B-24 Bridge Busters

Book excerpt: B-24 Bridge Busters: RAF Liberators over Burma and Thailand provides a gripping and detailed account of RAF Liberator missions against the Japanese in Asia. British and Commonwealth aircrews displayed great gallantry in many instances on low-level precise bombing sorties destroying specific targets, including a great number of bridges constructed by the Japanese in their conquest to reach India. A number of detailed accounts are based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrews. 159 Squadron was the first four engined heavy bomber squadron which flew from India and operated over Burma. They instigated greater accuracy in destroying a multitude of vital targets. The legendary film The Bridge over the River Kwai (1957) evokes images that are historically set in celluloid; however, that blockbusting film had separated fact from fiction and this book examines the true events that took place through Bridge Busting , including techniques developed and deployed by the RAF against the Japanese.