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Bloody Skies

Fifteenth Fighter Command Against all Odds

Bloody Skies cover

Bloody Skies

Fifteenth Fighter Command Against all Odds

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Pre-order. Available 12 Feb 2026
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Description

This book details the operations of the USAAF's overlooked Fifteenth Fighter Command that protected the bombers during the campaign against the Romanian oil fields in World War II.

Formed in the fall of 1943, the Fifteenth Air Force was popularly known as the “The Forgotten Fifteenth,” as its achievements were overshadowed by more glamorous exploits of the Eighth Air Force in the air war over Germany. Nevertheless, the Fifteenth's contribution to Allied victory was crucial, and a vital part of that was the role played by the escorting fighter groups from the Fifteenth Fighter Command who protected the B-17s and B-24s from the Luftwaffe in the skies over Romania.

In this new history of the campaign, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Fifteenth's air war through first-person accounts of the fighter pilots of the Fifteenth Fighter Command, including such famous units as the Red Tails – the Tuskegee Airmen – the 82nd Fighter Group and the 325th's “Checkertail Clan,” and with his ability to place wartime events in their greater context.

Table of Contents

(Subject to confirmation)
Introduction
Chapter 1: “Piggyback in a P-38”
Chapter 2: The Forgotten Fifteenth
Chapter 3: The Checkertails
Chapter 4: The Ploesti Campaign
Chapter 5: The P-38's Blackest Day
Chapter 6: The Fourth Mission of “Crew 280”
Chapter 7: The Red Tails
Chapter 8: Where is the Luftwaffe?
Chapter 9: The Luftwaffe's Swansong
Chapter 10: Fifteenth's Finale

Product details

Published 12 Feb 2026
Format Hardback
Edition 1st
Extent 320
ISBN 9781472865625
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 16-page plate section in black and white.
Dimensions 234 x 153 mm
Series General Aviation
Short code GNA
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published write…

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