The US Navy's 1944 Philippines raids were the first time naval aircraft had challenged and beaten a land-based air force. With artwork and rare photos, this is the first book to study them. During September 1944, the US Navy's Task Force 38 launched a series of huge airstrikes against Japanese forces in the Philippines. Seventeen carriers, wielding over 1, 000 combat aircraft, made up the most powerful naval fleet assembled to date. It was the...
An exciting account of the aerial battles fought by the USAAF's P38 Lightnings and the Jagdflieger's Bf 109Gs for dominance over North Africa and the Mediterranean.USAAF fighter pilots experienced a baptism of fire when flying the technically advanced but fragile P-38 Lightning over North Africa in the wake of 1942's Operation Torch. Their opponents were battle-hardened jagdflieger of the Jadgwaffe, flying the tried and tested Bf 109 in its ve...
An illustrated exploration of the dramatic aerial combats between the US Navy's long-range bomber and Japanese flying boats in the Pacific War.Edward M. Young explores these rarely written about combats, examining the aggressive and strategic tactics deployed by both US Navy and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force and analyzing the technical improvements installed throughout the war.The PB4Y-1/2 Liberator/Privateer was the US Navy's first four-en...
Using maps, contemporary photographs and new artwork, this book examines the Hellcat and the naval aviators who flew them. Joining combat in the Pacific in late 1943, the Hellcat squadrons soon demonstrated their ascendency over their Japanese opponents, culminating in the great 'Marianas Turkey Shoot' during the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 1944. The fighter proved to be a dream for pilots to fly, allowing both novice and veteran Nava...
Flying from and between bases in China and India, the B-25s bombed every type of Japanese target during World War 2 in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, ultimately dropping more bombs than their larger four-engined B-24 Liberator brethren.Mitchell bombers took on the task of disrupting the flow of Japanese supplies to the frontlines at medium ranges, bombing supply centers, railway depots, and bridges. It was in this last capacity that the ...
VF-9 was activated in March 1942 as part of Carrier Air Group (CAG) 9, one of the many air groups the US Navy was hurriedly forming in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. This title deals with this topic.
Examines the clashes between the Corsair and Ki-84 in the closing stages of the war, revealing how Corsair pilots had to adapt their techniques and combat strategies to adapt to these newer types.
During the late 1930s an armament race developed between bombers and the fighters that were bent on stopping them. The development of multi-engined, multi-gun, all-metal bombers forced a corresponding increase in fighter armament which, in turn, led to further attempts to improve bomber armament to ensure its ability to survive in the face of hostile fighters. The US Army Air Corps (USAAC) requested that powered gun turrets be fitted to its tw...
In the key Pacific War battles of the Marianas Turkey Shoot, Leyte Gulf, and in and around Japan itself (from late 1943 through to VJ-Day) the principal fighters involved were the F6F Hellcat and the A6M5/7 Zero-sen. The former was Grumman's successor to the pugnacious Wildcat, and its creation was shaped by the combat experiences of Naval Aviators flying the F4F against the A6M2/3 Zero-sen from late 1941. Blooded in combat against the Japanes...
