A Yankee Flier in Italy — Edition Insights

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In Category - Childrens Adventures

Authors: Montgomery, Rutherford G. (Rutherford George), 1896-1985, Laune, Paul, 1899-1977 [Illustrator] Digital Source: Project Gutenberg Gutenberg Release Year: 2010 First Publication Year: Not confirmed

Key Word: War stories; World War, 1939-1945 -- Italy -- Juvenile fiction; World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations -- Juvenile fiction Target Reader: Readers of public-domain and historical texts

Book Edition: Project Gutenberg digital edition Book Language: en

Edition facts

Words 41,713

Reading time 182 min

Text sections 5

This digital edition of A Yankee Flier in Italy — Edition Insights is described by source-level measurements including 41,713 words, 3 hr 2 min estimated reading time, and 5 detected text sections.

The text analysis averages about 11.3 words per sentence, while the detected sections provide another way to judge how the source is divided.

Project Gutenberg metadata also associates the work with “War stories,” connecting these edition facts with the source record’s subject description.

Source: Project Gutenberg record #32288

In this 1944 war novel, pilot Stan Wilson carries a secret package through enemy skies while his comrades O'Malley and Allison sacrifice themselves. The narrative contrasts O'Malley's sloppy uniform and pie obsession with Colonel Benson's strict discipline, and depicts a harrowing crash landing off Salerno.

Editorial Edition Score 4.7/5

★★★★★ ★★★★★

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Description quality20 pts
Title & short description10 pts
Source metadata20 pts
Text length15 pts
Chapters / structure15 pts
EPUB file integrity20 pts

Total of 100 points, scaled to a 2.5-5.0 range. Editions with an empty description or a missing EPUB file are not scored.

Edition quality

File: pg32288

Read the Text

This was the route Rommel had taken in his flight across Libya.

"Wonder what O'Malley's doing about this time?" Stan asked. He was beginning to be sorry he had accepted the offer to return to Alexandria. O'Malley likely was leading a flight over the shores of Italy.

"I'll bet he is seeing action," Allison said. "But I'm satisfied to be riding in peace with a pip of a vacation ahead. You're not beginning to get the bug to fight so soon, old man?"

"No," Stan answered with a grin. "I aim to have a swell time and be ready for the big push into Europe."

The trained ears of the two pilots caught a warning signal from one of the plane's radial motors. The motor complained for a few minutes, then coughed and conked out completely.

"Looks like we might be due for a forced landing," Stan said.

"That would be our luck," Allison answered. "Where are we, anyway?"

"We must be near Bengazi." Stan peered down at the coast line.

A few minutes later their fears were realized. The transport began circling for a landing. They sighted the ruins of a town and were soon over it. Ten minutes later they were standing on a sand dune along with the pilot and copilot. A group of higher-ranking officers, including a general, stood a little way from them.

"We'll not be here very long," the pilot said, jerking his head toward his other passengers. "Not with the big boy along. He's on an urgent mission. We've already radioed for a pick-up plane."

"He's hurrying in the wrong direction," Allison said.

Stan walked away and down the slope a bit. One of the Navy's NATS amphibian freight planes was down at the dock. Stan had learned to respect the Navy Air Transport Service. Those boys flew freight and mail from the United States to every part of the world where the Yanks were fighting, and they flew it on schedule. This plane probably was headed back to Tunis or Bizerte.

He passed the high officers at some little distance. The wind was blowing away from them and he caught the irritated voice of the general.

"With this delay I'll have to go back. Action against Italy starts at dawn tomorrow." The wind whipped away the general's words and Stan did not hear any more, but what he had heard made him halt.

Invasion. The boys were going in for the kill and he was heading for a rest in Alexandria. Turning, he walked up the hill. Allison was chatting with the pilot. Stan motioned to him and they strolled down the slope. When they were out of hearing of the crew, Stan said:

"I just overheard something."

Allison gave him a quick look. "Been eavesdropping?"

"An ill wind brought me a word from that general. We're hitting it back to Bizerte."

"I say, old chap, you know I'm going where I can have two hot baths a day. I'll have a barber shave me and I'll have breakfast served in bed. You run along back to Bizerte, but I'm going on to Alexandria."

"The attack on Italy is set for tomorrow morning. The general is going back and I'm going with him. O'Malley isn't going to hog this show."

Allison halted and stared at Stan. Suddenly his twisted smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "If you put it that way, I guess I'm going back to Bizerte, too."

"The general has radioed for a plane to take him back. This delay has upset his schedule and he won't go on. We'll go back with him. Let's collar the old boy."

"We are under orders to report to Alexandria," Allison reminded him.

"The general doesn't know what our orders are. We can worry about little things like that after we get back," Stan said impatiently.

They walked across the slope to where the general was standing. There were four officers with him, three colonels and a major.

"Could we have a word with you, sir?" Stan asked as he snapped a salute.

"Certainly," General Miller said.

"We have decided to return to Bizerte and wondered if you could say a word for us if a westbound plane stops here. This delay will upset our plans and we might as well go back."

The general looked at Stan sharply. "What made you change your plans, besides this accident?"

Stan grinned. He did not dare admit that he had overheard the general talking.

"The farther we get from the base of action, the more jittery we get," he replied.

"You fellows have to be ordered to take leave," General Miller said and smiled. "Do your orders allow you such freedom of action?"

"We feel that they do," Stan said.

Continue Reading →

The novel opens not with a bombing run but with a farewell party where Lieutenant O'Malley has eaten only one blueberry pie—a sign he is "feeling far from par." The scene immediately establishes a contrast between O'Malley's sloppy uniform and the expected military neatness, as British officer March Allison remarks on Colonel Benson's reputation as "the best-dressed officer in the Army." O'Malley's response—"I'm a fightin' man" who wastes no time on trifles—sets up a tension between appearance and effectiveness that runs through the excerpts.

O'Malley's Uniform and the Brass Hat

O'Malley's physical description is deliberately unflattering: his shirt is open to allow his "huge Adam's apple to roll up and down," his cap is "wrinkled and sagging," and his hair is a "shock of wild hair." Yet his comrades know him as "the wildest pilot in the service and one of the best." The contrast with Colonel Benson—who "holds to a strict diet, no coffee, tobacco, or pie"—is played for humor but also underscores a recurring pattern: the novel values competence over conformity. O'Malley's threat to "eat pie right off the top o' his desk" is a boast that the narrative seems to endorse, given that the party's failure is measured by O'Malley's diminished pie consumption.

The Weight of a Secret Package

During a dogfight, Stan feels "the bulky package inside his shirt" and his eyes harden. The package becomes a moral anchor: his job is to go ahead while O'Malley and Allison sacrifice themselves. The description of the battle in his rear-vision mirror as a "miniature motion picture" distances the violence, but the lump in Stan's throat makes the cost personal. When his plane is hit, the package is forgotten in the struggle to survive—yet it was the reason he pressed on. The excerpts do not reveal what the package contains, but its presence transforms a routine mission into a burden of loyalty.

Crash Landing and Cold Control

Stan's crash landing is rendered in precise, sensory detail: the "screaming steel" of flak, the "ragged, saw-edged pieces of shell casing," the jammed hatch, and the "green waves" reaching up. The narrative emphasizes his mental discipline: "One moment of panic meant death." He smashes glass with his bare hands, cuts his arms, and feels no pain until he bursts to the surface. The rescue by a PT boat is almost anticlimactic—the skipper grins and says "A Yank!"—but the sequence demonstrates the novel's focus on physical endurance and split-second decision-making under fire.

Readers should note that the excerpts cover only the opening and a later combat sequence; the full novel likely follows Stan through additional missions in Italy. The contrast between O'Malley's irreverence and Stan's grim determination suggests a pattern where humor leavens danger without diminishing it. Pay attention to how the package—whatever it is—shapes Stan's choices, and whether the novel maintains the tension between military discipline and individual grit established in the first chapter.

That old flight novel left me thinking about sacrifice as a kind of quiet love. Then I stumbled onto Cuore (Heart): An Italian Schoolboy's Journal — Edition Insights, and it felt like the same heartbeat, just from a boy's desk instead of a cockpit. Both stay with you, soft and heavy, long after the last page.