Midnight Flyboys with author Bruce Henderson
Schedule
Thu Nov 13 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm
UTC-08:00Location
Mechanics' Institute | San Francisco, CA
About this Event
Join award-winning journalist and author Bruce Henderson for the release of his latest book Midnight Flyboys: The American Bomber Crews and Allied Secret Agents Who Aided the French Resistance in World War II.
About Midnight Flyboys
In 1943, the OSS—precursor to the CIA—came up with a plan to increase its support to the French resistance forces that were fighting the Nazis. To start, the OSS recruited some of the best American bomber pilots and crews to a secret airfield twenty miles west of London and briefed them on the intended mission. Given a choice to stay or leave, every airman volunteered for what became known as Operation Carpetbagger. Their dangerous plan called for a new kind of flying: taking their B-24 Liberator bombers in the middle of the night across the English Channel and down to extremely low altitudes in Nazi-occupied France to find drop zones in dark fields.
On the ground, resistance members waited to receive steel containers filled with everything from rifles and hand grenades to medicine and bicycle tires. Some nights, the flyers also dropped Allied secret agents by parachute to assist the French partisans. Though their story remained classified for more than fifty years, the Carpetbaggers ultimately received a Presidential Unit Citation from the US military, which declared: “it is safe to say that no group of this size has made a greater contribution to the war effort.”
Along with other members of the wartime OSS, they were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal.Based on exclusive research and interviews, the definitive story of these heroic flyers—and of the brave secret agents and resistance leaders they aided—can now be told. Written in Bruce Henderson’s “spellbinding” (USA TODAY) prose, Midnight Flyboys is an astonishing tale of patriotism, courage, and sacrifice.
“As a military pilot who flew four-engine aircraft, I'm in awe of these intrepid aviators and their crews. Henderson perfectly captures their remarkable flying abilities; every detail rings true. A moving and gripping read."—MICHELLE JOHNSON, Lieutenant General USAF (Retired)
About the Author
Bruce Henderson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty nonfiction books, including Sons and Soldiers, Bridge to the Sun, and Rescue at Los Baños. An award-winning journalist and author, Henderson has taught at USC School of Journalism and Stanford University. He lives in Menlo Park, California. Visit his website: BruceHendersonBooks.com.
About the Moderator
Henry Ferris has been an editor for more than forty years, most of that time at the major New York publishing companies. He began his career at Simon and Schuster, working for the legendary Alice Mayhew, before moving on to senior and executive editor level positions at Bantam Books, Houghton Mifflin, Times Books/Random House and William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers. Among the books he has edited are Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama, America’s Women by Gail Collins, Finding Fish by Antwone Fisher, A Father First by Dwyane Wade, Manhunt by James Swanson, The Men Who United the States by Simon Winchester, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba, Medgar & Myrlie by Joy-Ann Reid and Sons and Soldiers by Bruce Henderson. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Where is it happening?
Mechanics' Institute, 57 Post Street, San Francisco, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 7.18 to USD 17.85
