Customer Reviews

Carrier Warfare in the Pacific: An Oral History Collection (Smithsonian History of Aviation)

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This book contains 30 personal accounts of the carrier war in the pacific. Some people provide more than one narrative. There are many insights and exciting passages. It was very hard to put down! You really get a sense of the huge quantities of men and machines that were being "thrown" at each other during the campaign.

My favorite section was Roger Bond's account of the British beer rations and the Americans' vast quantities of ice cream, and how each craved the other. That is just one example of the personal details you won't get from a typical historical account.

The only shortcoming of this book is its pictures. The maps are blurry and too few in number. A timeline would have also helped. Finally, I would have like to see some pictures of the equipment described in the narratives. Even better could have been diagrams showing the battle damage described in some of the accounts. Despite these shortcomings, I certainly recommend this book to anybody even slightly interested in what life was like during the WW2 Pacific carrier battles.

Carrier Warfare In The Pacific: An Oral History Collection is the latest entry in the highly acclaimed "Smithsonian History of Aviation Series" and presents compelling, personal accounts of behind-the-scenes planning and operations for six major carrier-versus-carrier battles during World War II. Included are the actions at Coral Sea, Midway, Eater Solomons, Santa Cruz Island, Philippine Sea, and Leyte Gulf. These detailed eye-witness accounts of aerial exploits and the heroic efforts on the carriers to continue flight operations despite sustaining heavy damages from enemy attack are the stuff of military history and legend. Carrier Warfare In The Pacific is a seminal and critically important contribution to personal, academic and public library military studies collections.