P-38 Lighting Aces of the Pacific and CBI, John Stanaway

P-38 Lighting Aces of the Pacific and CBI, John Stanaway

Aircraft of the Aces 14

This volume in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces looks at the combat career of the twin-engined Lockheed P-38 Lighting in the Pacific and over China, Burma and India. This is where the P-39 made its reputation, helping to win air superiority in the Pacific, while the extra reliability given by its two engines helped make it very popular with its pilots.

For most of its chapters this is one of those entries in the Aircraft of the Aces series which concentrates on the individual pilots and their day by day combat experiences. As a result it is sometimes a little tricky to keep track of the overall picture, although that is partly because the fighting in the Pacific took part over such a wide area, with different P-38 units serving in different campaigns.

The final chapter focuses on Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire, the USAAF's two highest scoring aces of the war, and has a very different fell, looking at what made these two men so successful.

The book is as well illustrated as ever, with a wide selection of pictures (although somewhat lacking in aerial or action shots) and a large section of colour illustrating showing the aircraft discussed.

Chapters
Early Operations
The Yamamoto Mission
Wewak, Rabaul and Hollandia
Lessons from Hollandia
The Philippines
P-38 Aces of the CBI
Bong and McGuire

Author: John Stanaway
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 96
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 1997


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