Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan [Hardcover]

Roy W. Bruce (Author), Charles R. Leonard (Editor), John B. Lundstrom (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1994

"Crommelin's Thunderbirds, " led by the much-admired navy fighter pilot Charles Crommelin, were involved in the first carrier air strikes in Japan and the worst of the kamikaze attacks off Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Here, two pilots from the group, officially known as Air Group 12, chronicle their operations off the USS Randolph in the last stages of the Pacific war. Given the paucity of good World War II naval aviation histories, this book makes an important contribution to the field while at the same time offering a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience. The authors examine the activities of the entire group: fighters, dive-bombers, and torpedo-bombers, enlisted men and officers, pilots and aircrewmen, as well as the shipboard personnel who kept them flying. They follow the group from its formation in 1944 through the fire storms of kamikaze attacks in early to mid-1945. Official records, reports, and histories form the framework, but the focus of the book is personal narratives by participants, some forty firsthand accounts in all, including two airmen's descriptions of their capture and internment by the Japanese and accounts of incredible rescues of downed pilots and crewmen. More than fifty photographs, some by Tony Remkus, the navy photographer for Air Group 12, add to the sense of immediacy that the narrative conveys.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 228 pages
• Publisher: Naval Institute Press; 2nd printing edition (October 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1557505098
• ISBN-13: 978-1557505095
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,346,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good ship/air group history at the end of W.W.II, November 16, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan (Hardcover)

Crommelin's Thunderbirds is written by two Navy veterans who flew in from the U.S.S. Randolph (CV-15), in Air Group Twelve. It covers the period from February to June 1945. The ship flew in operations on Japan,and Iwo Jima before suffering Kamikaze damage while at the forward base, Ulitihi. Their Air Group Commander, Charles Crommelin was detatched on temporary duty with the U.S.S. Hornet, at that time. Commander Crommelin, one of the five Crommelin brothers, the most decorated family in U.S. Navy history, was killed in action over Okinawa while with the Hornet. Air Group Twelve continued, and from early April 1945, the ship returned to action, flying cover for operations off Okinawa. In the book there are many reminiscences by veterans of how an event looked to them. This adds a "first-person" quality to the work that helps its perspective. It is well-written and interesting throughout. This period of World War II in the Pacific has not had much written about it. Yet there are parts of it that remain current today. This time of the war saw manned bombs (Kamikazes), that foreshadowed the guided missle warfare of the present.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An essential carrier warfare documentary, December 24, 1999

By 

Jeffrey Mundt (Oceanside, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan (Hardcover)

My Dad was one of Crommelin's Thunderbirds as a TBM aviator, so granted I'm a bit biased, but it's a great read, due in large part to the personal anecdotes contained within. Too many of today's generation haven't a clue of what our parents generation sacrificed. This book brings a lot of that home.