History of Marine Corps aviation in World War II [Unknown Binding]

Robert Lee Sherrod (Author)

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 496 pages
• Publisher: Combat Forces Press (1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892010487
• ISBN-13: 978-0892010486
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,667,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars From the halls of Montezuma to the skies of the Pacific, May 30, 2011

By 

William S. Grass "Military history enthusiast" (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II (Great War Stories) (Hardcover)

History of Marine Corps Aviation in World War II is by Robert Sherrod, journalist and author who accompanied Marines to several of their battles in the Pacific in WW2, including Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. It is a history of Marine aviation, not just during WW2, but from its beginnings decades before the war, through to the end of that cataclysmic struggle, with a brief mention of Marine air in Korea (the book was first published in 1952).

Sherrod's WW2 narrative begins with the defensive stands on Wake and Midway, characterized by beleaguered Marine airmen flying obsolescent aircraft such as the Brewster Buffalo and SB2U Vindicator against a numerically superior enemy. The next phase is the struggle for Guadalcanal, where Marine fighter pilots such as Joe Foss and Jimmy Swett make names for themselves fighting in F4F Wildcats against Japanese Zeros and bombers in defense of Henderson field and environs.

The offensive stage begins in the Solomons after Guadalcanal is secured, and American air bases are built closer and closer toward Rabaul, until fighter sweeps led by such leaders as "Pappy" Boyington help to render Rabaul useless as a forward base. This phase is characterized by the arrival of the F4U Corsair, which remains the standard Marine fighter for the remainder of the war, as successively improved models are rolled out.

The next period, after Rabaul is neutralized and the American offensive moves into the central Pacific via the Gilberts and Marshalls, Sherrod describes as the "doldrums of 1944" for Marine aviation. The air war in the South Pacific had been fought by capturing successive islands, in close proximity to each other, where air strips could be established, thereby giving Marine airpower a platform to assist in the subjugation of the next island. After the Solomons are secured and Rabaul bypassed, however, Marine aviation finds itself left behind by Nimitz's central Pacific drive, since the vast distances between objectives in the central Pacific preclude the use of Marine airpower in frontline actions. From around February, 1944 to the landing in the Palaus and Leyte in September-October 1944, Marine air combat consists primarily of bombing and strafing already bypassed objectives such as Rabaul and Kavieng in the Bismarcks and the Marshall atolls of Wotje, Maloelap, Jaluit and Mille.

With the invasion of the Philippines in October, 1944, however, the doldrums are over as Marine squadrons arrive and in addition to performing air-to-air combat against the mounting kamikaze threat, Marine airmen perform that most signature duty of Marine aviation: close support for ground troops. Although the troops they are supporting are army and not Marine, the Marine fliers gain their admiration, and are lauded by the commanding army generals in the Philippines.

In the final stage of the Pacific war, Marine fighter squadrons find themselves aboard both fleet and light carriers, and at air bases on Okinawa. Their most significant role during that last massive operation is helping to guard the shipping offshore against the waves of kamikazes coming from the Japanese mainland.

In Sherrod's history, virtually every squadron receives some mention, whether fighters, bombers, reconnaissance or transport. The story remains lively thanks to Sherrod's including of personal accounts within the greater narrative. Interspersed also within the narrative are some thematic digressions, most notably on the topic of night fighting. Sherrod goes into detail on how night fighters coordinated with ground radar to intercept usually lone nocturnal snoopers who earlier in the war would linger with impunity over U.S. occupied areas. In addition to the comprehensive narrative, there are several appendices with, among other things, lists of Marine aces, Marine aviation Medal of Honor winners and perhaps most useful to the researcher, a sketch of every unit down to squadron level, when and where it was formed and every location it served with corresponding dates.

I have read dozens of books on the Pacific War, and even though Sherrod's book is almost sixty years old, I still found a few things here I had never come across: The plight of VMF-422, a Marine squadron of Corsairs that lost 6 pilots, and 22 of 23 planes on a flight from Tarawa to Funafuti in the Ellice islands, cannibalism of captured fliers by Japanese occupying the island of Chichi Jima, and the proposed use of "bat bombs" against the Japanese. There is much to be appreciated in History of Marine Aviation in WW2, even for the seasoned Pacific War reader.