Download or read book The Early Air War in the Pacific written by Ralph F. Wetterhahn and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-11-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the first 10 months of the war in the Pacific, Japan achieved air supremacy with its carrier and land-based forces. But after major setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal, the empire's expansion stalled, in part due to flaws in aircraft design, strategy and command. This book offers a fresh analysis of the air war in the Pacific during the early phases of World War II. Details are included from two expeditions conducted by the author that reveal the location of an American pilot missing in the Philippines since 1942 and clear up a controversial account involving famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai and U.S. Navy pilot James "Pug" Southerland.
Download or read book Pacific Air written by David Sears and published by Da Capo Press, Incorporated. This book was released on 2011-05-31 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers an account of the U.S. airmen's roles in the air battles that took place over the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
Download or read book Dogfight over Tokyo written by John Wukovits and published by Da Capo Press. This book was released on 2019-08-27 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an expert in the Pacific theater of World War II comes the tragic story of the pilots who fought the last fight of the war during the first hour of peace When Billy Hobbs and his fellow Hellcat aviators from Air Group 88 lifted off from the venerable Navy carrier USS Yorktown early on the morning of August 15, 1945, they had no idea they were about to carry out the final air mission of World War II. Two hours later, Yorktown received word from Admiral Nimitz that the war had ended and that all offensive operations should cease. As they were turning back, twenty Japanese planes suddenly dove from the sky above them and began a ferocious attack. Four American pilots never returned—men who had lifted off from the carrier in wartime but were shot down during peacetime. Drawing on participant letters, diaries, and interviews, newspaper and radio accounts, and previously untapped archival records, historian and prolific author of acclaimed Pacific theater books, including Tin Can Titans and Hell from the Heavens, John Wukovits tells the story of Air Group 88's pilots and crew through their eyes. Dogfight over Tokyo is written in the same riveting, edge-of-your-seat style that has made Wukovits's previous books so successful. This is a stirring, one-of-a-kind tale of naval encounters and the last dogfight of the war—a story that is both inspirational and tragic.
Download or read book South Pacific Air War Volume 1 written by Peter Ingman and published by . This book was released on 2017-11 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific from December 1941 until March 1942, during which air operations by both sides became a daily occurrence. As Imperial Japanese Navy flying boats and landbased bombers penetrated over vast distances, a few under-strength squadrons of the Royal Australian Air Force put up a spirited fight. However it was the supreme power of aircraft carriers that had the biggest impact. Four Japanese fleet carriers facilitated the capture of Rabaul over a devastating four-day period in January 1942. The following month, the USS Lexington's fighter squadron VF-3 scored one of the most one-sided victories of the entire Pacific War. By March 1942 the Japanese had landed on mainland New Guinea, and the scene was set for a race to control Port Moresby. This is the full story of both sides of an air war that could have been won by either incumbent, but for timing, crucial decisions and luck. The two authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is a globally-acknowledged expert on the New Guinea air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.
Download or read book They Fought With What They Had The Story of the Army Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific 1941 1942 written by Walter Dumaux Edmonds and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1951 with total page 561 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Fire In The Sky written by Eric M Bergerud and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A chronicle of the Pacific Air War in World War II draws on interviews with surviving veterans of all duties to paint a detailed look at the war in the sky.
Download or read book Zero written by Martin Caiden and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This is the thrilling saga of war in the air in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II told from the Japanese point of view. It is the story of the men who created, led, and fought in the deadly Zero fighter plane. In their own words, Jiro Horikoshi (who designed the Zero), Masatake Okumiya (leader of many Zero squadrons), and Saburo Sakai (Japan's leading surviving fighter ace) as well as many other men, tell the inside story of developing the Zero and Japan's air force. They tell what it felt like to bomb American ships and to shoot down American airplanes - and then of their shock when the myth of invincibility was shattered by the new Lightning, Hellcat, and Corsair fighters. They tell of the fight against the growing strength of a remorseless American enemy; and how, in desperation the Japanese High Command ordered the creation of deadly suicide squadrons, the Kamikaze. And finally they reveal their reaction to the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”-Print ed.
Download or read book War in the Pacific written by Harry Gailey and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historian Harry Gailey offers a fresh one-volume treatment of the vast Pacific theater in World War II, examining in detail the performance of Japanese and Allied naval, air, and land forces in every major military operation. The War in the Pacific begins with an examination of events leading up to World War II and compares the Japanese and American economies and societies, as well as the chief combatants' military doctrine, training, war plans, and equipment. The book then chronicles all significant actions - from the early Allied defeats in the Philippines, the East Indies, and New Guinea; through the gradual improvement of the Allied position in the Central and Southwest Pacific regions; to the final agonies of the Japanese people, whose leaders refused to admit defeat until the very end. Gailey gives detailed treatment to much that has been neglected or given only cursory mention in previous surveys. The reader thus gains an unparalleled overview of operations, as well as many fresh insights into the behind-the-scenes bickering between the Allies and the interservice squabbles that dogged MacArthur and Nimitz throughout the war. NOTE: This edition does not include a photo insert.
Download or read book Flyboys written by James Bradley and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2003-09-30 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic New York Times bestselling story of heroism and sacrifice--by the author of Flags of Our Fathers, The Imperial Cruise, and The China Mirage. This acclaimed bestseller brilliantly illuminates a hidden piece of World War II history as it tells the harrowing true story of nine American airmen shot down in the Pacific. One of them, George H. W. Bush, was miraculously rescued. What happened to the other eight remained a secret for almost 60 years. After the war, the American and Japanese governments conspired to cover up the shocking truth, and not even the families of the airmen were informed of what happened to their sons. Their fate remained a mystery--until now. FLYBOYS is a tale of courage and daring, of war and death, of men and hope. It will make you proud and it will break your heart.
Download or read book South Pacific Air War written by Michael Claringbould and published by . This book was released on 2018-09 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific for the two crucial months of March and April 1942 when a deadly struggle for Port Moresby played out. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy which culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942.The period begins with the stunning 10 March US Navy carrier strike against Lae and Salamaua which caused the Japanese to pause their advance until their own carriers were available. Instead they tried to grind the Allied forces at Port Moresby into submission through an unrelenting air assault by their Betty bombers and superlative Zero fighters. After a long wait, Allied land-based fighters finally arrived in the form of Royal Australian Air Force No. 75 Squadron Kittyhawks. These were backed up by a growing collection of United States Army Air Force bombers including A-24 Banshees, B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-25 Mitchells and B-26 Marauders (the latter two types making their worldwide combat debut over the skies of New Guinea). Together this motley force took the fight to the Japanese, resulting in a complex aerial campaign which saw units from both sides reach exhaustion. Never before has such a detailed chronicle of this air war been published, and for the first time the authors match Allied accounts with Japanese records. The result is both thrilling and surprising, with the resulting dispositions of the air forces of both sides setting the scene for the Battle of the Coral Sea in May.Both authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is an acknowledged expert on the Pacific air war and Japanese aviation in particular. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specialising in the early Pacific War period.
Download or read book Touched with Fire written by Eric M. Bergerud and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1997-07-01 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliant history of the land battles in the Pacific theater of World War II, with stirring personal accounts of the horrifying struggle between the Japanese and Allied forces. The horrors of WWII in the South Pacific extended far beyond the detonation of atomic bombs. In this revelatory portrayal of the lives of the regular infantrymen who struggled to contain the Japanese advance, Eric Bergerud has given us a compelling and chilling record of the incredible hardships endured by these soldiers, and the heroic efforts that resulted in the reversal of the course of the war. Bergerud spent hundreds of hours interviewing the last surviving veterans of this remarkable campaign, and he has placed their personal experiences at the center of his analysis of military strategy. “Aspires to do for the ground war in the South Pacific what Keegan achieved in Six Armies in Normandy.”—Los Angeles Times
Download or read book Air War in the Pacific written by George C. Kenney and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-03-20 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air War in the Pacific, originally published in 1949 as General Kenney Reports: A Personal History of the Pacific War, is a classic account of a combat commander in action. General George Churchill Kenney arrived in the Southwest Pacific theater in August 1942 to find that his command, if not in a shambles, was in dire straits. The theater commander, General Douglas MacArthur, had no confidence in his air element. Kenney quickly changed this situation. He organized and energized the Fifth Air Force, bringing in operational commanders like Whitehead and Wurtsmith who knew how to run combat air forces. He fixed the logistical swamp, making supply and maintenance supportive of air operations, and encouraging mavericks such as Pappy Gunn to make new and innovative weapons and to explore new tactics in airpower application. The result was a disaster for the Japanese. Kenney's airmen used air power— particularly heavily armed B-25 Mitchell bombers—to savage Japanese supply lines, destroying numerous ships and effectively isolating Japanese garrisons. The classic example of Kenney in action was the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, which marked the attainment of complete Allied air dominance and supremacy over Japanese naval forces operating around New Guinea. In short, Kenney was a brilliant, innovative airman, who drew on his own extensive flying experiences to inform his decision-making. Air War in the Pacific is a book that has withstood the test of time, and which remains as the definitive work on the Pacific air campaign in World War II.
Download or read book MacArthur s Eagles written by Lex McAulay and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 392 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The successful use of strategic U.S. air power in the South West Pacific during World War II enabled Gen. Douglas MacArthur to advance from Australia to Japan. This book examines the inexorable thrust of the general's U.S. Army's 5th Air Force, under air commander Gen. George C. Kenney, in the hard-hitting campaigns against the Japanese Army Air Force bases in New Guinea. During 1943 and 1944, the 5th Air Force destroyed its Japanese opponent three times, eventually opening the way for the advance--ahead of schedule--of MacArthur's Allied forces through New Guinea to the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies. No other book describes these crucial operations in such breadth or detail. From the national level to the individual fighter pilot's level, the author chronicles what happened. Of particular merit is Lex McAuley's portrayal of the Japanese side of the conflict, including an inside look at the problems of the Japanese Air Force high command. The author explains the varying degrees of understanding the concept of air power exhibited by both Japanese and U.S. commanders, including not only the type of aircraft produced by each country but the ways in which the aircraft were used. Air combat missions come vividly and dramatically to life through the use of oral history interviews that lend an authoritative air to the book.
Download or read book Air War Pacific written by Eric Hammel and published by Daniel Hammel. This book was released on 2020-12-05 with total page 872 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AIR WAR PACIFIC: Chronology America’s Air War Against Japan in East Asia and the Pacific 1941 – 1945 Eric Hammel THE GREAT AMERICAN AERIAL CRUSADE OF WORLD WAR II: There was never a military campaign like it, and there never will be another. Here is an opportunity to follow the great crusade as it unfolded in the air over the Japan’s ill-gotten empire in East Asia and the Pacific. This exhaustive chronology sheds a fascinating light on the course of America’s air war against Japan in all the active theaters. * The Air War Pacific Chronology is a day-by-day accounting of all the major combat aviation missions undertaken by United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, and American Volunteer Group units and commands in China, Burma, India, and throughout the Pacific during World War II. * All Army Air Forces, Navy, Marine, and Flying Tiger theater fighter aces are covered including unit affiliation, date and time ace status was attained, and date and time of highest victory tally (over ten). * Information pertaining to the arrival, activation, transfer, departure, and decommissioning of air commands, combat units, and special units. Comings and goings of the commanders of major aviation units are also covered. * Provides a rich contextual framework pertaining to related ground campaigns; international and high-command conferences and decisions influencing air strategies and campaigns; and breakthroughs in the development of special techniques and equipment. * Includes a bibliography, guide to abbreviations, maps, and two indexes. Eric Hammel is the author of more than forty military history books, including Pacifica Military History’s Air War Europa Chronology; Fire In the Streets; Six Days in June; Aces Against Japan, and Guadalcanal: Starvation Island.
Download or read book South Pacific Air War Volume 3 written by Michael John Claringbould and published by . This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This third volume chronicles aerial warfare in the South Pacific during the critical months of May and June 1942. It can be read alone or as part of a trilogy that spans the first six months of the Pacific War and culminates in the Battle of the Coral Sea. In early May 1942 the Japanese launched Operation MO, a complex plan that involved the seizure of Tulagi and Port Moresby. Within the context of an ongoing regional war waged by land-based air forces, opposing fleet carriers were drawn into conflict for the first time in history. The result was the Battle of the Coral Sea, resulting in the loss of the USS Lexington and the withdrawal of the remaining American carrier. The orthodox view of Coral Sea is of an Allied victory whereby the Japanese were forced to abandon their plan to capture Port Moresby. However, the authors make a compelling argument that the Japanese capacity to mount the invasion was largely intact and it was a serious error by their rigid and hierarchical command structure to postpone the invasion at this critical time. Following the Coral Sea battle, the bloody aerial campaign continued in earnest between the land-based air forces. This resembled something of a slugfest between the opposing bases of Lae and Port Moresby - just one hour's flying time apart. The Allied offense was waged by American B-17 Flying Fortress, B-25 Mitchell and B-26 Marauder bombers shuttling up from Australia. Protecting their critical base at Port Moresby were a few hard-battling P-39 Airacobra squadrons, which suffered an astounding loss rate during this period. On the Japanese side, their formations of Betty and Nell bombers regularly pounded Moresby, and by June had begun targeting its vulnerable harbor. These were protected by the wide-ranging Zero fighters of the famed Tainan Kokutai, whose fighter pilots were amongst the best and most experienced to be found on any front during the Second World War. Never before has this campaign been chronicled in such detail, with Allied accounts matched against Japanese records and supported by the most accurate artwork ever produced of this era. Both authors are uniquely qualified to tell this story. Raised in Port Moresby, Michael Claringbould is a globally acknowledged expert on the New Guinea conflict and both Japanese and USAAF aviation of this period. Peter Ingman is an acclaimed military history author specializing in the early part of the Pacific War.
Download or read book Finish Forty and Home written by Phil Scearce and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of the men and missions of the 11th Bombardment Group as it fought alone and unheralded in the South Central Pacific, while America had its eyes on the war in Europe.
Download or read book Fire In The Sky written by Eric M Bergerud and published by Westview Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 784 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A chronicle of the Pacific Air War in World War II draws on interviews with surviving veterans of all duties to paint a detailed look at the war in the sky.
