WGSE: P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific

[NewFlyBoy]

Book Title:

P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific

Author:

Carl Molesworth

ISBN:

978-1-84176-536-5

Category:

History

Format:

Paperback

Summary:

This book was a gift to me by my friend Peter (Teaticket) because he knows how obsessed I am with P-40s (is it wrong for a man to love a machine ?). This book feeds my obsession! Published by Osprey, it is a compact yet highly detailed examination of the men who flew P-40s to Ace status in the Pacific Theater of operations in World War II. It does not cover the "Flying Tigers" operations prior to the U.S. entry to WW II. Chapters in the book are Chapter One "Opening Shots" of the U.S. entry to the war (P-40s in action at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines), Chapter Two "Backs Against the Wall" (defense of the Philippines and Australia in early 1942), Chapter Three "The New Guinea Campaign," Chapter Four "At War in the Islands" (Guadalcanal and other operations in the Gilbert Islands), and Chapter Five "The Forgotten Front" (the story of the fight to defend the Aleutian Islands and Alaska -- pilots flying and fighting in extreme conditions).
The book tells many stories of tremendously brave P-40 pilots often flying into combat greatly outnumbered by their Japanese opponents -- including two P-40 pilots who became Aces in one day. In one aerial combat in the Solomon Islands a group of P-40s were up against an attack of Bettys escorted by a group of Zeros -- after a major dogfight the American pilots claimed 12.5 victories to the loss of one P-40. 1Lt. Joseph J. Lesicka recorded 5 of those victories. The book has two Appendices of interest -- a list of victories by units operating P-40s in the Pacific and a list of Aces who flew P-40s in the Pacific.
The book is filled with hundreds of black and white period photos of P-40 operations in the Pacific (I've attached one from the title page of the book) and perhaps most useful to wargamers, ten pages of full color painting scheme renderings of actual aircraft -- four to a page (I've attached a picture below).
Even if you are not as obsessed with P-40s as I am (and who could be?) this is an interesting an informative book on a subject often eclipsed by coverage of the more glamorous fighters of the Pacific theater of operations.