Customer Reviews

America's Hundred Thousand: U.S. Production Fighters of World War II

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I have been writing about and studying modern military history for fifteen years and it is very rare to discover a book that genuinely deserves the term "definitive." Francis Dean's _America's Hundred Thousand_ is one of them. Table top books or pictorial essays about various WWII fighters are common. Dean's work, however, is a long (nearly 600 pages and large format) and detailed study of the ten most important US fighter aircraft of the war. It includes solid data on every major subsystem as well as overall aircraft performance. Crammed with graphs and charts, Dean analyzes the crucial but often neglected fine points that made the difference between life and death in air combat. Lastly, he does a long and extremely interesting comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of the various planes. Throughout the work are comments from WWII pilots who knew the craft first hand. Dean, a former Boeing engineer and well known aviation writer, spent six years researching this work and it shows. This book belongs on the bookshelf of every serious student of the air operations so crucial to the Second World War. Highest possible recommendation.

There are a few books that the World War Two aviation enthusiast absolutely must have in their collection. America's One Hundred Thousand is certainly one of those books. Any compilation of WWII works would be the lesser for not including this monumental volume. Having offered up this rather strong statement, I can assure the reader that Dean's book measures up to this standard of approbation.

To this writer's knowledge, no other book produced comes close to America's 100k in depth nor in scope. Dean presents the major American fighter types with the goal of defining every aspect of the aircraft's history, design, construction and performance. In his quest, the author has been successful in the extreme.

Mr. Dean covers the following types: The Air Corps' P-38, P-39, P-40, P-47, P-51, P-61 and P-63. For the Navy and Marine Corps, Dean presents the F2A, F4F, F4U and the F6F.

From the title page on, America's 100k displays the finest period photography available. Much of these wonderful images come from Mr. Dean's extensive personal collection. In addition, Dean has enlisted Pete Bowers and his huge library of photos and negatives. If the book was no more than a photographic history, it would worth every penny. However, there is much more here than the outstanding photography.

There are hundreds of charts, stats and manufacturer's drawings. Each system and sub-system of the eleven featured fighters are described in great detail. As are the individual flying qualities, design and construction of each type. Yet, Dean does not stop here. His accompanying text is rich with details and a wealth of data. Virtually every one of the 606 pages is jammed with the kind of information that most aviation enthusiasts tend to drool over.

In terms of design and layout, the book is impeccable. America's 100k is structured in a manner that allows for easy reading and research. Paper quality is first rate and typical of Schiffer's recent top-notch efforts. The binding is excellent and the dust jacket is remarkably attractive as one can see above. Indeed, this may very well be the best investment you will ever make in an aviation book.

Corey C. Jordan, Editor The Planes and Pilots of WWII Internet Magazine

This isn't a book for couch potatoes. It contains no tales of derring-do ("Erik dropped out of the sky upon the unsuspecting Zero") and it could do you an injury if you dozed off.

Rather, it presents the best collection of facts, figures, drawings, photos, and anecdotes about U.S. World War II fighters that I have ever seen, and a whole lot more. For openers, Dean sketches American fighters of the 1920s and 1930s, along with the planes that might have fought in World War II but didn't make the grade, often because they were too goofy to be believed. He also talks about the elements that enable a fighter to fight, including a wonderfully lucid explanation of aircraft stability.

The main text is given over to the 11 planes that actually went to war, including the Brewster F2A Buffalo (509 delivered, mostly to desperate foreigners) and the humungous Northrop P-61 Black Widow (706 delivered, late in the war). Any kid with a yen for model airplanes or Combat Simulator can name the rest: the shark-faced Curtiss P-40, the rotund Grumman F4F Wildcat and F6F Hellcat, the burly Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, the incomparable North American P-51 Mustang. . . . From 1939 to 1945, U.S. manufacturers built 100,090 combat-worthy fighters. "Today," Dean notes, "no one could pay for that number even if they were desired."

In the Schiffer tradition, photograph is piled upon drawing, table upon graph--74 for the Brewster Buffalo alone, which U.S. pilots flew in just one engagement, defending Midway on June 4, 1942. The drawings are generally taken from pilot's manuals and the like, giving a pleasantly retro look to the pages.

Among such wonders, I was disappointed to find countless errors of spelling and punctuation, notably "Kittihawk" for the British Kittyhawk version of the big-jawed P-40. Never mind! Just as nobody will ever build so many fighters again, nobody is likely to attempt another such labor of love, so we'll have to be content with this one.

I would have to agree with the good Prof. above (whose books are also excellent, btw). This one is truly a definitive work. Among other wonders, the author explains "compressability" in a few short sentences in a way that is instantly comprehensible -- that's a subject I've seen butchered in dozens of books. I guess being a retired avation engineer helps.

This book isn't just large and comprehensive -- it's really good. It's well-written, well-organized, and just thoughtful on every level. Granted, you have to be sort of a maniac to buy a 600-page $60 book on WW II fighters. But if you're that kind of maniac, buy it now!

Make no mistake, this book isn't for military enthusiasts who want to know about the operational history of the planes mentioned and who shot down what with it, leave that to the hundreds of other books out there on the same subject. The purpose of this book is to give you a true in-depth and technical understanding of each of america's fighter aircraft.

This is a true technical resource book that is also fun to read and will educate you on the true handling characteristics of the aircraft contained in it. It constitutes more of a pilot-related information bible than anything else, this is the book to hit if you ever get lucky enough to be offered to fly a warbird, it also makes an excellent resource to those who want to create simulations or wargames.

In the end, military aviation buffs will find it extremely interesting, but this is truely a pilot's guidebook.

I second Dan Fords review in its entirety, except that I do not think the book either too big or heavy. I would have liked even more, at least the P 35A, P 36 and P 43. It is an incredible compilation of data. It is obviously not Mr. Deans fault that some of it is wrong, (e.g. If the data was right, the P-39 would have had enough climbing capacity to perform well over Guadalcanal in 1942.) It is too much to ask to expect him to tell us everything.

If you need info on how these planes worked, real detail, not the typical picture book fluff, in the average book, this is the book for you.

Nuts and bolts info you can really learn from.

A complete Day to Day timeline for each plane, pilots comments on everything from the cockpits to the ground handling and how good of a gun platform.

Info about all the systems and structures.

Simple the best, short of Warren Bodies Books on the P-38 and P-47.

Thank you Mr.Dean for this magnificent book.There's b&w pictures and the drawings are great ! I recommend this book for those who loves WWII american fighters such modelers or historians.I regard this book as a treasure in my WWII collection.

This is more of an echo/chorus to the previous reviews. Thus, it is only helpful in the context of reading those first...

If you want technical information overload on U.S. WWII fighters this is the place to find it.

It would be nice to see other writers and publishers be as successful, as this book has, on similar subjects.

Have been searching for a book like this for a long time. Written in a pleasant style and, as i am a "numbers " person, this is, what you would call, a book written for me. Every type of fighter is well described in every possible way. Numbers build, flying caracteristics, pilots reviews ( and they are the experts !) aircraft specs, histories, you name it, it is all there. A must have for a WW2 fighter aircraft fan.