Download or read book U S Navy Dive and Torpedo Bombers of World War II written by Barrett Tillman Robert L. Lawson and published by . This book was released on with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With their stout airframes, innovative airbrakes and near-vertical dive capabilities, U.S. Navy torpedo and dive bombers rendered Japanese deck gunners nearly defenseless and played a crucial role in Allied victory. Remarkable period color photography and quotes and anecdotes from pilots and crewmembers relate the stories behind Navy dive bombers. Included in the collection are the legendary SBD ("Slow But Deadly") Dauntless, SBC Helldiver, TBD Devastator and TBF and TBM Avengers. In addition to depicting the aircraft, photos show American airmen testing and training, while first-person accounts tell of missions against Japanese vessels.
Download or read book Dive and Torpedo Bombers of WWII written by Barrett Tillman and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With their stout airframes, innovative airbrakes and near-vertical dive capabilities, U.S. Navy torpedo and dive bombers rendered Japanese deck gunners nearly defenseless and played a crucial role in Allied victory. Remarkable period color photography and quotes and anecdotes from pilots and crewmembers relate the stories behind Navy dive bombers. Included in the collection are the legendary SBD ("Slow But Deadly") Dauntless, SBC Helldiver, TBD Devastator and TBF and TBM Avengers. In addition to depicting the aircraft, photos show American airmen testing and training, while first-person accounts tell of missions against Japanese vessels.
Download or read book U S Navy Dive Torpedo Bombers written by J. V. Mizrahi and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dive Bomber written by Peter C. Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details on planes like the German Stuka, the American Dauntless, the Japanese Aichi D3A1 "Val," the Soviet PE-2, and numerous others Riveting accounts of aerial combat Includes maps, diagrams, tables, and photos For many, it is a dive bomber that conjures the most dramatic, quintessential image of World War II: a screaming German Stuka hurtling toward the ground as part of the frightening blitzkrieg that opened the war. In this illustrated history of Allied and Axis dive bombers, Peter C. Smith traces these formidable aircraft from the earliest experiment, through the planes' first operation, to their emergence as devastatingly effective tools of aerial warfare in World War II.
Download or read book Destined for Glory written by Thomas Wildenberg and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 4 June 1942, three squadrons of U.S. Navy Dauntless dive bombers destroyed Japan's carrier force sent to neutralize Midway, changing the course of the war in the Pacific. As Thomas Wildenberg convincingly demonstrates in this book, the key ingredient to the navy's success at Midway was the planning and training devoted to the tactic of dive bombing over the previous seventeen years. Examining how political, economic, technical, and operational factors influenced the development of carrier airpower between 1925 and 1942, he shows why dive bombing became the navy's weapon of choice—why it was emphasized over all other methods of aerial warfare and finally brought to bear to stop the Japanese advance. He also pays tribute to the select group of naval aviators and senior leaders whose insights and determination drove the evolution of carrier tactics in this formative period. The title reflects the essence of the story: the development of carrier air power in the U.S. Navy was driven by an unwritten understanding that the years spent on experimentation, training, and innovations were ""destined"" to bring success in a future battle. As part of this work, the author introduces newly discovered information showing that the outcome at Midway was actually predicted by naval aviators years before the battle took place. The book sheds new light on the navy's preparations for war, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt the effectiveness of U.S. naval planning before Pearl Harbor. Destined for Glory is the first book to thoroughly document the development of carrier air power in the United States Navy during the interwar years. Aviation enthusiasts and naval historians alike will find a wealth of previously unpublished data on the development of carrier aircraft and their tactical doctrine. Readers will discover new material related to the evolution of the fighters, torpedo bombers, and scout planes that made up the carrier air groups in World War II. Although several excellent books have been written about the Battle of Midway, none has focused on how the U.S. Navy came to develop the one aerial weapon “dive bombing” which proved to be the decisive instrument of victory. For it was dive bombing, and only dive bombing, that turned the tide of Japanese expansion in the Pacific. Introduced and developed in the interwar years, dive bombing became the corner stone in the navy's efforts to secure command of the air. Although the development of the dive bomber played an extremely important role in the advance of naval aviation during the interwar period, it is only part of a much broader story that illustrates an important lesson for historians: what comes before the battle is as important as the battle itself. It will become evident from reading the text that the aerial successes of 1942 were unequivocally rooted in the tactics and equipment developed during the previous seventeen years.
Download or read book The Unknown Battle of Midway written by Alvin B. Kernan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the devastation of the American torpedo squadrons during the Battle of Midway and discusses the reasons for their downfall, including running out of gas, having malfunctioning torpedoes, and using inexperienced pilots.
Download or read book Dauntless Dive Bomber of World War II written by Barrett Tillman and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Popularly known as the Douglas Dauntless, the U.S. Navy's SBD dive bomber was well named. Though considered obsolete at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Dauntless turned the tide of war in the Pacific with the destruction of four Japanese carriers at the Battle of Midway, making its mark in aviation history for sinking more enemy carriers than any other aircraft. Still in service at war's end, the Dauntless was the only U.S. carrier aircraft in operation from Pearl Harbor to V-J Day. The Dauntless was the only American Navy aircraft to fly in al five of the naval engagements fought exclusively by aircraft carriers and was credited with sinking the first Japanese fleet submarine and dropping the first bombs on Japanese-occupied soil during the war. The SBD was also active in the Atlantic, sinking Vichy French shipping at Casablanca and German vessels in Scandinavian waters. In between his authoritative accounts of these missions, Barrett Tillman tells the rousing story of the men who took the "slow but deadly" Dauntless into combat, loving her for her ruggedness and dependability while wishing for more speed and firepower. Among the people he describes is the pilot who nearly single-handedly knocked out a Japanese carrier and died in the process, and SBD squadron that flew unexpectedly into the Pearl Harbor attack. Filled with fascinating photographs, this book was widely acclaimed in 1976 when first published and is now available for the first time in paperback.
Download or read book Torpedo Bombers 1900 1950 written by Jean-Denis Lepage and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2020-01-27 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The torpedo-bomber was a very short-lived weapon system, operational for scarcely half a century from just prior WWI to the 1960s. Yet during its brief existence it transformed naval warfare, extending the ship-killing range of ships and coastal defences to hundreds of miles. The Royal Navy and Fleet Air Arm led the way, recording the first sinking of a ship by aerial torpedo in August 1915 but all major navies eagerly developed their own torpedo bomber forces. The torpedo-bomber reached its zenith in WWII, particularly from 1940-42, with notable successes at the Battle of Taranto, the sinking of the Bismarck and Pearl Harbor. It was the weapon of choice for both the US and Japanese in the big Pacific battles such as Midway. In the latter stages of the war, increasingly effective anti-aircraft fire and interceptor aircraft started to render it obsolete, a process completed post-war by long-range anti-ship missiles. Jean-Denis Lepage traces the development of torpedo bombers worldwide, describing their tactics, operational history and the aircraft themselves, including such well-loved types as the Swordfish, Beaufighter and Avenger. Over 300 aircraft are beautifully illustrated.
Download or read book TBD Devastator Units of the US Navy written by Barrett Tillman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 152 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first monoplane aircraft ordered by the US Navy for carrier operations, the Douglas TBD Devastator was designed to fulfil a requirement for a new torpedo bomber. Just 129 were built, and when it entered service it was the most modern aircraft of its type anywhere in the world. Its only real taste of action came on 4 June 1942 in the pivotal Battle of Midway, when 35 were shot down in a clash with Japanese A6M Zero fighters. The aircraft was replaced by the Grumman Avenger weeks later.
Download or read book Torpedo Squadron Four A Cockpit View of World War II written by Gerald W. Thomas and published by Doc45 Publications. This book was released on 2010-10 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas, in the only combat account of World War II Torpedo Bomber pilot ever published, relates his 25 months of service with Torpedo Squadron 4 (VT-4) on the USS RANGER, USS BUNKER HILL, and USS ESSEX. Thomas served in both the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters, and in some of the most important World War II battles. While on the RANGER, he participated in OPERATION LEADER, the most significant attack on Northern Europe by a US carrier during the war. During LEADER, while attacking a freight barge carrying 40 tons of ammunition, Thomas' plane was hit by anti-aircraft fire. Surprisingly, in spite of the considerable engine damage, the plane made it back to the RANGER, where Thomas crash-landed. That landing was his 13th official carrier landing. In the Pacific, Thomas participated in the numerous actions against Japanese targets in the Philippines, including strikes on Ormoc Bay, Cavite, Manilla, Santa Cruz, San Fernando, Lingayen, Mindoro, Clark Field and Aparri. Following these actions, Thomas' squadron made strikes on Formosa, French Indo-China, Saigon, Pescadores, Hainan, Amami O Shima, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and Japan. The attack on Japan was the first attack on Japan from an aircraft carrier since the "Doolittle Raid." While on the ESSEX, just after Thomas had returned from a strike on Santa Cruz, the ship was hit by a Kamikaze piloted by Yoshinori Yamaguchi, Yoshino Special Attack Corps. Yamaguchi was flying a Yokosuba D4Y3 dive bomber. The Kamikaze attack killed 16 crewman and wounded 44. Returning from a strike on Hainan, off the Chinese coast, Thomas' plane ran out of fuel. After a harrowing water landing, Thomas and squadron photographer Montague succeeded in inflating and launching one rubber boat and his crewman Gress another. After a long day in pre-Typhoon weather with 40 foot swells, the three were rescued by the USS SULLIVANS. In recounting the events in this book, Thomas draws upon his daily journal, his letters home, and extensive interviews and research conducted over 40 years with fellow pilots and crewman. The book cites 20 interviews and 5 combat journals, and contains 209 photos documenting the ships, planes, men, and combat actions of Torpedo Squadron 4. Many of the photographs were collected by Thomas during the war and include gun photo shots, recon photos, and, remarkably, a picture of the tail of Thomas' Torpedo plane as it sinks in the China Sea following his water crash landing.
Download or read book The History of Dive Bombing written by Peter C. Smith and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-11-13 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible story of the dive bomber is told through official reports and personal accounts from combat pilots in this sweeping military history. The History of Dive Bombing delves beneath the myths to present an in-depth history. Peter Smith tells the full story of these planes from the first true combat dive bombing by a Royal Air Force pilot in 1917 to the last stirring wartime actions. Interviews with pilots from both World Wars representing all combatant nations give eyewitness viewpoints on many of the major actions and methods employed. From the first dive-bomber missions of World War II, through accounts of British attacks on German warships during the Norwegian campaign, and Stuka missions against the French and British forces, this volume vividly recreates the drama, strategy and tactics of dive bombing. Some well known aircraft types include, such as the Curtiss Helldiver, Aichi D3A1, Blackburn Skua, and the infamous Junkers Ju 87.
Download or read book Douglas TBD Devastator written by David Doyle and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2017-10-18 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Douglas Devastator was the US Navy's first all-metal combat aircraft, the Navy's first airplane with a fully enclosed cockpit, the first aircraft to have hydraulically folding wings, and the first US Navy torpedo bomber to see combat. Although facing staggering losses in the early stages of the war in the Pacific, the brave men flying the Devastator from the decks of such famed ships as Enterprise, Hornet, Yorktown, and Lexington held the line against the enemy. Through carefully researched photos, many of which have never before been published and which are reproduced in remarkable clarity, the history and details of this iconic aircraft are revealed. This clarity, and the large size of many of the photos, coupled with descriptive and informative captions, puts the reader in the skies with this historic aircraft.
Download or read book TORPEDO 8 The Story Of Swede Larsen s Bomber Squadron Illustrated Edition written by Ira Wolfert and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Island War In The Pacific Illustration Pack – 152 maps, plans and photos. The epic story of the death and rebirth of the famous Torpedo Squadron 8, destroyed at the Battle of Midway and rose again to become a crack outfit under the leadership of “Swede” Larsen. “THE JAPS WIPED OUT THE UNITED STATES NAVY Torpedo Squadron 8 in a few minutes at the Battle of Midway. The minutes were hot and rough. The squadron was like a raw egg thrown into an electric fan, and only three men came out of the action alive. One of these is no longer fit for combat duty. His nerves are gone. They became unstrung in those few minutes, and in the ten months since then he has not been able to get them working again normally, although he has been out on the line trying his best, refusing painfully to give up. So, when Torpedo 8 was wiped out on Thursday morning, June 4, 1942, in about the time it takes to stamp out a pile of ants, it looked to those of us on the outside as if torpedo bombing were about to become a lost art. But the Navy did not agree. Nor did Torpedo 8 agree. The Navy seemed to know without asking that Torpedo 8 would not feel this way, for, without being asked, Torpedo 8 was thrown directly from Midway into the Battle for the Solomons — a series of engagements into which the Japs put about five times the naval strength they used at Midway, and much more naval strength than they used against the Malay Peninsula and Java. Torpedo 8 went into the battle with two veterans of Midway, plus remnants of the old squadron who had not got into the action there, and plus ‘replacements,’ as they are called. They did not, as the Japs do, blame their dead for having died. They wanted revenge for them. Up to Midway, the slogan of the squadron had been ‘Attack.’ On June 12, eight days after the holocaust at Midway, the squadron commander in an official squadron memorandum changed the slogan to: ‘Attack— and Vengeance!’”-Introduction
Download or read book SBD Dauntless vs A6M Zero sen written by Donald Nijboer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-10-28 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The SBD Dauntless dive-bomber was a key cog in the US Navy's aerial arsenal throughout the Pacific War. Although a product of aviation design in the mid to late 1930s, the type soldiered on even as more advanced aircraft were appearing from American factories as the war progressed. Despite its classification as a dive-bomber and rather dated appearance, the SBD Dauntless could more than handle its own against the feared A6M Zero-sen – a regular opponent, especially during the first 18 months of the campaign in the Pacific. The SBD was credited with 138 victories in aerial combat (principally in 1942), 107 of which were fighters and the rest bombers. Seven SBD units claimed five or more aerial victories, with future ace Lt(jg) John Leppla of VS-2 being credited with four victories while flying from the carrier USS Lexington during the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. The Zero-sen came to symbolise Japan's military prowess during the early stages of the war in the Pacific, and it quickly became the world's premier carrier-based fighter – a title it would hold well into 1943. The psychological impact of the Zero-sen was so great that all Allied fighters were judged by the standards set by it. The aviators flying the A6M in 1941-42 were amongst the most experienced fighter pilots in the world, and they claimed a significant number of the SBDs destroyed while trying to defend their carriers from attack during the Battles of Coral Sea, Midway and Santa Cruz in 1942. While one was a dive-bomber and the other a nimble fighter, both met in combat many times, with the Dauntless proving an elusive and deadly target thanks to the tenacity and skill of the pilots and gunners manning the Douglas aircraft. While the Zero-sen was credited with shooting down many SBDs, the rugged dive-bomber gave as good as it got and emerged, not surprisingly, victorious on many occasions. This book examines these aircraft in detail, exploring their history and development and contains accurate descriptions of the combats between the SBD Dauntless and Zero-sen throughout the first four carrier battles of 1942 and the Solomons Campaign.
Download or read book Never Call Me a Hero written by N. Jack Kleiss and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as "the single most effective pilot at Midway" (World War II magazine), Dusty Kleiss struck and sank three Japanese warships at the Battle of Midway, including two aircraft carriers, helping turn the tide of the Second World War. This is his extraordinary memoir. NATIONAL BESTSELLER • "AN INSTANT CLASSIC" —Dallas Morning News On the morning of June 4, 1942, high above the tiny Pacific atoll of Midway, Lt. (j.g.) "Dusty" Kleiss burst out of the clouds and piloted his SBD Dauntless into a near-vertical dive aimed at the heart of Japan’s Imperial Navy, which six months earlier had ruthlessly struck Pearl Harbor. The greatest naval battle in history raged around him, its outcome hanging in the balance as the U.S. desperately searched for its first major victory of the Second World War. Then, in a matter of seconds, Dusty Kleiss’s daring 20,000-foot dive helped forever alter the war’s trajectory. Plummeting through the air at 240 knots amid blistering anti-aircraft fire, the twenty-six-year-old pilot from USS Enterprise’s elite Scouting Squadron Six fixed on an invaluable target—the aircraft carrier Kaga, one of Japan’s most important capital ships. He released three bombs at the last possible instant, then desperately pulled out of his gut-wrenching 9-g dive. As his plane leveled out just above the roiling Pacific Ocean, Dusty’s perfectly placed bombs struck the carrier’s deck, and Kaga erupted into an inferno from which it would never recover. Arriving safely back at Enterprise, Dusty was met with heartbreaking news: his best friend was missing and presumed dead along with two dozen of their fellow naval aviators. Unbowed, Dusty returned to the air that same afternoon and, remarkably, would fatally strike another enemy carrier, Hiryu. Two days later, his deadeye aim contributed to the destruction of a third Japanese warship, the cruiser Mikuma, thereby making Dusty the only pilot from either side to land hits on three different ships, all of which sank—losses that crippled the once-fearsome Japanese fleet. By battle’s end, the humble young sailor from Kansas had earned his place in history—and yet he stayed silent for decades, living quietly with his children and his wife, Jean, whom he married less than a month after Midway. Now his extraordinary and long-awaited memoir, Never Call Me a Hero, tells the Navy Cross recipient’s full story for the first time, offering an unprecedentedly intimate look at the "the decisive contest for control of the Pacific in World War II" (New York Times)—and one man’s essential role in helping secure its outcome. Dusty worked on this book for years with naval historians Timothy and Laura Orr, aiming to publish Never Call Me a Hero for Midway’s seventy-fifth anniversary in June 2017. Sadly, as the book neared completion in 2016, Dusty Kleiss passed away at age 100, one of the last surviving dive-bomber pilots to have fought at Midway. And yet the publication of Never Call Me a Hero is a cause for celebration: these pages are Dusty’s remarkable legacy, providing a riveting eyewitness account of the Battle of Midway, and an inspiring testimony to the brave men who fought, died, and shaped history during those four extraordinary days in June, seventy-five years ago.
Download or read book Strike from the Sea written by Tommy H. Thomason and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Strike from the Sea: U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft from Skyraider to Super Hornet 1948-Present celebrates carrier-based air-to-ground attack aircraft, which first came into operation during the Korean War, reached maturity during Vietnam, and are now deployed throughout the world. Well-known author and naval aviation authority Tommy Thomason not only explores such legendary Navy aircraft as the A4D Skyhawk, A3J Vigilante, and A-6 Intruder, the critical role of the aircraft carrier as well as itself, for without these massive nuclear-powered floating airfields, U.S. Navy attack aircraft would have no sea-borne bases from which to operate. Armament from gravity bombs to today's GPS-guided "smart weapons" are covered in great detail, and this book also explains that while many different types of airplanes were required for flying attack missions in the past, only one aircraft - the advanced F/A-18E/F Super Hornet - is needed to carry out these same missions in an even more complex and hostile combat environment today.
Download or read book SBD Dauntless written by David Doyle and published by Schiffer Military History. This book was released on 2019-11-28 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Douglas Dauntless was the US Navy's frontline dive-bomber in the early days of WWII. Even after the larger and more powerful Helldiver joined the fleet in the later stages of the war, the Dauntless remained in the fray, flying from the decks of escort carriers, which were too small to permit the operation of the later aircraft, as well as continuing to serve from the decks of fleet carriers. The Dauntless took part in many of the most notable battles of the war in the Pacific, including Coral Sea, Midway, and Guadalcanal. Carefully researched war-era photos are augmented with color images of current-day preserved aircraft, capturing the details of this flying legend. Part of the Legends of Warfare series.
