By Kevin Seabrooke

This sweeping narrative chronicles the meteoric rise of U.S. military aviation through the career of General Henry “Hap” Arnold—who learned to fly with the Wright brothers in 1911 before guiding the Army Air Forces to global supremacy. At the heart of this transformation was the B-29 Superfortress, a technological titan whose massive research, development, and industrial mobilization cost exceeded even that of the Manhattan Project. As the only aircraft in the American arsenal capable of delivering the atomic bomb, the Superfortress carried the strike missions over Japan that ultimately brought World War II to a close. By detailing the visionaries, engineers, and crews behind this revolutionary strategic bomber, the book convincingly positions the creation of American airpower alongside the Manhattan Project and the Space Race as a monumental technological achievement.

Bird Men: The Rise of American Airpower and the Machine That Ended World War II – A WWII History of American Airpower and the Superfortress That Changed the Course of the War (A. J. Baime, Mariner Books/ HarperCollins, New York, NY, 432 pp., Oct. 20, 2026 $32.99 HC)