Author Description

Author Raymond W. Clanton, pilot and airplane commander, flew 33 missions over Japan in World War II in a Boeing B-29 Superfortress. In his new book, the Fire Raid on Tokyo, Japan, March 9-10, 1945 is depicted with a haunting realism. This is Ray Clanton’s story as well as the spellbinding exploits of several other B-29 flyers that participated in the drama of countless death defying missions of WWII. The narratives are compelling, depicting a graphic portrayal of the air war over the Empire of Japan and its chilling effect on the airmen who put their lives on the line. The slashing fighter attacks and the Flak Alley jungles will leave you in awe and make you ponder how anyone could have survived such hellish missions. Readers will be stunned by the magnitude of the destruction inflicted on the Empire by the Boeing B-29 Superfortress Bombers. The B-29 Superfortress was a state of the art flying machine and nothing remotely approached her majestic beauty of design. She was a siren, a temptress and veiled beneath her intrinsic beauty was a latent instrument of death and destruction. The author has painted a word picture of the hazards encountered on a typical combat bomb run. You will literally feel the hot lead spewing forth from the fighter’s blazing guns as it smashes through your B-29 Superfortress. Be advised, this is not exclusively a "Blood and Guts" book – quite the contrary. Though action packed by its very nature, you will discover a wealth of historical facts, information, compassion, and appropriate humor and much more.