ACME DEPOT

BERT STILES
Serenade
Publications

Serenade to the Big Bird is Bert Stiles' account of his life in England serving as a B-17 co-pilot in the U.S. Eighth Air Force during WWII. In the book we learn about Bert's crewmates, about life on and off the base, about flying bombing missions, and about Bert's very personal views of life, war, and the world around him.

The first publication of Serenade to the Big Bird was in England in 1947, by Lindsay Drummond Ltd. The first U.S. publication was in 1952 by W.W. Norton & Company. Three paperback printings followed respectively in 1957 (Ballantine Books and W.W. Norton), 1968 (Ballantine Books), and 1984 (Bantam Books).

In 1998, Serenade was returned to publication by John Howland, a college friend of Bert Stiles and a 91st Bomb Group Pathfinder Navigator.

In the fall of 2001 Schiffer Publishing introduced yet another hardbound edition of Serenade. (ISBN 0764313967)

The Internet archive site, Archive.org, has a scanned copy of Serenade to the Big Bird which can be read online or downloaded in variety of file formats. The indication there is that the work is in the public domain.

Cover images of each edition:

Click on an image for an enlarged view.
1947	1952	1957	1968	1984	1998