An Important First Person Account of a Little Known Aspect of the Air War in the SW Pacific
583981
Rutter details his stateside training and provides a lot of interesting details about flying the A-20. His unit fought in New Guinea and the Philippines before he was rotated stateside and discharged. Navigational errors and mechanical malfunctions seemed to claim as many victims in his squadron as direct enemy action. Most of the time they were flying low level strikes against airfields, bases, and supply dumps using bombs with parachutes so they didn't blow themselves up. A reader looking for a lot of intense descriptions of combat may be somewhat disappointed (a few of the missions are described in depth - a low level raid on Clark Field being one of the most notable) but for anyone interested in the A-20 (which is largely ignored in most WWII literature) or a fascinating look at one pilot's WWII experience, this is definitely worth a read. I finished it in about two and half days and that's always the sign of a book that captured and held my attention.
167443
Walter Boyne, at one time the curator of the famous Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, spins an engrossing tale of the evolution of air power over the course of World War II.  From the Japanese overreach and over reliance on a small cadre of irreplaceable carrier pilots--who demise spelled certain doom for their overextended empire--to the fulfilling of FDR's prescient claim of America's intent to build 100,00 aircraft, Boyne lays out a vast canvass that touches on many aspects of the aerial WWII.  Russian aircraft are also given proper attention, including their redoubtable ground support aircraft the Sturmovik--a sort of armored flying bathtub that gained the enemy's respect as evidenced by its German nickname "Schwarz Tod" (i.e. Black Death).

Other surprising revelations include the fact that the B-29 Superfortresses, which dropped the atomic bombs that annihilated Hiroshima and Nagasaki, were actually more expensive to develop than the atomic bombs themselves.  Also interesting was the strategic decision of General Curtis LeMay (the model for George C. Scott's character in "Dr. Strangelove") to use the B-29 in the incendiary bombing of Japanese cities because conventional bombing required low-level flying that resulted in the downing of too many American aircraft.

German aircraft like the Stuka and the Me 109 are seen to have given Germany an early advantage, but were soon to be matched and then overtaken by American and British efforts that resulted in the Spitfire, P-51, and P-47--with allied long range bombers making their German counterparts seem like mere toys by comparison.  Later German efforts such as the Folkwulf 190 fighter and the Me 262 jet aircraft are shown to be too little to late.  German complacency early in the war idled German aircraft production while the British, American, and Russian factories were working 24-7 to churn out the fighters and bombers that blackened the skies of the Axis with their ever-increasing numbers.  Likewise, the all-too-flammable Japanese Zero (later dubbed "The Flying Cigarette Lighter" by its own beleaguered pilots) was eventually undone by the American carrier-born Hellcat and Corsair.  Nor were the Russians shown to slackers--as their fielding of excellent fighter aircraft drove the Germans from their skies--despite that fact that much of the superstructure of such aircraft relied on plywood construction.
1514377
Great detailed account of the air and sea battle that saved Midway. It was a little difficult, for a layperson, to keep track of all the different plane types and fighting groups, but one can get the drift of the battle and the bravery of the men involved, uniquely, the bravery of both sides. Its a good read for students of the battle of the Pacific in WWII.
1309389
B-52 Days Remembered, by Philip Rowe, is a historic look at the life of a BUFF crewmember during the Cold War. Written in a storytelling manner, you are taken through the adventures (and misadventures) of the author during the early life of the B-52 Stratofortress in the early 1950s and for the military historian, this book is a gold mine of information.

Rowe doesnt pull any punches in his description of life in those formalative days of the Strategic Air Command, the huge, sometimes unwieldy force that worked hard to protect us from the unthinkable. This book is about the authors experiences as a B-52 crewmember in the 92nd Bomb Wing out of Fairchild AFB in Washington State. His position as the aircrafts EWO (Electronic Warfare Operator), seated directly behind the flight crew gave him a unique perspective of his surroundings, and making him part of whatever went on during the long hours in the air.

Made up of short anecdotes, B-52 Days Remembered is a collection of stories giving the reader a peek into what went on during those early days of the Cold War when the world seemed intent on destroying itself.

The book may have benefitted from more editing, but not enough that it takes away from the information within the pages. Available in eBook form through Amazon, this book is a bargain for the aviation fan or military historian.

Copyright 2012 Daniel L Little www.daniellittle.com
622373
War in New Guinea must have been a hellish experience.  And that would have been true for both the Allied forces and the Japanese.  The climate (rain, heat, humidity, but strangely also even frigid weather in the mountains), the geography (swamp, jungle, mountains), disease (malaria, dengue, typhus, and various and sundry infectious diarrheas and fevers):  all would have conspired to make any non-native interloper wish he'd never been there.  Add to that the disinterest of governments and higher commands, whose priorities usually lay elsewhere in a truly world-wide military and geopolitical struggle.  The Japanese, American, or Australian serviceman could be easily forgiven if he figured he'd been completely forgotten.  (Note the specific us of the pronoun "he":  this was war before gender-integrated armed forces, when all of the combatants and the vast majority of support personnel were male.)  James P. Duffy does a very good job of conveying the personal experience of soldiers, airmen, and sailors  fighting and even just surviving in New Guinea.  He does an equally good job of telling in a concise and clear (but also entertaining) fashion the traditional chronological history of this often little-known campaign.  I particularly liked his extensive attention to the quite important Australian contribution to ultimate victory; this could have been easily overlooked by a lesser American author.  MacArthur (the overarching personality in the story) receives generally adulatory treatment, but his story as told here is not quite outright hagiography; my one criticism of the book relates to the relative lack of discussion about some of the more controversial features of MacArthur's tenure as the commander of the Southwest Pacific Theatre of Operations.  But overall, this is a book to be highly recommended as perhaps one of the best single-volume treatments of a World War II campaign that I have read in quite a long time.
376224
First hand experiences gave insight to what chopper crews went thru.
130487
Neil Sheehan apparently spent 15 years writing this account of a little known Air Force General, Bernard Schriever, and the time he spent on the man shows in this comprehensive account. He has performed a very valuable service in bringing this rather obscure character to life and driving home the importance of his accomplishments. Schriever was one of the individuals most responsible for jump starting the US's missile program, especially shepherding the development of the ICBM. Sheehan does a great job bringing to life all the characters that Schriever was associated with, from his mentors in flight school (including General "Hap" Arnold) to his bete noir, the notorious Curtis LeMay, to his contact with brilliant scientists John von Neumann and Edward Teller whose contributions were critical for America's missile and atomic bomb programs.

Sheehan provides ample background and little known tidbits of Schriever's life and times. For instance I was not aware that the US Air Force was a rather inefficient backwater organization till the mid-1930s, easily outclassed by its European counterparts. Apparently at one point, pilots were asked to deliver the mail in the wake of a post office scandal. Their inexperience in flying and the loss of life that resulted galvanized FDR and others to issue directives for a modern Air Force that would become among the best in the world.

The main problem I have is that while Sheehan's digressions (for instance on the atomic bomb project and Soviet espionage) are fascinating and reflect the most up-to-date information, they are too many and too frequent. An editor who could have shaved off a few pages and encouraged a tighter narrative would have definitely helped. The digressions draw your attention from direct information about General Schriever. To be fair the book is not supposed to be just about him, but a little less meandering would have been a boon.

In spite of this deficiency, the book will be fascinating for Cold War enthusiasts who want to know about the development of the US Air Force and its atomic and missile arsenals during the early Cold War. There is also a fair amount of technical detail about missiles explained in relatively plain and accurate language. After JFK came to power Schriever's influence waned and the latter part of the book is not as interesting. Nevertheless, Sheehan has done a valuable and outstanding job in bringing a little known individual to life and telling us about his enormous contributions during a critical period of American history.
2901676
This book covers the story of the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse from their arrival in the pacific in late 1941. It starts by covering the decisions which led to these ships being sent to the Far East despite a  still viable German navy, then discusses the ships themselves, their crews,  and their histories.
The book is written in a narrative style and makes  heavy use of actual messages radioed to and from the vessels.  These do an  effective job of establishing the situation and give the reader insight  into why certain decisions were made.  Also used are official Japanese  documents so the reader gets a view of the battle from both  sides.
Diagrams of the ships show the locations of bomb and torpedo hits.  During the interludes between air raids, the author covers the damage  inflicted thus far in an almost checklist manner:  pumps, counter flooding  procedures, communication status, ventilation and lighting, steering,  anti-aircraft armament... I can almost picture the officers taking account  of what they have to work with and forming plans on how to prepare for the  next assault.
After the sinkings, the remaining chapters cover the rescue  of the crews and an analysis of the battle and its aftermath.  Overall it's  an easy read and presents an interesting view of a battle which was one of  the first to prove Billy Mitchell right.
389403
Bryn Evans' Air Battle for Burma is first and foremost a work of oral history. From that standpoint, it's actually quite worthwhile, with long passages of interviews with participants describing their role in the war. It is much more limited in scope than I expected, however. Though the title says "Allied Pilots" it really just means "Commonwealth Pilots." Mention of American efforts in Burma are minimal and sometimes even erroneous. For example, in discussing the American Volunteer Group, Evans writes that 2nd Squadron, the "Panda Bears," arrived in Rangoon after Pearl Harbor when it was in fact 3rd Squadron, the "Hells Angels." The Panda Bears did not arrive until after the epic Christmas Day air battle. Evans also makes some surprising claims without citation, such as the AVG pilots thinking the Brewster Buffalo superior to their P-40s. He writes that Claire Chennault was an ex-major in the U.S. Army Air Corps (he was a captain). He erroneously claims the AVG was nicknamed "Flying Tigers" by Hollywood. He claims the Nakajima Ki-27 had a service ceiling of forty thousand feet (actually 32,900 feet, a not-insignificant difference in terms of aerial warfare). He claims the tactics used by the AVG were derived from RAF practices in the Western Desert after discussion with the RAF Buffalo pilots at Rangoon. Their tactics actually came from Chennault's own experience as director of pursuit curriculum at the Air Corps Tactical School and his thorough observations of the Japanese in action in his more than three years in China. Evans also passes on the debunked myth about AVG pilots "buying" aerial victories from the RAF. If this ever was more than a joke in real life, it was only to save face for such a poor showing by the RAF in the defense of Burma. These issues with details point to a larger problem of less-than-thorough research on Evans' part. None of this information is difficult to find or new. At one point, he makes the statement, "It would be near impossible to prove, but there is anecdotal evidence that the Luftwaffe and JAAF were not as mindful of husbanding their best pilots for training and leadership roles." Actually, that has been pretty decisively proven for some time. There are several great studies, such as Command of the Sky that look in depth at personnel management and training of the Axis air forces. However, none of his research on the Axis seems to have gone beyond Christopher Shores' excellent book, Air War for Burma. In fact, besides getting shot down, the Japanese barely feature in this volume. Which from the standpoint of an oral history about Commonwealth pilots would be fine, except that Evans quite quixotically decides to end by discussing Hiroshima (after barely even mentioning American efforts that actually fall within the stated scope of his book) and an anecdote about a Japanese Zero pilot who had a tangential relation to the material in the book. I am not saying "don't buy this book," just realize what you're getting. You're not getting a well-researched operational or strategic history. You're not even getting a tactical-level history of air operations in Burma as a whole. You're getting an oral history of Commonwealth pilots fighting the air-to-air battle for air superiority over India and Burma. It is overwhelmingly Commonwealth, overwhelmingly air-to-air (with a disappointing over-emphasis on aces), and overwhelmingly about Spitfires.
1025385
Although this book is not the definitive account of the famous Fw 190 fighter it is a very good introduction accompanied by a wealth of details. Alfred Price gives emphasis on the technical description and the development history of the aircraft but he doesn't ignore the human side, providing many first hand accounts of the Fw 190 in combat, especially against the Western Allies. The book contains valuable comparisons of aerial performance between the Fw 190 and every Allied fighter of the West, as well as a good account of the interesting Mistell experiment.
3623668
This engrossing book is a thoroughly researched tale of an amazing episode of World War II in the Pacific. Ms. Heimann, a career American diplomat who herself is fluent in Indonesian (Malay), personally met with all available American and Dayak survivors as well as tapping Australian, Dutch, Indonesian and British archival sources. One hopes that she will continue to write for publication. I found the clear descriptions of the now-disappearing life and culture of the Borneo "headhunters" fascinating, and the adventure of the downed airmen themselves is engrossing from first to last. The native people protected and hid the Americans for months in the deep jungle despite grave danger to themselves from Japanese reprisal. It is good that Christian missionary work in the Borneo interior pre-WWII was such a positive influence. I am glad that this story has been told, for many reasons beyond the enjoyment and information that it will provide for its readers. It is also a pleasant reminder that we are not superior. As one of the returned U.S. airmen told his wife when discussing the people of the Borneo jungle:
  "We're supposed to be civilized and they're savages, but they don't beat their wives or rape women, or even correct their children under the age of five. There are no orphans or old people left on their own. Everybody takes care of everybody."
3826755
I came across this book by accident while looking through reviews of other Amazon reviewers.  It is an interesting account of U.S. submarine S-39 covering a period from roughly early 1939 to mid-1942 when the S-39 was lost due to running aground on a reef.  This is a narrative account moving between crew members, and sometimes the women they left behind, as the story moves forward.

Many of the crew members were children of the depression who joined the Navy because it furnished room, board, and clothing along with steady pay.  It also furnished a chance to see the world, and service on submarines meant extra pay and a certain elite attitude.  Men who qualified, usually after 6 months aboard, could wear the submariner's dolphins.  The officers and men on S boats lived together elbow-to-elbow in cramped quarters and developed a certain esprit de corps.  The early part of the book covers service in the Asiatic Fleet prior to the outbreak of war, and the expectations that war was on the horizon.

The S class of submarines were obsolete, and due to be replaced by the new fleet submarines, but as a previous reviewer pointed out, you have to go with what you've got.  When the war started, the S-39 made its first combat patrol and sank an enemy cargo ship that was part of the force invading the Philippines.  The book gives a good picture of conditions.  With the Philippines being lost, the S-39 made a second patrol ending in Java, and from there a third patrol (during which it sank an enemy tanker) ending in Australia.

Operations of the submarine force moved to Brisbane, Australia, from where the S-39 made its fourth, and then its fifth patrol during which it ran aground and was destroyed.  It would be nice to think that everyone survived, but the men went on to serve on other submarines, and many did not survive the war.  The book was prepared by the wife of one of the survivors using extensive reference material including interviews/correspondence with other survivors.  It is an interesting account of day to day events including shared hardships aboard and comradery ashore.  Some men went to great lengths not to miss the boat when it sailed, or to catch up if separated.

There is a short afterward that covers the fate of a few of the individuals.  Most of the individuals were in the same age group as one of my uncles who served in the Army during the war.  Their ranks dwindle as the years pass.

As an additional feature, the book provides accounts of real observations of the poverty in China during that time period, the hatred that some Filipinos had for Americans, and the slavery/servitude of natives in Indonesia under Dutch rule.  In one case a woman was riding in a rickshaw in China when the man pulling the rickshaw collapsed and died.  Other people just ignored his body, going around him on the road, and other coolies immediately solicited the woman's business because they wanted the fare she would pay at her destination.  Life was cheap.
490882
Let the subtitle of this very interesting book guide you if your first reaction was not another P-51 book. The combat experience of the pilots, told largely in their own words, not in excerpts, is the heart of the book, and makes it compelling reading.
 Author James Busha is very well known in the field, and his experience lends credibility to his work. Perhaps more important however, is the manner in which he crafts the book, linking the sequential chapters to the succession of Mustang developments and to the changes in their employment. Doing guides him to a series of pilots who had very different experiences flying the P-51 against a wide variety of opponents, ranging from Bf 109s and Fw 190s through Me 262s, Yaks and Zeros.  The author discusses the performance capabilities of each type pertinently and with authority.
 This combination of changing models, environments and opponents is enhanced by the manner in which Busha allows the pilots time to discuss their living conditions, their views on the war, their personal feelings about combat and the enemy and more. Doing so lifts the narrative from the quick snap-shot here is a conversation style of Stephen Ambrose, which has become way too popular, to in-depth accounts of life in a life-or-death environment.
 Reviews are not supposed to be all roses, and the one criticism I have of the book is that the publisher did not allow more than a single eight page portfolio of photo. Offsetting this however was the insertion of periodic accounts from the opposing pilots that add a welcome dimension to the work.
1887520
I enjoyed Phantom in the River, The Flight of Linfield Two Zero One by Gary Wayne Foster. The Author found the wreckage of a U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II jet fighter in Hanoi and decided to investigate the history of the plane. After finding the official history he decided to fill in the gaps with research and personnel interviews.  The result is a fascinating story of two American Navy airmen who were downed while trying to bomb the Ham Rong Bridge in North Vietnam on May 14, 1967, captured, repatriated and 37 years later returned to the spot where they were shot down.

The Author provides a detailed historical perspective of what led up to the downing of Linfield Two Zero One.  Foster leads the reader through the rational and development of the F-4 Phantom; the design and construction of the Ham Rong Bridge by the North Vietnamese; rational for the air war over North Vietnam; and  carrier and flight operations on the USS Kitty Hawk in the Tonkin Gulf in 1967.  His development of the background details in basic terms was especially helpful in understanding the story.

I thought the Vietnamese perspective was interesting and could only have been obtained by careful field work collecting bits of information which the author points out did not always agree.

I thing it is a remarkable book and gives true insight into the varying aspects of the air war over Vietnam in 1967. It is a good story. The Author provides basic details for someone not familiar with military jargon.  The book contains a great collection of past and present photos that support the story.  It should be required reading of anyone interested in the history of the Vietnam War.
3547373
This is a thoroughly engrossing account of a pivotal event in world history.
The book carefully details the complicated actions that preceded the attack, documenting the tragic miscalculations by politicians and military authorities on both sides while providing interesting perspectives on those failures.  Discussing the Hawaiian defenders' puzzling inability to appreciate their new radar technology, for example, Nelson quotes one private's observation, "It seemed that if you got in trouble in the army, a radar unit was most likely in your future."  Unfortunately, of course, misuse of radar  was only one of many problems that resulted not only in complete surprise, but also in an almost complete inability to defend.
Turning to December 7th, Nelson relies on dozens of first-hand reports, American and Japanese, civilians, sailors, soldiers and officers, to provide remarkable images of that day's horrors.  There are of course descriptions of the type of heroics that resulted in Medals of Honor, but also of humbler acts of courage by those suddenly confronting overwhelming destruction, unspeakable injuries, and widespread death.  Afterward, the book describes the grisly task of searching for survivors, sometimes in pitch darkness, and the incredible engineering efforts that allowed the Navy to get most of its ships back in service during the war.
While subsequent events of the war in the Pacific are mostly beyond the scope of the book, Nelson manages to provide important details about those as well.  Casual students of World War II who, like me, primarily equate firebombing with Dresden, Slaughterhouse-Five, and Holocaust deniers, may be unaware of the extent of our firebombing in Japan, which caused massive damage and killed thousands of civilians in Japanese cities prior to any use of atomic bombs, with no apparent effect on Japanese resolve.
I was surprised to read complaints in other reviews that a large section of this book simply repeats Nelson's account of the Doolittle raid from his earlier book, First Heroes.  As the first effort to retaliate for the attack on Pearl Harbor, and one with obvious similarities to that attack, the Doolittle raid does receive more attention than later battles, but it is still a small portion of the new book, and First Heroes (which is also excellent) came out in 2002, so even those of us who had read it needed a reminder of what happened less than five months after December 7th.
707438
This is a well written and easy to understand book.  Malcolm Wright recounts his WWII experiences as a Coastwatcher on the island of New Britain and his exploits collecting real time intelligence against the Japanese during WWII. This book is more about his personal account of gathering actionable intelligence than it is about guerrilla warfare.  That does not mean he does not describe guerrilla activities, he does however, his memoire is much more than that.  It's a personal account, with emotion and in-depth descriptions of techniques that he and his small team of Australians employed in a jungle environment. None of his or any other Coastwatcher activities in the southwest Pacific would have been successful without the cooperation of the local natives.  I liked the way he successfully integrated the descriptions of heir different native tribal beliefs and skills and how he worked them into the overall story line.  He leaves little room for doubt that the cooperation of the local natives was the major contributing factor to his success.  His account of bringing together such a diverse band of natives is a testament to his skills and his pre-WWII knowledge of the area.  He gives a good description of the jungle tradecraft that kept him one step ahead of the Japanese.  Students of guerilla warfare will not feel left out in this book, but with the emphasis on collecting information oficianados of the intelligence genre will very much enjoy reading it.  .
1502482
It is not given often to us to see ourselves through the eyes of an enemy. In fact, two things are required to make this work: that enemy must be willing to speak clearly and frankly; and enough time and change must have passed since the conflict for us to regard his story with a degree of objectivity. Luckily, both things are true in the case of this memoir by the Japanese pilot who led the assault on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This vivid and detailed account of the fateful raid will be of high interest to anyone intrigued by military history, to any pilot or student of flying and/or air warfare, and to anyone - especially a Japanese or American citizen - who wants a fuller and deeper understanding of history. The story concludes with the pilot - Mitsuo Fuchida - relating his postwar conversion to Christianity, and his travels in the U.S. This was the only part where - as a reader - I found my interest fall off.  Here, Fuchida seems to mostly want to brag about the famous people he meets and  to recount their praise for his conversion. Greater modesty would've been far more becoming. But: high kudos to Doug Shinsato and Tadanori Urabe for their lucid translation of the original manuscript.