The Forbidden Diary: A B-24 Navigator Remembers (1998) By John L. Stewart
 
As a World War II combat navigator, the author flew 31 missions and broke two rules: he kept an accurate diary of these missions as well as some of the maps and charts issued only to navigators. Here, he recounts his exploits.
 
As a 19-year-old navigator with the Eighth Air Force, Stewart logged combat time in a B-24 Liberator named the Gremlin Manor. He navigated on 31 missions that dumped 8000 pounds of explosives on enemy targets over Europe. Keeping a journal was strictly against regulations, but Stewart secretly wrote about his exploits and those of his crew. His recollections describe in vivid detail everything about the harrowing life of the combat navigator, beginning with the training, and in an appendix he tells how he guided the Gremlin Manor over preplanned routes. He also introduces the reader to the all-important dead-reckoning procedures along with the instruments and devices. What makes Stewart's book unique amidst a flood of World War II memoirs is his detailed descriptions of how he navigated and the equipment he used, which gives his book a you-were-there feel.
 
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket
213 pages
In Good Condition