American Fighter-Bombers in World War II: Usaaf Jabos in the Mto and Eto (Schiffer Military History) [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

William Wolf (Author)

Book Description

Series: Schiffer Military History | Publication Date: July 2007

Lost in the air combat and air ace fanfare of World War II was the dangerous, unheralded and vital role played by USAAF fighter-bomber pilots over the Mediterranean and northwest Europe. Four times as many pilots were lost during strafing and ground attack sorties than were lost against the Luftwaffe in aerial combat. This extensive book is the first in-depth examination of American air-to-ground attack and explores numerous aspects of the subject. The three priorities of the fighter-bomber air superiority, interdiction and close air support along with combat reports and pilot narratives are put into the context of the various ground operations. The fighter-bomber pilot risked his life every day against the thickest flak in the war to deprive the enemy of vital reinforcements and supplies, altering his strategy and movement.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing (July 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764318780
• ISBN-13: 978-0764318788
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #515,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsung Fighter-Bombers Get Their Due, December 12, 2006

By 

A Reader (Santa Cruz, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Fighter-Bombers in World War II: Usaaf Jabos in the Mto and Eto (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)

After producing a comprehensive record of fighter aces in VICTORY ROLL, William Wolf turned his attention to an underappreciated facet of WW2 air combat--the American fighter-bombers or "jabos," as the Germans called them.

As Wolf writes in USAAF JABOS, "Over the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe, the fighter ace and dogfighter received the praise and publicity while the strafer and dive-bomber did unheralded journeyman's work. The interceptor/escort fighter pilot flew many uneventful missions without meeting an enemy aircraft. The fighter-bomber pilot often flew one or more daily sorties against a wide range of targets extending from the frontlines to several hundred miles behind enemy lines. On every mission he flew into the teeth of the heaviest flak and small arms fire encountered in the war, often sustaining heavy losses. The measure of his effort has never been truly appreciated, but the fighter-bomber pilot was a major player in the air war over Europe and Italy."

Wolf reportedly has the largest personal library of WW2 aviation books and microfilm in the world and it shows in the mind-boggling amount of information that he brings to USAAF JABOS. Wolf provides a systematic account of all US fighter-bomber campaigns in the European and Mediterranean theaters of operation. He also provides detailed information on the aircraft, weapons, tactics, targets, enemy defenses, and more. In all, this hefty book is almost 400 pages and packed full of rare photos. It is an unmatched and indispensable resource. With this book, the USAAF fighter-bomber pilots are finally getting their fair due.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exellent Book, July 16, 2011

By 

Blue - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Fighter-Bombers in World War II: Usaaf Jabos in the Mto and Eto (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)

Extremely well-research and extremely well-written comprehesive review of US Fighter-Bomber's in WWII Occupied Europe/Italy. Very readable coverage of aircraft, equipment, armament, tactics, anti-air craft and missions. Seems prejudiced toward the P-47, but otherwise even-handed discussion of what worked, why, how and the impacts/limitations of FB use. A definate 'Buy' for any WWII History buff. A most-readable book.

1 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars FAULTS TO BE NOTED, July 9, 2011

By 

INTELTEK "INTELTEK" - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Fighter-Bombers in World War II: Usaaf Jabos in the Mto and Eto (Schiffer Military History) (Hardcover)

CRIQITUE UPON INITIAL CURSORY REVIEW OF: "USAAF JABOS IN THE MTO AND ETO: AMERICAN FIGHTER-BOMBERS IN WORLD WAR II," William Wolf, c. 2003, Schiffer Publishing

In due course, I will be citing specific and widespread errors encountered in this book, similar to what I am currently focusing on in my critique of the author's books on WW II armament. Although times does not permit a more thorough review at the present, I would note that there are serious deficiencies to be noted, particularly in the discussion of German armor that was the subject of much attention by the P-47 units at the core of the book.

As I have previously stated elsewhere, merely having a large collection of data and source material does not guarantee useful application of the same. In this case, I will post the following findings to illustrate precisely what I mean. The author continually posts derogatory comments alleging that I am somehow wasting hours of time in my effort to provide evidence to both he and the rest of the larger aviation/history/modeling community that shows why I have voiced my objections to his work and asked him to improve upon the works rather than simply belittling and insulting critics.

To demonstrate how quickly and easily I can identify errors in these books, the following was limited to a 20-minute search of just photos, captions and a few paragraphs of text in this book, and here are the results:
USAAF JABOS IN THE MTO AND ETO, author Wolf:

1) Page 42, column 1: Reference to header "A-36 Apache/Invader." Text: "The A-36 was a by-product of P-51 Mustang development. Even before Louis Walt made the first flight in the XP-51 on 29 May 1942, funding for fighter aircraft had been expended for the fiscal year June 1942. But there was money in the budget for a attack aircraft, and to get the P-51 in production, Dutch Kindleburger added bomb racks and dive brakes to the P-51 Apache (the RAF designation "Mustang" was substituted in July) airframe and designated it as an attack bomber, the A-36."

INACCURACIES: Addressed in order of appearance:

1a) Neither Apache, nor Invader, were EVER official names for the P-51/A-36 family. They were common local nicknames and used by pilots and ground crew, leading to the myths surrounding their application, but they were never official. This is similar to today's A-10A Thunderbolt II attack plane, that, coincidentally, was named after the P-47 Thunderbolt at the core of this book. Tha A-10 is popularly known as the `Warthog,' as used by all pilots and maintainers, but it is NOT an official name.

1b) The A-36 was an outgrowth of the P-51 Mustang but not in quite the way that the author seems to see it in his faulty interpretation. The North American NA-73X design had been sold to the British, who were actually the ones to officially assign the name "Mustang" to the design with a formal notice from the Export Office of the British Purchasing Commission dated 09 DEC 1940 and accepted 12 DEC 1940. (See "Building The Mustang," O'Leary, c. 2010, Specialty Press, page 24, column two).

The United States Army Air Corps had little* interest in the P-51 as a fighter and Dutch Kindleburger had an uphill battle to convince them of its value. When he was told that the Army preferred Curtiss fighters but was interested in a new dive bomber/attack plane, North American focused on selling the Mustang as an attack plane, thus creating and then selling 500 of them to the US Army before the first American P-51 fighter was ever even considered. (*Though the Army was not a fan of the Mustang, before it released authorization for it to be sold to Brtiain, it stipulated that the 4th and 10th production Mk I Mustangs would be handed over to the Air Corps for evaluation).

The author suggests that the decision against the fighter version was based merely on funding. That is incorrect and flies in the face of multiple first-hand accounts from those intimately involved in the story. It is yet another example of substandard research so commonly noted with this author, and a major reason why I have objected so strenuously to his refusals to accept responsibility for such errors.

1c) First flight of the XP-51 was not by Louis Wait on 29 May 1942 but by Robert Chilton, in s/n 41-038, on 20 MAY 1941. According to Ray Wagner's book, "MUSTANG DESIGNER: EDGAR SCHMUED AND THE P-51, " c. 1990, Smithsonian Institution Press, pages 70-73, NA-73X prototype NX 19998 was first flown by Robert Chilton on 4 APR 1941. Louis Wait flew the first production NA-73, "bearing the RAF serial G345 and the company construction number (c/n) 73-3098," on 23 APR 1941.

There is no reference to 29 May anywhere in either the Wagner or the O'Leary book. However, the first flight of the XFU4-1 Corsair was on 29 May 1940, so it is possible that the author confused the date with another aircraft, strictly from memory.

1d) Photo caption for the bottom left photo on page 42 states the following: "A=Attack designation couldn't make it more than a mediocre dive-bomber." ??
NONSENSICAL STATEMENT: How does a designation for an aircraft impact performance in ANY role for that aircraft? The caption makes absolutely no sense.

1e) Photo caption for the bottom right photo on page 42 states: "North American Aviation transformed the P-51 into a dive-bomber by modifying it to a Navy dive-bomber specification with dive brakes and bomb racks (see photo) and designated it the A-36. (USAF)."

1f) ERROR: North American did NOT transform the P-51 into an A-36. The NA-73X became the Mustang Mk I, which was then labeled as an XP-51. The A-36 was developed in order to "get in the door" with the Army, with the Mustang design. Once a contract had been secured and, more importantly, the US entered WW II, the Army decided to procure P-51As. The author gets the timeline and development history completely backwards due to poor research and understanding of the subject matter. Rather than present solid information of use to serious scholars, this simply perpetuates longstanding and completely inaccurate mythology.
As to the Navy specifications mentioned, this is the result of another apparent misreading of history. The Navy provided specifications for their dive bombers. The Army had then considered buying Navy aircraft, such as the Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless, then re-designated as the A-24 in Army service in limited numbers. The A-36 was NOT designed to a Navy specification. The dive brakes on the top and bottoms of the A-36 wings were completely different from the perforated flap type dive brakes on the SBD/A-24 series.

2) ERROR: Page 77, bottom right photo caption describes aircraft depicted as a P-38 with a 20mm cannon. In fact, the aircraft is a P-39, equipped with a nose-mounted 37mm cannon. The two aircraft are absolutely nothing alike.

3) ERROR: Page 93, bottom right corner photo caption describes destroyed German Jagdpanzer MK IV tank DESTROYER as a "photo of the first of the German Mk V tanks that was [sic] stopped by the rocket attack and finished off by .50 cal machine gun strafing (USAF)." No date or location provided for the subject. Note that other photos of the same type of vehicle within the book describe it differently.

4) ERROR: Page 125, bottom right corner photo caption describes a German "armored camouflaged hangar. There is absolutely no evidence of any "armor" around the revetted and covered hardstand. The author is not an imagery interpreter and has no experience with revetments. No location or date is given and the quality of the obvious gun camera imagery is so substandard that the author couldn't even identify what kind of plane on the ground was being targeted for strafing.

5) IMPROPER PHOTO ORIENTATION: Page 147, bottom right. Photo should be rotated 90-degrees to right.

6) ERROR: Page 153, photo at top of page. Caption describes the following incorrectly: "A 37mm flak gun mounted on a Sd Kfz 251 halftrack." Vehicle is an 8-ton SdKfz 7/2 armed with a 37mm FlaK [sic] 37 L/98. This vehicle is MUCH larger than the SdKfz 251 series listed. On a more minor point, when the abbreviation of SdKfz (Sonderkraftfahrzeug, or `special purpose vehicle' ) is used, it should have s period between Sd and Kfz, or no space. Either use is common. However, since is the abbreviation for a phrase, a space implies abbreviations for two things and an empty space is improper. Admittedly, many may not appreciate the fine distinction, but it does matter to people who know the subject. And, after all, these books are supposed to be designed for the more knowledgeable or interested customer; are they not?

7) SUPERFLUOUS: Page 153, photo at bottom right. Photo caption reads "Quad-mount 20mm AA gun mounted on a medium tank chassis (US ARMY). Includes no details, tells nothing about the obvious combat damage to the knocked-out vehicle. Yet, on the very next page, the photo at bottom right corner features the same kind of vehicle and has a caption fully identifying it as follows: "Flakpanzer IV `Wirbelwind' (Whirlwind) mounted the 20mm Flakvierling 38 quadmount."

8) ERROR: Page 155, photo caption bottom right. Weapon is described as a "Light Flak Rail Car II mounting a Quad 20mm Flakvierling 38."

The weapon depicted clearly has only two 20mm barrels, so it is absolutely not a "quad" of anything. Further, the author seems unaware that the "vierling" in Flakvierling stands for precisely that: quadrupled. It is only applicable when there is a four-barreled FlaK weapon. This author clearly does not understand his subject.

9) QUESTIONABLE VALUE: Photo caption, page 162: Caption:... Read more ›