Download or read book Comprehensive History of U S Naval Aviation in World War II Complete Chronology Including Pearl Harbor Kamikazes Aircraft Wake Island Halsey Moffett Suicide Torpedoes and Fighter Tactics written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a comprehensive compilation of Navy history material providing extensive information about the role of Naval aviation in World War II. The first part of the compilation is a full chronology of events in Naval aviation during the war. Thirty-nine unique articles comprise part two, and the third section focuses on aspects of the Pacific theater. Part 1: Naval Aviation Chronology in World War II Part 2: World War II Naval Aviation Stories: Ready to Mobilize, Part 1 * Ready to Mobilize, Part 2, Victory Winning Team * Ready or Not...Naval Aviation's Aircraft and Ships on the Eve of Pearl Harbor * The Neutrality Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II, Part 1 * The Neutrality Patrol: To Keep Us Out of World War II, Part 2 * Aviation Training and Expansion, Part 1 * Aviation Training and Expansion, Part 2 * Wings of Victory, Prewar Technical Development, Part 1 * Wings of Victory, Technical Development During WW II, Part 2 * Wings of Victory, Part 3 * Organization of Naval Aviation in World War II * Aviation Ordnance 1939-1941 * The Pacific Neutrality Patrol * "This is No Drill." U.S. Naval Aviation and Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 * Wake Island--A Gallant Defense * The Early Carrier Raids: Proving Japanese Vulnerability * The Battle of Coral Sea * Do the Best We Can with What We have (Battle of Midway) * Patrol Aviation in the Pacific in WW II, Part 1 * Patrol Aviation in the Pacific in WW II, Part 2 * Naval Aviation in Operation Torch * Guadalcanal: Trial by Fire, Part 1 * Guadalcanal: Trial by Fire, Part 2 * Combat Art in WW II * Fighter Tactics in WW II * Fleet Carrier Combat Operations, 1943 to 1944 * Solomon Islands Campaign: The Isolation of Rabaul * Island Hopping in WW II: From the Gilberts to the Marshals * Island Hopping in WW II: The Marianas * Invasion! Fortress Europe--Naval Aviation in France, Summer 1944 * The Kamikazes: Japanese Suicide Units * Victory at Leyte Gulf * Patrol Aviation in the Atlantic in World War II * Back to the Philippines, Part 1 * Back to the Philippines, Part 2 * Technical Development in World War II * From Autos to Aircraft: General Motors' WW II conversion to Wildcats and Avengers * The Largest Invasion...That Never Was * In the Wake of Victory Part 3: This important U.S. Navy history about naval aviation in the Pacific during World War II was published in 1947. Contents * CHAPTER I * Mission and Organization of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER II * Components and Weapons of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER III * Special Aspects of the Air War * CHAPTER IV * The Japanese Offensive-Pearl Harbor to Midway * CHAPTER V * Offensive-Defensive-Guadalcanal to Bougainville * CHAPTER VI * The United States Offensive--Tarawa to Tokyo * CHAPTER VII * Tactical Effectiveness of Naval Aviation * CHAPTER VIII * Lessons Learned

Download or read book Wings of Gold written by Gerald Astor and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From critically acclaimed military historian Gerald Astor comes Wings of Gold, the first account of how the airplane transformed the U.S. Navy and paved the way to victory in the Pacific in World War II. Astor tracks that fateful journey from its humble beginnings in 1910 when Eugene Ely flew the very first plane off the deck of a U.S. Navy ship to the unprecedented air combat missions that helped defeat the Japanese. Few naval aviators in World War II realized that when they earned their wings of gold they were about to become test pilots for a whole new kind of combat. In their own words, these courageous fliers describe the life-and-death air battles that defined the revolution in naval strategy that rose from the ashes of Pearl Harbor, when fighter pilots watched in horror as Japanese carrier-launched aircraft bombed their planes and airfields into smoking rubble. While following the pilots’ firsthand reports of air strikes and blazing dogfights across the islands and atolls of the Pacific, Astor explores the ways the U.S. Navy began its momentous transformation before the war. Later, the critical role of aircraft carriers in the stunning U.S. victory at Midway sounded the death knell for conventional naval warfare, yet the public, the press, the Army, and even the president’s advisors refused to recognize the new reality. In fact, only a few in the Navy understood that a new era had begun that would change the face of war forever. The young Americans who fought the deadly duels against Imperial Japanese forces high over the Pacific gave everything they had to the war effort, and many made the supreme sacrifice. Wings of Gold pays tribute to their courage, daring, and selfless dedication. Vividly told, thoroughly researched, and filled with stirring accounts of the Pacific War’s greatest air battles, Wings of Gold is an important addition to the annals of World War II aerial combat.

Download or read book US Naval Aviation 1898 1945 written by Leo Marriott and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2021-06-09 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pictorial history tells the story of US naval aviation from its early beginnings in the 1920s to its dominance in the Pacific theater of WWII. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor sank or crippled almost all of the battleships in the US Navy’s Pacific Fleet. But the fleet’s aircraft carriers survived—and soon demonstrated the power of US naval aviation. Thanks to pioneering technology and far-sighted pre-war policy, the US Navy had the necessary ships, aircraft, and crews to turn the tide of the Pacific war. With more than 200 rare photographs, Leo Marriott traces the growth of US naval aviation from the flimsy seaplanes of the first years of the twentieth century to the mighty armadas that challenged those of the Japanese and, after the carrier battles at Coral Sea and Midway, led the advance across the Pacific. Marriott puts special focus on the navy’s first aircraft carriers of the 1920s, the tremendous progress made in the decades between the wars in tactics and strategy, and the innovative design of ships and aircraft themselves.

Download or read book The First Team written by John B Lundstrom and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2005-07-01 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed as one of the finest examples of aviation research, this comprehensive 1984 study presents a detailed and scrupulously accurate operational history of carrier-based air warfare. From the earliest operations in the Pacific through the decisive Battle of Midway, it offers a narrative account of how ace fighter pilots like Jimmy Thach and Butch O'Hare and their skilled VF squadron mates--called the "first team"--amassed a remarkable combat record in the face of desperate odds. Tapping both American and Japanese sources, historian John B. Lundstrom reconstructs every significant action and places these extraordinary fighters within the context of overall carrier operations. He writes from the viewpoint of the pilots themselves, after interviewing some fifty airmen from each side, to give readers intimate details of some of the most exciting aerial engagements of the war. At the same time he assesses the role the fighter squadrons played in key actions and shows how innovations in fighter tactics and gunnery techniques were a primary reason for the reversal of American fortunes. After more than twenty years in print, the book remains the definitive account and is being published in paperback for the first time to reach an even larger audience.

Download or read book Kamikaze Attacks of World War II written by Robin L. Rielly and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2010 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book details more than 400 kamikaze attacks performed by Japanese aircraft, manned torpedoes, suicide boats and suicide swimmers against U.S. ships during World War II. Part One focuses on the traditions, development and history. Part Two details the kamikaze attacks on ships. Appendices list all of the U.S. ships suffering kamikaze attacks"--Provided by publisher.

Download or read book US Naval Aviator written by Robert Hargis and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The US naval aviator of World War II played a pivotal part in the winning of the war. From the warm waters of the Pacific to the icy conditions of the Bering Sea (including the battle of Midway), the Naval aviator was on hand to fight the enemy in any and all conditions. Between 1940 and 1942 the training of the naval aviator lasted eleven months, divided into five separate and distinct phases. From phase one, known as the Elimination or "E" base for short, through to final assignment to a carrier based squadron, the training was demanding and unrelenting.This title examines the life and experiences of the US Naval Aviator in all three types of carrier squadron fighters (VF), dive-bombers (VB) and the torpedo squadrons (VT). From recruitment to battle, the detail of what it was like to fly and fight for the US Navy is brought vividly to life.

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 The United States Navy in World War II written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-11-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive overview of the strategy, operations and vessels of the United States Navy from 1941 to 1945. Although slowly building its navy while neutral during the early years of World War II, the US was struck a serious blow when its battleships, the lynchpin of US naval doctrine, were the target of the dramatic attack at Pearl Harbor. In the Pacific Theatre, the US was thereafter locked into a head to head struggle with the impressive Imperial Japanese Navy, fighting a series of major battles in the Coral Sea, at Midway, the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf and Okinawa in the struggle for supremacy over Japan. Having avoided the decisive defeat sought by the IJN, the US increased industrial production and by the end of the war, the US Navy was larger than any other in the world. Meanwhile in the west, the US Navy operated on a second front, supporting landings in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy, and in 1944 played a significant part in the D-Day landings, the largest and most complex amphibious operation of all time. Written by an acknowledged expert and incorporating extensive illustrations including photographs, maps and colour artwork, this book offers a detailed look at the strategy, operations and vessels of the US Navy in World War II.

Download or read book The US Navy in World War II written by Mark Henry and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-20 with total page 66 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1941 the US Navy had 17 battleships of which eight would be knocked out on the first day of the war four aircraft carriers, and about 340,000 men including reservists. Pearl Harbor so weakened it that it was unable to prevent the Japanese capture of the Philippines and a vast sweep of Pacific islands. By 1945 it was the strongest navy the world had ever seen, with nearly 100 carriers, 41,000 aircraft and 3.3 million men; the unrivalled master of air-sea and amphibious operations, it was poised to invade Japan's home islands after reducing her fleet to scrap and her Pacific empire to impotence and starvation. This extraordinary story is illustrated here with dramatic photos, and nine meticulous colour plates showing a wide range of USN uniforms.

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 A Dawn Like Thunder written by Robert J. Mrazek and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2008-11-25 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. Thirty-five American men -- many flying outmoded aircraft -- changed the course of the war, going on to become the war's most decorated naval air squadron, while suffering the heaviest losses in U.S. naval aviation history. Mrazek paints moving portraits of the men in the squadron, and exposes a shocking cover-up that cost many lives. Filled with thrilling scenes of battle, betrayal, and sacrifice, A Dawn Like Thunder is destined to become a classic in the literature of World War II.

Download or read book Naval Battles of the Second World War written by Leo Marriott and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2022-07-28 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Second World War was a truly global conflict and maritime power played a major role in every theatre of operations. Land campaigns depended on supplies transported by sea, and victory or defeat depended on the outcome of naval battles. So Leo Marriott’s highly illustrated two-volume account of the struggle sets naval actions in the wider strategic context as well as giving graphic accounts of what happened in each engagement. This second volume concentrates on the epic struggle between the Americans and the Japanese in the vast expanses of the Pacific where for almost four years a great maritime campaign ebbed and flowed and some of the most famous naval battles of the conflict took place. The first part of the book covers the period from Pearl Harbor to Midway while the second covers the long and bloody campaign in the south-west Pacific where the US Navy honed its skills and turned a bloody defeat into a hard-won victory. The final section focuses on naval operations during the American advance across the central Pacific up to the Battle of Leyte Gulf – the greatest naval battle ever fought. Included are other actions involving the Royal Navy which, after early setbacks, would go on to play a major supporting role alongside the US Navy in the Pacific This concise but wide-ranging introduction to the naval war emphasizes the sheer scale of the conflict in every sea and shows the direct impact of each naval battle on the course of the war.

Download or read book The Official Chronology of the U S Navy in World War II written by Robert J Cressman and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2016-10-15 with total page 838 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten years after the close of World War II, the U.S. Navy published a chronology of its operations in the war. Long out of print, the work focused on what were then defined as critical and decisive events. It ignored a multitude of combat actions as well as the loss or damage of many types of U.S. ships and craft—particularly auxiliaries, amphibious ships, and district craft—and entirely omitted the U.S. submarine campaign against Japanese shipping, This greatly expanded and updated study, now available in paperback with an index, goes far beyond the original work, drawing on information from more than forty additional years of historical research and writing. Massive, but well organized, it addresses operational aspects of the U.S. Navy’s war in every theater.

Download or read book Early U S Navy Carrier Raids February April 1942 written by David Lee Russell and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-10-16 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:  After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, America's fast carrier task forces, with their aircraft squadrons and powerful support warships, went on the offensive. Under orders from Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, the newly appointed Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet, took the fight to the Japanese, using island raids to slow their advance in the Pacific. Beginning in February 1942, a series of task force raids led by the carriers USS Enterprise, USS Yorktown, USS Lexington and USS Hornet were launched, beginning in the Marshall Islands and Gilbert Islands. An attempted raid on Rabaul was followed by successful attacks on Wake Island and Marcus Island. The Lae-Salamaua Raid countered Japanese invasions on New Guinea. The most dramatic was the unorthodox Tokyo (Doolittle) Raid, where 16 carrier-launched B-25 medium bombers demonstrated that the Japanese mainland was open to U.S. air attacks. The raids had a limited effect on halting the Japanese advance but kept the enemy away from Hawaii, the U.S. West coast and the Panama Canal, and kept open lines of communications to Australia.

Download or read book US Navy Ships vs Japanese Attack Aircraft written by Mark Stille and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2020-09-17 with total page 81 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The striking power of the Imperial Japanese Navy's carrier-­based attack aircraft was established at Pearl Harbor, and the IJN's carrier-­based torpedo­ and dive-­bombers showed their prowess again at the Battle of Coral Sea when they sank the US Navy carrier USS Lexington and damaged the carrier USS Yorktown. Even at the disastrous Battle of Midway, the relatively small number of IJNAF attack- and torpedo-bombers that were launched against the US fleet proved that they remained a potent force by heavily damaging Yorktown again, which allowed an IJN submarine to sink the carrier. At Guadalcanal, IJNAF carrier-based aircraft sank the carrier USS Hornet and badly damaged USS Enterprise twice. However, throughout 1942, US Navy ship defences brought down an increasing number of attacking IJNAF aircraft. The final major battle of the year, the Battle of Santa Cruz, exacted crippling losses on the IJN, setting the stage for the eclipse of the IJNAF's highly trained and effective aviation attack forces. Packed with illustrations and contemporary photographs, this engrossing volume details the design, tactics, and operational records of both the US Navy ships and the IJNAF aircraft which attacked them over the year following Pearl Harbor.

Download or read book Battle Digest Pearl Harbor written by Christopher J. Petty and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 6 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A concise guide to the Japanese attack on Hawaii that plunged America into WWII, with facts, maps, historical significance, and more. As America prepared for WWII, everything changed on December 7, 1941—described by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a “date which will live in infamy”—when Japan launched a successful surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor. The devastating attack crippled the fleet, while showing the world the new dominance of carrier-borne aircraft in naval warfare. Japan’s tactical success, however, belied her strategic failure. With America’s declaration of war the following day, Japan had created a determined and powerful enemy. And while Japan did gain time to expand in the Pacific, that time would be short-lived. Japan had awakened the “sleeping giant” of America. Learn how Admiral Yamamoto’s bold plan caught America by surprise yet doomed the larger Japanese cause. Learn also about Japan’s lost opportunities during the attack—opportunities that would have tilted the scales decidedly more in her favor. The Battle Digest summary includes all the key aspects of the campaign and battle, including maps, images, and lessons learned.

Download or read book Fist From the Sky written by Peter C. Smith and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2006-09-27 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fascinating look from the Japanese side at Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway Fully authorized account including contemporary interviews with those that flew with Lt. Cdr. Egusa Lieutenant Commander Takashige Egusa was one of the Imperial Japanese Navy's most skillful and influential dive-bomber pilots. He led an attack force against Pearl Harbor, calmly circling his special flame-red Aichi dive bomber before selecting his target. Assaults on the deadly gun batteries of Wake Island followed, as well as air support for the invasion of Ambon. Badly burned at Midway, Egusa returned to duty, only to be killed on his final mission. As one Japanese officer said, "He was the 'God of Dive-Bombing.'" Fully placed in historical context and backed by a wealth of detail from archives, family records, photographs, and memories of contemporaries, the full story of Egusa's bravery, leadership qualities, and illustrious career comes to life.