Kearby's Thunderbolts

Author: John Stanaway
Publisher: Specialty PressPub & Wholesalers
ISBN: 9780962586033
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 108

Book Description
The 348th Fighter Group was the most successful P-47 Thunderbolt unit in the Pacific. Medal of Honor recipient Colonel Neel Kearby took an aircraft that was generally despised in the southwest Pacific and made it into the terror of the skies over such formidable targets as Wewak on New Guinea, and Cape Gloucester on New Britain. Besides the redoubtable Kearby, the 348th aces included William "Dinghy" Dunham, Bob Rowland, Bill Banks, John Moore, Sam Blair, and George Davis, the Texas ace who would later receive the Medal of Honor in Korea. Ending the war in P-51 Mustangs, the 348th ranged over the Japanese homeland - completing their impressive record and honor, and the drive begun by the illustrious Kearby. John Stanaway is also the author of Attack and Conquer: The 8th Fighter Group in World War II: Possum, Clover & Hades: The 475th Fighter Group in World War II; The Operational Story of Lockheed's Lucky Star (all three titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

Kearby's Thunderbolts

Author: John C. Stanaway
Publisher: Schiffer Military History
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 232

P-47D Thunderbolt vs Ki-43-II Oscar

Author: Michael John Claringbould
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472840895
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

Book Description
Although New Guinea's Thunderbolt pilots faced several different types of enemy aircraft in capricious tropical conditions, by far their most common adversary was the Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa, codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies. These two opposing fighters were the products of two radically different design philosophies. The Thunderbolt was heavy, fast and packed a massive punch thanks to its battery of eight 0.50-cal machine guns, while the 'Oscar' was the complete opposite in respect to fighter design philosophy – lightweight, nimble, manoeuvrable and lightly armed. It was, nonetheless, deadly in the hands of an experienced pilot. The Thunderbolt commenced operations in New Guinea with a series of bomber escort missions in mid-1943, and its firepower and superior speed soon saw Fifth Air Force fighter command deploying elite groups of P-47s to Wewak, on the northern coast. Flying from there, they would pick off unwary enemy aircraft during dedicated fighter patrols. The Thunderbolt pilots in New Guinea slowly wore down their Japanese counterparts by continual combat and deadly strafing attacks, but nevertheless, the Ki-43-II remained a worthy opponent deterrent up until Hollandia was abandoned by the IJAAF in April 1944. Fully illustrated throughout with artwork and rare photographs, this fascinating book examines these two vastly different fighters in the New Guinea theatre, and assesses the unique geographic conditions that shaped their deployment and effectiveness.

P-47 Thunderbolt at War

Author: Cory Graff
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781616732592
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description

Thunderbolt!

Author: Martin Caidin
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 138759088X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 206

Book Description
Thunderbolt! The Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace is the incredible true life story of Robert S. Johnson, one of AmericaÕs leading fighter pilot aces in World War II. His memoir is an action-packed account of how a young man from Lawton, Oklahoma went on to amass 28 enemy kills, the first U. S. Army Air Force pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I tally of 26 enemy planes destroyed. JohnsonÕs detailed, vivid descriptions of close-scrapes with GoeringÕs elite fighters and his numerous other skirmishes makes Thunderbolt! essential reading for World War 2 buffs.

Thunderbolt! The Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace

Author: Robert S. Johnson
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1387184180
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Book Description
Thunderbolt! The Extraordinary Story of a World War II Ace is the incredible true life story of Robert S. Johnson, one of America's leading fighter pilot aces in World War II. His memoir is an action-packed account of how a young man from Lawton, Oklahoma went on to amass 28 enemy kills, the first U. S. Army Air Force pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I tally of 26 enemy planes destroyed. Johnson's detailed, vivid descriptions of close-scrapes with Goering's elite fighters and his numerous other skirmishes makes Thunderbolt! essential reading for World War 2 buffs.

Aces

Author: Bill Yenne
Publisher: Chartwell
ISBN: 0785838341
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 243

Book Description
Aces is an illustrated history of the brave World War II fighter pilots who earned the title of ace, with archival and modern photos of their aircraft.

Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI

Author: John Stanaway
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472801946
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 216

Book Description
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.

MacArthur’s Air Force

Author: Bill Yenne
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472833228
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 353

Book Description
General Douglas MacArthur is one of the towering figures of World War II, and indeed of the twentieth century, but his leadership of the second largest air force in the USAAF is often overlooked. When World War II ended, the three numbered air forces (the Fifth, Thirteenth and Seventh) under his command possessed 4004 combat aircraft, 433 reconnaissance aircraft and 922 transports. After being humbled by the Japanese in the Philippines in 1942, MacArthur and his air chief General George Kenney rebuilt the US aerial presence in the Pacific, helping Allied naval and ground forces to push back the Japanese Air Force, re-take the Philippines, and carry the war north towards the Home Islands. Following the end of World War II, MacArthur was the highest military and political authority in Japan and at the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 he was named as Commander-in-Chief, United Nations Command. In the ten months of his command, his Far East Air Forces increased dramatically and saw the first aerial combat between jet fighters. Written by award-winning aviation historian Bill Yenne, this engrossing and widely acclaimed book traces the journey of American air forces in the Pacific under General MacArthur's command, from their lowly beginnings to their eventual triumph over Imperial Japan, followed by their entry into the jet age in the skies over Korea.

Richard Bong

Author: Don Keith
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593187296
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Book Description
The heroic true story of Major Richard Bong, America’s greatest fighter pilot of the Pacific War and the nation’s top flying ace of World War II Arriving as a fresh US Army Air Forces pilot in New Guinea in late 1942, Richard Bong wasted no time taking on the Japanese, shooting down two planes in an early skirmish—an action that earned him a Silver Star. Over the next two years, Bong would amass the US armed forces’ most impressive record of aerial victories of the entire war, surpassing even the great Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I tally and notching forty kills. In December 1944, he was personally awarded the Medal of Honor by General Douglas MacArthur. Now acclaimed author Don Keith recounts the remarkable saga of Bong’s war years as well as his tragic death while serving as a test pilot.