USA

040606 - NO MAN'S SKY: The Story of a B-17 Waist Gunner who flew 29 Times over the Reich

By R C Cline

In the fall of 1942, the first year of the war was ending. For young men in Bloomville (Ohio) Township High School’s senior class, school was the last opportunity to be free before graduation, adult responsibility, and manhood. For them and many other young men across the nation, war was about to become a reality, including J. Emerson Krieger. Life was about to turn in a new, dramatic, and uncharted direction. No Man’s Sky, by author R.C. Cline, narrates the story of Krieger, a combat flier in World War II. An aerial gunner, he protected his crew and plane with a Browning M-2 machine gun while flying twenty-nine perilous missions over the embattled skies of Germany. Through diaries, letters, photos, and personal records, this memoir chronicles Krieger’s service as a waist gunner, the youngest man in his crew. Offering insight into the challenges of war and combat during World War II, No Man’s Sky shares the story of Staff Sergeant Krieger and what life was like six miles in the sky in a B-17 bomber. It pays tribute to all of the men and women who have served our country.

Flew with the 490th Bomb Group from Eye in Suffolk.