Cleaver, Thomas McKelvey Clean Sweep. VIII Fighter Command against the Luftwaffe, 1942-45.

On 7 August 1942, two important events took place on opposite sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive with the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the 8th US Air Force bombed the marshalling yards of the Rouen-Sotteville railway line in France. Although it was only a small operation, the aerial combat that began that day cost the United States more dead and wounded in Europe by the end of the war than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War. "Clean Sweep" is the story of the founding, development and deployment of the VIII. Air Force Fighter Command and the struggle for air superiority over the German Luftwaffe by day to make the invasion of Europe a success. Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a lifelong interest in the history of the fighter aircraft that defeated the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand accounts from participants over the past 50 years, meeting and interviewing pilots such as the legendary "Hub" Zemke, Don Blakeslee and Chuck Yeager, as well as leading Luftwaffe pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter "Graf Punski" Krupinski. This story is told on the basis of reports gathered from both sides.