Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years, with his most recent work being the best-selling Osprey titles The Frozen Chosen (2016), Pacific Thunder (2017), Tidal Wave (2018), Holding the Line (2019), MiG Alley (2019), and I Will Run Wild (2020). He is also the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam and currently lives in Encino, California.
The European air war from 1942 to 1945 is a daunting subject, but Tom Cleaver's study of VIII Fighter Command contributes to our broader knowledge of 'The Mighty Eighth' with detailed coverage of personalities and events, plus insightful analysis. -- Barrett Tillman, author of 'When the Shooting Stopped: August 1945' Drawing from USAAF and Luftwaffe post-combat reports, technical manuals, and personal accounts, Cleaver's work has a crackling immediacy, giving the reader a genuine sense of what these pilots and ground crews experienced, along with providing historical context to the decisions and actions taken by the combatants throughout the air war. -- Lynn Ritger, author of 'The Messerschmitt BF 109' The brilliance of Tom Cleaver's latest effort - Clean Sweep - rests on the back of his grub-around-in-every-corner-and-under-every-rock research. He brings shiny gems to us - accounts, recollections, facts and perspectives that are fresh, and that complete a story that is too often told with soulless numbers and numbing narratives. Heartily recommended. -- LtCol Jay A. Stout, USMC (Ret.), author of 'Fighter Group: The 352nd Blue-Nosed Bastards in World War II'