The Navigator's Letter
The True Story of Two WWII Airmen, a Doomed Mission, and the Woman Who Bound Them Together
Union Square & Co. · Print & ebook · February 10, 2026
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- Who it’s for
- Two B-24 navigators’ wartime paths intersect in the Ploesti raid and Romania’s largest air evacuation.
- Genres
- World War II: European Theater, Military Aviation, Military Lives
- Published
- Union Square & Co., February 10, 2026
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Start with this bookAbout this book
The Navigator’s Letter brings to light one of the best untold and dangerous stories of World War II, chronicling a moving and heroic story of patriotic duty, familial bonds, brotherhood, and love. One of the riskiest air raids of World War II occurred on August 1, 1943, over the oil fields at Ploesti, Romania—Nazi Germany’s primary fuel source. The Allies believed that the destruction of Hitler’s oil refineries would shorten the war.
Continue reading
Using an untested strategy, it was worth the gamble, but the mission did not go according to plan—with 53 aircraft and 532 crewmen lost, it was the costliest US air raid of the war. A true story, The Navigator’s Letter is a tale of uncanny coincidences: two friends from the same small Illinois town; both joined the Air Corps; both became navigators; both were assigned to B-24 Liberators; both flew missions over Europe; both of their planes were forced down over Ploesti; and both went missing-in-action. Intertwined with events of WWII, the story follows the two B-24 navigators coursing through wartime, both with ties to the same woman. Their lives unfurl with the Air Force’s darkest day, Operation Tidal Wave. It was the first-ever zero-altitude air raid, which lead to Operation Reunion, the largest evacuation by air in history repatriating 1,162 POWs from Romania back to American air bases in Italy.
Ploesti’s Navigators
Two B-24 navigators’ wartime paths intersect in the Ploesti raid and Romania’s largest air evacuation.
Come here for
- The two navigators’ shared ties to a woman and their small Illinois hometown
- Operation Tidal Wave and the air evacuation of 1,162 POWs
Expect
- The August 1943 raid on Ploesti’s oil fields
- Operation Reunion’s repatriation of POWs to American air bases in Italy
Where it sits
| Military Aviation | 76% |
|---|---|
| World War II: European Theater | 56% |
| Military Lives | 31% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Aviation & Nautical Lives
- World War II History
- Military Aviation
- Authors
- Jan Cress Dondi
- Publisher
- Union Square & Co.
- Published
- February 10, 2026
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Reading lane
- Aviation & Nautical Lives