks from enemy aircraft along the way. Often noted by the book was the fact that nearly 25% of these air crews would never return from the European Theater of Operations.

The crews of the 303rd Bomb Group began their training for the most part in 1942, following the American entry into World War II. These men came from all walks of life and trained at bases all across the country before being assembled at a base in Washington for their final phase of training, where they trained as the crew they'd be a part of in Europe. From there, they were sent to England, where the 303rd was based as part of the strategic bombing campaign of the 8th Air Force against occupied Europe and Nazi Germany. The Group operated the four-engined B-17 "Flying Fortress", and crews typically flew different airplanes during their tour in Europe, which required 25 missions to be completed. Bob Hullar's crew would fly no less than 10 different aircraft during their tour, several of which were later destroyed, rendered irreparable by damage, and one of which had to be ditched in the English Channel.

O'Neal relied heavily on interviews from members of the crews, particularly that of Bob Hullar. Each chapter of the book is devoted to a mission flown during the Hullar crew's tour, their targets ranging from coastal towns in France to large industrial cities deep in the heart of Germany. Likewise, the missions varied from somewhat un-remarkable to enormous aerial battles and fierce anti-aircraft fire. Regardless of the target, however, every mission posed extraordinary danger to the crews who flew on them. They remained in constant fear of their own destruction, and this perhaps played a role in how well the individual crew members could remember the particulars of each mission decades after it occurred. When events could not be correlated with the accounts of the crew's, O'Neal turned to the official records of the 303rd Bomb Group and even those of the German Luftwaffe to determine what actually occurred during the air battles documented in the book.

The story of the American Amry Air Force in Europe was first made famous by the story of the crew of the Memphis Belle, which was the first B-17 to complete 25 missions and served as the platform for a now famous documentary on the subject, made during the war. Since that time numerous documentaries and books have been produced on the subject, making it one of the more well understood aspects of the war in Europe.

Overall, one learns a great deal from the individual accounts that are contained in the book. They give an eye-witness view to the carnage and fast-paced action that occurred thousands of feet above the earth during the air war, and offer a glimpse into how it actually felt to be caught in the middle of this. One is surprised to learn the ineffectiveness that often plagued American bombing missions, which frequently missed their intended target or did little damage, despite the involvement of hundreds of airplanes for each mission. At times there were well over a thousand aircraft, both bombers and fighters, engaged in accomplishing these missions. The crew of Bob Hullar , one finds out, was lucky to survive the slaughter that took place at 25,000 feet on an almost daily basis, and the story of the air war in Half a Wing, Three Engines, and a Prayer is forever memorable because of it.




14 of 15 found the following review helpful:


Personal Connection  Nov 28, 1999 By Ford J. Lauer III
My grandfather, Colonel Ford J. Lauer, established the 303rd Bomb Group and served as its first commanding officer in 1942. He did not deploy overseas with the group however, rather he was transfered to establish another group. I have read countless histories of the air war and this is one of the best. It is impossible to publish too much about the sacrifices and valor of the men who fought in the skies of World War II. Those men flew before the cockpit was a video game. Colonel Lauer deployed overseas in March of 1943 with the 15th Air Force. He commanded the 99th Bomb Group throughout 1944. Colonel Lauer was one of the pioneer B-17 pilots at Langly Field in the late '30s.

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