P-38 Lightning Aces of the Pacific and CBI
P-38 Lightning Aces of the Pacific and CBI

Author: John Stanaway

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 1997-04-15

Total Pages: 102

ISBN-13: 9781855326330

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The P-38 was used on virtually every front to which the USAAF were committed, but enjoyed its greatest successes in the Pacific and China-Burma-India (CBI) theatres. The speed, range and firepower of the P-38 made it the favourite of nearly all aircrew fighting in the Solomons, New Guinea and the Philippines, and over 1800 Japanese aircraft fell to its guns. From the first encounters at the end of 1942 until the Lightning scored the final Fifth Air force victories in August 1945, these pilots made the Pacific skies very much their own battleground.

Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI
Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI

Author: John Stanaway

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-02-20

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1472801946

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Although far better known for their exploits over the war torn skies of Germany and Italy, the USAAF's premier fighters, the P-47 and P-51, also made significant contributions to the victory against Japan from 1943 onwards. This book relates the appearance of the Allison-engined A-36As and P-51As over Rangoon from India in November 1943, the 1st Air Commando Group in China, P-47s over the jungles of New Guinea in 1943, escorting B-29s on long-range bombing sorties against the Home Islands in 1944-45 and elsewhere.

P-38 Lightning Aces of the ETO/MTO
P-38 Lightning Aces of the ETO/MTO

Author: John Stanaway

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 1998-06-05

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781855326989

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The P-38 made its combat debut in Europe in mid-1942, the first American fighters being flown to the UK before heading further east to Twelfth Air Force units in North Africa. Its service in this theatre, and later over the heartland of Germany itself, earned the P-38 the nickname 'der gabelschwanzer Teufel' (the 'fork-tailed' devil). This volume traces the careers of many previously unknown aces within the USAAF in Europe, and helps redress the balance which has in the past seen all the 'glory' for the fighter victories in this theatre shared between the pilots of the P-47 and P-51. Some 17 pilots scored 7 or more kills on the P-38 in the ETO/MTO.

P-38 Lightning Aces 1942–43
P-38 Lightning Aces 1942–43

Author: John Stanaway

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-07-20

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1782003347

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The story of the highest-scoring P-38 aces of the war, who had claimed approximately half of their total victories by the end of 1943 flying Lightning models ranging from the F-1 through to the H-5. The first P-38s became operational with the 1st Fighter Group in April 1941, and the initial combat deployments were made in Alaska, the Southwest Pacific and North Africa during the latter part of 1942. Photographic reconnaissance versions of the P-38 were in action even sooner when F-4 (P-38E) models were rushed to frontline units a few months after Pearl Harbor. Often using modified field measures to equip aircraft and train pilots in this demanding fighter, early pilots wrote a remarkable record of accomplishments that displayed a high degree of courage and innovation. Every theatre in which the United States was involved saw deployment of the P-38, and more than 60 Lightning pilots were credited with at least five victories by the end of 1943. Featuring illustrations depicting P-38 models from the E to the H-5 previously not known to the general public, unpublished photographs and new data, this volume presents a comprehensive and innovative account of some of these lesser known aces.

475th Fighter Group
475th Fighter Group

Author: John Stanaway

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-02-20

Total Pages: 200

ISBN-13: 1472802055

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Formed with the best available fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific, the 475th Fighter Group was the pet project of Fifth Air Force chief, General George C Kenney. From the time the group entered combat in August 1943 until the end of the war it was the fastest scoring group in the Pacific and remained one of the crack fighter units in the entire US Army Air Forces with a final total of some 550 credited aerial victories. Amongst its pilots were the leading American aces of all time, Dick Bong and Tom McGuire, with high-scoring pilots Danny Roberts and John Loisel also serving with the 475th. This book details these pilots, the planes they flew and the campaigns and battles they fought in including such famous names as Dobodura, the Huon Gulf, Oro Bay, Rabaul, Hollandia, the Philippines and Luzon.

P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI
P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI

Author: Carl Molesworth

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-10-20

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 1782005498

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This book details the colourful experiences of the elite pilots of the AAF's Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces in the 'forgotten' China-Burma-India theatre during WW2. Inheriting the legacy of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), units such as the 23rd FG 'held the line' against overwhelming Japanese forces until the arrival of the first P-38s and P-51s in 1944. The Warhawk became synonymous with the efforts of the AAF in the CBI, being used by some 40 aces to claim five or more kills between 1942-45. This volume is the first of four covering the exploits with the P-40 during World War 2.

Corsair Aces of World War 2
Corsair Aces of World War 2

Author: Mark Styling

Publisher:

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13:

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Beretning om det amerikanske jagerfly F4U Corsair og piloter, der fløj det under 2. verdenskrig

Aces of the 325th Fighter Group
Aces of the 325th Fighter Group

Author: Tom Ivie

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2014-01-20

Total Pages: 96

ISBN-13: 1780963025

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Illustrated throughout, this volume tells how, of the 325th FG's 537 aerial victories, 202 were scored by its 27 aces. The 325th FG was activated under General Order number 50 on 30 July 1942 and set up training operations at Theodore F Greene Field in Providence, Rhode Island. By mid-December 1942 the group was considered ready for combat and the alert for overseas duty arrived on 2 January 1943. The pilots and their P-40s departed on the carrier USS Ranger on 8 January and flew their aircraft off the vessel into Cazes airfield, near Casablanca, on 19 January 1943. After the remainder of the personnel arrived in late February, the group prepared for combat, and finally flew its first mission on 17 April 1943 as part of the Twelfth Air Force. During the next four months it participated in the North African campaign, and operations against enemy-held islands in the Mediterranean Sea. By the end of the Sicilian campaign on 17 August the 325th FG had scored 128 aerial victories, been the first P-40 unit to deliver 1,000-lb bombs against enemy targets and had escorted 1,100 bombers without losing a single one of them to enemy action.

Hellcat Aces of World War 2
Hellcat Aces of World War 2

Author: Barrett Tillman

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Published: 1996-07-15

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781855325968

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Grumman's successor to the pugnacious Wildcat, the Hellcat embodied many of the lessons learnt by F4F pilots in the opening months of the Pacific war. Introduced to the fleet in January 1943, and blooded in combat against the Japanese by VF-5 seven months later, the F6F served as the principal US Navy fighter on board carrier decks until VJ-Day. Despite its lethality in the air when ranged against the best Japanese fighters, it still retained docile handling qualities around the carrier deck. Pilots flying the Hellcat claimed nearly 5000 kills in the Pacific, and over 350 pilots achieved ace status on the type.