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Anthony J. Mireles

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Contact the Author: tony_caroline@msn.com

Product: Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 (McFarland, 2006)

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About the Author

Historian, WWII aircraft wreckfinder and aviator Anthony J. Mireles has a B.A. in History from Calumet College of St. Joseph, Whiting, Indiana, and has been studying World War II history and airpower for over thirty years. The author has been enjoying General Aviation and World War II aircraft with friends and family for many years and enjoys visiting WWII aircraft wreck sites in the Southwestern United States. Mr. Mireles is a member of the Airplane Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) and the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). The author resides in Calumet City, Illinois.

About the Book

During World War II, the air over the continental United States was a virtual third front. The little-known statistics are alarming: the Army Air Forces lost more than 4,500 aircraft in combat against Japanese army and naval air forces in the war. During the same time, the AAF lost more than 7,100 aircraft in the United States to accidents in training and transportation. Such accidents claimed the lives of more than 15,530 pilots, crewmembers and ground personnel, and the stories of their deaths are largely forgotten.

This work chronicles the 6,350 known fatal AAF aircraft accidents that occurred in the continental United States from January 1941 through December 1945. Each crash summary, based on official records, provides details such as crash location and cause, the people involved and the type and number of aircraft. An aircraft serial number index, a record of AAF aircraft still listed as missing, crash statistics and a directory of AAF stations in the United States are included.

This book is published as a set of three volumes. Replacement volumes can be obtained individually under ISBN 0-7864-2788-4 (for Volume 1), ISBN 0-7864-2789-2 (for Volume 2) and ISBN 0-7864-2790-6 (for Volume 3).

Reviews

Cant live without this book!

Anthony Mireles has somehow managed to compile a monumental amount of very valuable information into a well-laid out and easily accessible format. Besides the date, location, and type of aircraft lost, many entries include notes of interest. The author uses an abbreviated but comprehensive writing style to describe how each loss occurred. The names of aircrew are listed in the mishap summary as well as an invaluable index.

The appendices alone are exemplary and very helpful. In fact, I have never seen a more complete listing of continental USAAF airfields anywhere.

The blood and sweat Mireles must've put into this staggering project is difficult to imagine. Going through 6,000+ accident reports on 16mm microfilm reels, indexing them, and then summarizing what can often be dozens of pages of bureaucratic rambling causation descriptions. Amazing!

There is even a list of all of the Still Missing Army aircraft from the war years. I had no idea there were so many.

This is a superlative reference work for aviation enthusiasts and historians, a must have. Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941-1945 is a valuable asset for anyone researching WWII aviation, specific aircraft types, or the fate of servicemen and their airplanes. I salute Anthony Mireles and his publisher for pursuing such an enormous task. This will be a classic WWII reference in every aerophile's library.

Christopher J. Baird "Plane Nut" (Phoenix, AZ)