Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team by STEINBECK, John (1902-1968) - 1941

New York: The Viking Press, 1941. 8vo. 185 pp. 60 black-and-white photographs by John Swope. Original decorated cloth. A very good copy, without the jacket. FIRST EDITION. A wonderful association copy warmly inscribed by 8 of the 10 members of the first crew of the B-24 Liberator Bomber "Billie B" to the woman for whom the plane was named by its first pilot, 1st Lt. Joseph Robins Littlepage. Nearly full-page inscriptions, by the pilot, navigator, and co-pilot (in blue ink on the front pastedown and the front free endpaper), as well as by the crew engineer, assistant crew engineer, radioman, assistant radioman, and one of the gunners (in blue ink on the rear free endpapers). The pilot's inscription reads "To Billie - / From the skipper to her namesake. There isn't much I could tell you other than we are just another combat crew tryin to bring our standards up to the finest ship ever built (42-40076) the Billie "B" / JR Littlepage / First Pilot" The navigator's inscription reads "May 16, 1943 / Hi Billie - / Tho I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you I feel that I already know you. However I still have hopes of meeting you in the near future. In the meantime I'll keep doing my darndest to navigate your name sake safely to her targets and back again. / Best wishes from the navigator / James H. Scholl / Gonzales, Texas" The co-pilot's inscription reads "Hello Billie - / We are all waiting for the day that we can introduce you to the "Billie B." However, from the way Joe talks, it won't be a fair comparison. We will all be seeing you. / Until then - George L. Goddard / (co-pilot)". The inscription by S/Sgt. Harold A. Denison, Asst Crew Engineer, is a charming 4-line attempt at poetry. The other inscriptions are by S/Sgt. Thomas R. Brady, Jr., Gunner, T/Sgt. Cyril B. Cluff, Jr., Radioman/Gunner, and S/Sgt. Clifford H. Muhlhausen, Asst. Radioman. Below that of S/Sgt. Harold Hutton Justus, Crew Engineer, is this moving addition by the pilot "Note - / I'd rather fly without one of the engines than leave him on the ground, loyal to the crew, faithful at his work and loves the ship as I do -- the Air Corps has none as good - the country none better - / J.R.L." In addition the pilot has annotated 49 of the 60 B&W photos the accompany Steinbeck's journalistic account of the training of a typical flight crew.

The notes are often amusing: the captions of pictures of a B-17 and a B-24 on facing pages were (modified) to read "Boeing B-17E, commonly known as the Flying Fortress (Junk Heaps)" and "Consolidated B-24, commonly known as the Liberator (Billie 'B')"; in many cases they are merely informative, aimed at telling her name sake about crew activities and features of the plane; and sometimes touching (beneath the chapter opening photograph of a pilot, 1st Lt. Littlepage has added "And don't think he's not scared"). The only members not represented are 1st Lt. Leonard Barton Conway, Bombadier, and S/Sgt. William Posledni, Gunner. 

The newly commissioned B-24 Liberator Bomber "Billie B" (42-40076) was assigned to the 13th Air Force, 307th Bombardment Group ("The Long Rangers"), 370th Bomber Squadron, and was first stationed at Carney Field, Guadalcanal, on May 29, 1943, with this crew flying missions until July 3, when the plane was grounded for repairs. On July 6 the 10-man crew was assigned to another plane for a bombing mission to Bougainville Island, and the plane and crew was lost at sea on its way back from the Philippines. The "Billie B" was assigned to a replacement crew and went on to serve valiantly in the South Pacific until the end of August, 1944. .