Research Catalog

The spectator : a World War II bomber pilot's journal of the artist as warrior

Title: The spectator : a World War II bomber pilot's journal of the artist as warrior / David Zellmer ; forewords by Williamson Murray and Sir Michael Howard.
Author: Zellmer, David.
Publication: Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 1999.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Text	Request in advance	D790 .Z43 1999	Off-site

Description

xvii, 128 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

From Greenwich village to Guadalcanal in just over a year, David Zellmer would find piloting a B-24 bomber in the South Pacific a far cry from his life as a fledgling member of the Martha Graham Dance Company. He soon discovered the unimagined thrills of first flights and the astonishment of learning that an aerial spin was merely a vertical pirouette which one spotted on a barn thousands of feet below, instead of on a doorknob in Martha's studio.
Reconstructed from letters home, this captivating account traces Zellmer's journey from New York to the islands of the South Pacific as the 13th Air Force battled to push back the Japanese invaders in 1943 and 1944. Spurred to action by encouraging letters from Martha Graham, who urges him to document his participation in the "great tragic play" of the Second World War, Zellmer struggles to come to terms with the fears and joys of flying, of killing and being killed.

Subjects

Bibliography (note)

ISBN

0275962865 (alk. paper)

LCCN

98022884

OCLC

ocm39024791

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries