Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive-Bomber Pilot's Epic Story of the Carrier Battles [Hardcover]

Dr. Harold L. Buell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 1991

Hal Buell fought for more than three years in the Pacific, flying in 16 major engagements. This is his first-person account of the most pivotal engagements of the naval air war. Dauntless Helldivers combines the historic knowledge with the perceptions of a particpant to make this an invaluable chronicle of naval and aviation warfare.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author piloted dive-bombers in the Pacific campaigns of WW II, participating in most of the major naval-air battles: Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons, Philippine Sea. Besides flying from the decks of the carriers Yorktown , Saratoga , Enterprise and Hornet , he saw much action during a wild four-week sojourn with the Marines' "Cactus Air Force" on Guadalcanal. Buell is refreshingly self-revealing, admitting his doubts and fears, his passionate desire to become "a killer angel, an avenging force," and incidentally giving frequent credit to his personal guardian angel. The engaging memoir recounts one Navy pilot's experiences waging war in a now-extinct manner, i.e., dive-bombing, and conveys in vivid detail what the crucial carrier war was all about. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Commander Buell's remembrance of the actions in the South Pacific flying dive bombers from carriers (and for three weeks from Guadalcanal's runways, still under fire from determined Japanese defenders) is personal and immediate even after almost a half century. He adds to his own memoirs and diary entries several accounts from fellow fliers to make a vivid history of that continual series of sea battles that was the Pacific War. Buell's view from the cockpit of a Dauntless is that of the average pilot, and from that perspective he gives us a sense of the urgent and frightening assault of events from the Coral Sea until the invasion of the Philippines. A rare combination of personal recollections and overall history that remains focused on the author's own place and time, this still makes sense of a bewildering swirl of actions in a huge arena. Highly recommended for history collections.
- Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Crown (July 9, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517577941
• ISBN-13: 978-0517577943
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,527,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare look through the sights by a US Navy dive bomber pilo, November 23, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive-Bomber Pilot's Epic Story of the Carrier Battles (Hardcover)

Hal Buell was one of the most experienced--and most effective--dive bomber pilots in the US Navy during WW II. He also owns a PhD in history; a unique combination which comes together in this engaging memoir. Flying SBDs in the 1942 carrier battles, and later SB2Cs in 1944, Buell had a great story to tell at the outset. His observations on human beings under lethal stress, as well as the challenge of combat flying, are well worth the effort. We can only regret that more dive bomber pilots (and crewmen) haven't committed their experiences to paper. Like the bumper sticker says: fighter pilots make movies; attack pilots make history!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the better first person accounts of WW2, February 3, 2007

By 

David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive-Bomber Pilot's Epic Story of the Carrier Battles (Hardcover)

This is the first book I've read of this type that follows the war experiences of a dive bomber pilot in World War II. I've read other books about bomber pilots (I remember Harry Crosby's "On a Wing and a Prayer" especially fondly) but this is (as far as I know) the first book of this type by a dive bomber pilot from the war. The title should clue you in that this is going to be a good book: the Dauntless was the early war dive bomber of the US Navy, and it was replaced by the Helldiver. It turns out that the author graduated from flight school just prior to Pearl Harbor, and so was on the Yorktown at the Battle of the Coral Sea. He didn't really participate in the battle, only flying one anti-submarine patrol, but he *was* there. He then was assigned to the Saratoga, and arrived with that ship just after the fighting stopped at Midway. He flew patrols in the aftermath of the battle, however, and helped recover downed pilots and look for enemy stragglers, so he qualifies as having participating in that battle. He flew a mission at the start of the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, and when his flight leader decided they wouldn't be able to make it back to the carrier (by now the Enterprise) they wound up on Guadalcanal, and Buell flew from there for a month. He then returned to the carrier and participated briefly in the battle of Santa Cruz. He spent much of 1943 in the states building a new bomber group, then went with it to the new Hornet (the old one had been sunk by a Japanese sub the previous year) and was with that group through a series of raids during the rest of the year and much of 1944, which culminated in the Battle of the Phillipine Sea. In that confrontation, Buell's division of the squadron crippled and almost sank the Japanese carrier Zuikaku. He also led his division as it sank several vessels, including two destroyers, several merchant vessels, and at least one combat transport.

Buell's account of all of this is lively and intelligent. He recounts everything in an interesting fashion, telling of training, combat missions, shipboard politics, and the plane types that they flew. His discussion of the Dauntless and its replacement by the Helldiver is lamented, though he does note that the Helldiver was faster and had a larger cargo capacity. While the Dauntless had numerous nicknames and was a very popular plane, the pilots referred to the Helldiver as "the Beast".

I enjoyed this book a great deal and would recommend it to anyone interested in World War II.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dauntless Helldivers, June 23, 2001

By 

R. W. Russell "midway42.org" (Lodi, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dauntless Helldivers (Mass Market Paperback)

If you know anything about U.S. naval aviation during World War II, the title alone will grab you. "Dauntless Helldivers" is an outstanding tale, superbly written by someone who was there and did it all. It's a "you-can't-put-it-down" book, which is rare for a work of nonfiction. If you've read some of the other great naval air volumes by Walter Lord, Gordon Prange and others, you'll definitely want this one alongside them on your bookshelf.