Tumult in the Clouds: Original Edition (Penguin World War II Collection)
£4.70
The classic memoir by one of America’s greatest fighting aces: James Goodson
Anglo-American James Goodson’s war began on Sept 3rd 1939, when the SS Athenia was torpedoed and sank off the Hebrides. Surviving the sinking and distinguishing himself rescuing survivors, Goodson immediately signed on with the RAF. He was an American, but he wanted to fight.
Goodson flew Spitfires for the RAF before later joining his countrymen with the Fourth Fighter Group to get behind the controls of Thunderbolts and Mustangs where he became known as ‘King of the Strafers’.
Chock full of breathtaking descriptions of aerial dogfights as well as the stories of others of the heroic ‘few’, Tumult in the Clouds is the ultimate story of War in the air, told by the one of the Second World War’s outstanding fighter pilots.
Praise for Tumult in the Clouds:
‘A classic . . . Tumult in the Clouds will continue to be read for many many years to come. It is an inspiring book’ Len Deighton
‘An utterly compelling and intensely personal account of war in all its horror and excitement. A thrilling adventure story and an enthralling, compassionate witness to incredible heroism. I was gripped’ John Nichol
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Additional information
| Publisher | Penguin, Reissue edition (28 Jan. 2016) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| File size | 18849 KB |
| Text-to-Speech | Enabled |
| Screen Reader | Supported |
| Enhanced typesetting | Enabled |
| X-Ray | Not Enabled |
| Word Wise | Enabled |
| Sticky notes | On Kindle Scribe |
| Print length | 217 pages |
by I. Strong
For me this is the second best memoir of World War II (sitting just behind First Light) James Goodson flew with one of the RAF Eagle Squadrons before being transferred into the USAF when the Amereicans joined the War. Serving with the famous 4th Fighter Group this book covers missions he took part in through the people that Goodson served with. Its told in a non linear fashion so leaps about from Chapter to Chapter but for me it doesnt detract in any way from what is a great book.
by stevesview
Wow what a book! I’d put it up there with “The Big Show”. If you like your accounts of this subject honest, informative and action packed…then this is the book for you. Superb.
by Thirts
I was quite enjoying the book but when the book reached the point where he was shot down it turned into a Hollywood fantasy.
Although he was injured in the leg when he was shot down, he managed to walk many miles without food or water (until he took milk direct from a goats teat), evaded capture for many day, and when he was eventually captured used the line “what took you so long”. Once he was captured he was, after several days, at the point of a firing squad but somehow managed to pursaud the commondant to let him off. He then transferred to another camp and travelled through wartorn Germany, where during a bombing raid he warned all the others to remain in the air raid shelter as another raid was on the way. His actions of course saved many lives. Then during the clear up operation, everyone was finished and about to go home when he heard the faint cries of a baby buried in the rubble, and pursuaded others to help him dig the child out. As you would expect he went tunneling into the dangerous tunnel and found mother an baby. The mother unfortunately died but he brought out the baby alive and well.
by royston faulkner
How the yanks won the war very good
by Steve Mathis
Thoroughly enjoyed this book
by Plug
One of the best books on WW2 flying
by John M.
Goodson brilliantly sketches the wildly different personalities of the leading fighter aces.These stories will live long in the memory.How far can you tolerate a maverick fighter when he keeps on shooting down enemy planes?American swagger and bravado successfully gives the book a filmatic feel backed up with choice dialogue and some wonderful photos.Stick with the book to enjoy the twist at the end.
by Paul Gallimore
This is the first war memoir that I have opened since Douglas Bader’s Reach For The Sky, which for some reason I read as a child. Tumult In The Clouds is a record of the same period in history as seen from an American perspective, through the canopy of the P-47 and the Mustang, rather than the Hurricane and Spitfire.
My early impression of the book was that it must have been edited by a gorilla with a meat cleaver, as opposed to more traditional methods, such were the rapid jumps in location in the first couple of chapters. At one point I was flicking back the pages to check that I had not missed a few. However, things began to settle down by the third chapter and I began to see James Goodson as a talented story-teller with a one-in-a-billion tale to tell. After all, how many people ever got to do what these young men did and in such extreme circumstances?
I also began to realise that no matter how one might have fantasised about flying Spits or P51D’s as a boy, this was really the preserve of individuals who are brave almost to the point of madness. Goodson’s recollection of diving down after an Me.109 from 20,000 feet in a P-47 at almost 500 mph, through a squadron of Spitfires who were minding their own business at 10,000 feet, in the knowledge that the Thunderbolt was not at all renowned for pulling out of such dives was one of many that bought the air war into a proper perspective. These people diced with death practically every time they went up and, in case they needed it, the empty bunks back at their Debden base were a constant reminder of that fact.
The full range of WWII fighter pilot adventure is in this book, including Goodson’s strafing of the Luftwaffe’s famous Abbeville Boys, his inevitable shooting-down and subsequent capture, and how he deftly persuaded a Gestapo officer not to have him executed for his efforts. It’s all captured in this succinct little book.
I consider Tumult In The Clouds a great read for anybody interested in the airmen and the aircraft of WWII and it made me appreciate the magnificent contribution of the American airmen all the more – a number of whom came to Britain to fight before the rest of their country made the same commitment.
James Goodson, Don Blakeslee, Don Gentile, Kid Hofer, et al were all exceptional people who for a brief period in the last century led very exceptional lives. In my opinion they are are worth reading about.