Fire in the sky : the air war in the South Pacific

Author(s)

Bibliographic Information

Fire in the sky : the air war in the South Pacific

Eric M. Bergerud

Westview Press, 2000

  • : alk. paper

Available at  / 3 libraries

Search this Book/Journal

Note

Includes bibliography and index

Description and Table of Contents

Description

An exploration of the battles and tactics of the air war in the Pacific, including discussion of combatants, their, morale, their planes, living conditions, and leadership. Utilizing primary sources and scores of interviews with surviving veterans of all ranks and duties, the author recreates the fabric of the air war as it was fought in the South Pacific. He explores the technology and tactics, the three-dimensional battlefield, and the leadership, living conditions, medical challenges, and morale of the combatants. The reader will be rewarded with a thorough understanding of how air power functioned in World War II from the level of command to the point of fire in air-to-air combat. }In the first two years of the Pacific War of World War II, air forces from Japan, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand engaged in a ruthless struggle for superiority in the skies over the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. Despite operating under primitive conditions in a largely unknown and malignant physical environment, both sides employed the most sophisticated technology available at the time in a strategically crucial war of aerial attrition. In one of the largest aerial campaigns in history, the skies of the South Pacific were dominated first by the dreaded Japanese Zeros, then by Allied bombers, which launched massed raids at altitudes under fifty feet, and finally by a ferocious Allied fighter onslaught led by a cadre of the greatest aces in American military history.Utilizing primary sources and scores of interviews with surviving veterans of all ranks and duties, Eric Bergerud recreates the fabric of the air war as it was fought in the South Pacific. He explores the technology and tactics, the three-dimensional battlefield, and the leadership, living conditions, medical challenges, and morale of the combatants. The reader will be rewarded with a thorough understanding of how air power functioned in World War II from the level of command to the point of fire in air-to-air combat. }

Table of Contents

The Three-dimensional BattlefieldDefining the Battlefield: Air-Base NetworksThe Land and Air Machines and Men in the South PacificJapanese WarplanesAllied AircraftAirmen in the South Pacific Blood in the Sky: Air Battle in the South PacificDeadly Geometry: Fighter Warfare in the South PacificMaking History: Bombers in the South PacificConclusion

by "Nielsen BookData"

Details

Page Top