Customer Reviews

The 5th Air Force

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I purchased this Histoire and Collections volume thinking it would be similar to that publisher's 9TH AIR FORCE scrapbook published in March 2009. As it turns out, Gerard Paloque's 5TH AIR FORCE is less a scrapbook than an overview of George Kenney's war-winning command. While Paloque's book is a visual treat featuring dozens of full-color aircraft profiles, the accompanying text undercuts the book's value.

5TH AIR FORCE tops off at 112 pages. After a six-page summary history that emphasizes 5th AF fighter over bomber ops, Paloque details the 5th's bomber groups, fighter groups, night-fighter squadrons, troop carrier groups and reconnaissance groups. The history of each group is summarized and its assigned aircraft illustrated with photographs and color profiles. Color artwork of the group and squadron insignia is also included. The entry for the 8th FG, for example, features a 1 1/2-page history, 22 color profiles, four group/squadron insignia and a single b&w photo. Generally the profiles are fairly accurate although the turrets of some B-24s/-25s look a little odd. In any case, modellers will love 5TH AIR FORCE with its color smorgasbord of P-39s, P-400s, P-38s, P-51s, A-20s, B-17s, B-25s, C-47s, etc.

The text though is problematic. Translated from the French, it's sometimes a clunky, long-winded read. Several statements in the book leads one to question Paloque's knowledge of the subject. He states, for instance, that Kenney was 5th AF CO until "the final victory." Not so, Kenney turned 5th AF over to Whitehead in June 1944 and assumed a higher command. Paloque claims the 5th had P-40Ns in December 1942. Nope, they arrived in the late spring of 1943. Dick Bong is pictured in his 'Marge' P-38J. Unfortunately, he's actually in a G model and didn't even know Marge at the time the photo was taken. Lastly, Paloque's summary of the 417th BG mentions that their A-20Gs had their "bomb aimer" compartments replaced with gun noses. The A-20G was a gun-nose a/c from day one; it never carried a bombardier and so on!

There are typos throughout the book (Newak instead of Wewak, Dobudura for Dobodura, Morato for Morotai, etc.) that anyone with a working knowledge of the 5th should have caught. Finally, personnel are misidentified. On page 100, for example, "Captain J. Roberts" is labelled one of the 475th FG's leading aces. No, it's "Danny Roberts" and he's correctly identified on the very next page!

The photo captions especially deserve mention; they're awful. Here are some of the mistakes just in the Fighter Group sections:

p. 67, Clifton not Cifton Troxell;

p. 69, Norb not Nord Ruff;

p. 70, E. Cragg not Gragg;

p. 70 again, Cy Homer not Cyrilla Momera...didn't the proofreader glance at the accompanying profile? It has the correct spelling prominently displayed);

p. 74, Leroy Grosshuesch not Grosshuesche;

p. 75, Tom Winburn not Winbum;

p. 77, Alvaro Hunter not Huter...the guy was just correctly identified on the preceding page...and so on.

So, while 5TH AIR FORCE is eye candy for air combat buffs, as history, it falls short. I was really looking forward to this book...big disappointment; especially at list price! Recommended with reservations.

******

Steve Birdsall's long-out-of-print FLYING BUCCANEERS is still the best single volume 5th AF history.

As a modeler this book is made for me. It illustrates most of the major fighter and bomber types of aircraft used, with color profiles, in a group by group basis. The transport, recon, and liason types are not as well covered. There is a brief historical summary of the 5th Air Force included. I found this book very helpful.