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.
With the 50th Anniversary of Victory in World War II comes PROTECT & AVENGE: The 49th Fighter Group in World War II.\nAfter six years of research, author and illustrator S.W. Ferguson, Along with 49ERS Association historian William K. Pascalis, have recreated the war-years odyssey of the famous 49ERS, the most successful fighter group in the war against Japan. Flyers Paul Wrutsmith, Bob Morrissey, Ernie Harris, Gerry Johnson, Bob DeHaven and leading American ace Dick Bong, are but a few of the men who contribute to the 49ERS legend. \nFrom their desert air strips of Northwest Territory, Australia, through their jungle camps of New Guinea and the Philippines, to the final moment of victory on the Japanese homeland, all are detailed in this new volume. Derived from the diaries and logs of 49ERS veterans, the groups official USAF history and the U.S. National Archives, the story chronicles more than thirty aces and their crews who achieved over 600 aerial kills in three years of continuous combat.\nThe text is highlighted by more than 600 black and white photos, six compaign maps, and twenty-four color profiles of select P-40s, P-57s, and P-38s.\nS.W. Ferguson lives in Colorado Springs where he has pursued his teaching, writing and art career for the last ten years. His interests are American writers and history of the 20th century, and swift waters that yield trout. \nBill Pascalis is a veteran aircraft mechanic of the 49ERS Selfridge AFB cadre and served through the New Guinea campaign of mid-1943. After the war, he established a long career with Tranworld Airlines. He now lives with his wife in retirement in Florida, enjoying golf, his grandchildren and research in the 5th Air Force archives.
This second of two volumes continues the P-38 story by focusing on the later, mass-produced models of this historic fighter--P-38J through P-38M. Each type is examined through carefully researched archival photos, as well as photographs of currently preserved examples. Known to the enemy during World War II as the "Fork-tailed devil," the pilots of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning were charged with the responsibility of escorting American bombers deep over heavily defended Europe during the early years of the air campaign against Nazi Germany. In the Pacific, the Lightning's long range was put to good use flying over vast expanses of ocean. Detailed text and captions illustrate not only the design and construction of the later-war Lightnings, but also their combat use in WWII. Large, clear photos, coupled with descriptive and informative captions, put the reader on the airfield and in the sky with this historic aircraft.
A fighter pilot who flew 75 combat missions in World War I, George C. Kenney was a charismatic leader who established himself as an innovative advocate of air power. As General MacArthur's air commander in the Southwest Pacific during World War II, Kenney played a pivotal role in the conduct of the war, but until now his performance has remained largely unexplored. Thomas Griffith offers a critical assessment of Kenney's numerous contributions to MacArthur's war efforts. He depicts Kenney as a staunch proponent of airpower's ability to shape the outcome of military engagements and a commander who shared MacArthur's strategic vision. He tells how Kenney played a key role in campaigns from New Guinea to the Philippines; adapted aircraft, pilots, doctrine, and technology to the demands of aerial warfare in the southwest Pacific; and pursued daring strategies that likely would have failed in the European theater. Kenney is shown to have been an operational and organizational innovator who was willing to scrap doctrine when the situation called for ingenuity, such as shifting to low-level attacks for more effective bombing raids. Griffith tells how Kenney established air superiority in every engagement, provided close air support for troops by bombing enemy supply lines, attacked and destroyed Japanese supply ships, and carried out rapid deployment by airlifting troops and supplies. Griffith draws on Kenney's diary and correspondence, the personal papers of other officers, and previously untapped sources to present a comprehensive portrayal of both the officer and the man. He illuminates Kenney's relationship with MacArthur, General "Hap" Arnold, and other field commanders, and closely examines factors in air warfare often neglected in other accounts, such as intelligence, training, and logistical support. MacArthur's Airman is a rich and insightful study that shows how air, ground, and marine efforts were integrated to achieve major strategic objectives. It firmly establishes the importance of MacArthur's campaign in New Guinea and reveals Kenney's instrumental role in turning the tide against the Japanese.
The story of the elite Japanese Army Air force (JAAF) aces that flew the Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien (Swallow), and the Ki-100 Goshikisen in the Pacific Theatre of World War 2. The former, codenamed 'Tony' by the allies, was a technically excellent aircraft, possessing power, stability and a good rate of climb - differing radically from the usual Japanese philosophy of building light, ultra-manoeuvrable fighters. Its pilots soon realised, however, that the type was plagued by a number of dangerous mechanical issues. Then as the war moved relentlessly closer to Japan's doorstep, a desperate, expedient innovation to the Ki-61 airframe by fitting it with a radial instead of inline engine resulted in one of the finest fighters of World War 2 - the Ki-100. This book uses the latest findings to provide a gripping account of some of the most remarkable and hard-pressed fighter pilots of the war. It reveals how these men, unlike so many of their unfortunate late-war colleagues, could surprise Allied aircraft in high-performance fighters and claim successes in the face of enormous odds.
This volume details the experiences of 107 elite American aces in combat against the Japanese. The highest scoring US pilots of World War 2 fought against the Japanese Army Air Force and Imperial Japanese Navy over the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines. Flying P-38s and P-47s, men such as Dick Bong and Thomas McGuire won the Medal of Honor for their successes in combat in 1943-45. 'Twelve to One' is a rare document that details the 'tricks of the trade' employed by these men. This volume also includes biographies of the men whose tips for aerial combat make up the text, and the V Fighter Command Manual.
This eBook features the unabridged text of ‘Finnegans Wake’ from the bestselling edition of ‘The Complete Works of James Joyce’. Having established their name as the leading publisher of classic literature and art, Delphi Classics produce publications that are individually crafted with superior formatting, while introducing many rare texts for the first time in digital print. The Delphi Classics edition of Joyce includes original annotations and illustrations relating to the life and works of the author, as well as individual tables of contents, allowing you to navigate eBooks quickly and easily. eBook features: * The complete unabridged text of ‘Finnegans Wake’ * Beautifully illustrated with images related to Joyce’s works * Individual contents table, allowing easy navigation around the eBook * Excellent formatting of the textPlease visit www.delphiclassics.com to learn more about our wide range of titles
PREFACE The chronology is concerned primarily with operations of the US Army Air Forces and its combat units between December 7, 1941 and September 15, 1945. It is designed as a companion reference to the seven-volume history of The Army Air Forces in World War 11, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The research was a cooperative endeavor carried out in the United States Air Force historical archives by the Research Branch of the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center. Such an effort has demanded certain changes in established historical methodology, as well as some arbitrary rules for presentation of the results. After International and US events, entries are arranged geographically. They begin with events at Army Air Forces Headquarters in Washington then proceed eastward around the world, using the location of the headquarters of the numbered air forces as the basis for placement. For this reason, entries concerning the Ninth Air Force while operating in the Middle East follow Twelfth Air Force. When that headquarters moves to England in October 1943, the entries are shifted to follow Eighth Air Force. The entries end with those numbered air forces which remained in the Zone of the Interior, as well as units originally activated in the ZI, then designated for later movement overseas, such as Ninth and Tenth Air Forces. The ZI entries do not include Eighth and Twentieth Air Forces, which were established in the ZI with the original intent of placing them in those geographical locations with which they became historically identified. For these two units, original actions are shown either under AAF or in their intended geographic area of location. All times and dates used are those of the area under discussion. The entry "1/2 Jun" indicates that an event occurred during the night between the two given dates, while "1-2 Jun" indicates an action over a period of time. In dealing with people, again arbitrary decisions were implemented. For military men below the general officer or equivalent level, full grade and name were used. For general officers and those of equal grade in other US and foreign services, the complete rank (both that at the time first mentioned and the highest rank held prior to the end of the war) and name will be found in the index. Only an abbreviated rank (e.g., Gen or Adm) and last name are used in the text. The exception is where two general officers had the same last name; in such cases, the first name is also included. Similarly for civilian leaders, only the last name is used; full name and title are given in the index. Location of all towns, islands, etc., is also made in the index. In all cases, attempts were made to cite place names in use by the native population at the time of or immediately before the war. No names imposed by a conqueror are used. For example Pylos Bay, not Navarino Bay, is used. Further, as appropriate, native geographic terms are used: Shima for island in. Japanese island groups, See for lake in Germany. However, two exceptions were made. In cases in which the place became infamous because of the actions of the conquering power, that name is preferred-for example Auschwitz would be used rather than the Polish name of Oswiecim. Also, in larger international cities, such as Roma, Koln and Wien, the anglicized name is used. Where a village or hamlet was difficult to locate or where there were several such places with the same name in a general area, the coordinates are given in the index. In some cases, with no extant navigational aids of the attacking force, the best possible guess was made based upon all available evidence. In other instances, such as the bridge at Hay-ti-attacked so often by Tenth Air Force-- a logical guess could not be made. In these cases, a question mark is placed in brackets after the index entry. Accent marks, such as umlauts, were omitted.