In 1940, Richard Butler and his younger brother Heber enlisted in the US Army Air Corps. In North Africa in 1943 the Butler brothers were assigned to fly the P-38 Lightning, the "fork-tail devil" feared for its speed, maneuverability and heavy armament.
Over southern Italy on Richard's fiftieth and final combat mission, one of his "kills' disintegrated during a head-on dog fight. Part of the wreckage disabled Richard’s left engine, which soon burst into flame, forcing him to bail out. He was taken captive and spent 21 months as a prisoner of war. During this time, he kept a detailed account of life in Stalag Luft III and Stalag VIIA.
Richard’s journals and letters are compiled here, with annotations and photographs documenting his life as fighter pilot and prisoner of war. The author’s research adds historical detail and context to the unique narrative of a profound personal journey of courage and determination.
The P-38
The P-38
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"The single dominant impression is this thing is smooth and effortless to fly....
"Within an hour, something quite astonishing and totally unexpected began to happen. Not only was I more than comfortable, but the airplane also began to 'shrink' around me in my mind. The wings seemed to get smaller, the engines went almost unnoticed, and I was soon flying only the central pod with its guns sticking out front. The sense of power, freedom and effortless control movement is so visceral the machine becomes a part of you...."
Jeff Ethel
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The sole element of his wartime life my father was always eager to talk about was the P-38. Few things moved him to speak with as much animation as flying, specifically flying the P-38. Nearly forty years after his last P-38 flight, he talked of that plane with the same adulation and fondness as the first time I remember hearing him speak of it. Its capabilities--and, in some sense, its capabilities as extensions of his own physical capacities--were an endless source of joyous and delighted reminiscence.
Dick Butler
Stalag Luft III, Center Compound
Sagan, Lower Silesia, Germany
(Zagan, Poland)
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"It has been so long that being home really is a dream. An unreal one. But then it can't be too much longer,
can it?
...I hope you weren't too upset about my tough luck. . . . I have everyone's sympathy, even tho' I don't want it. When some guy thinks he has a sad story someone tells him mine. It usually shuts them up."
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Richard Butler
14 November 1943
P-38 Odyssey: Farmboy, Pilot, POW
489 pages; 201 maps, illustrations, photographs
Fully indexed with 74-page Appendix
$19.95