Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 26) [Paperback]

John Stanaway (Author), Tom Tullis (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Aircraft of the Aces | Publication Date: May 1, 1999

Although far better known for their exploits over the war torn skies of Germany and Italy, the USAAF's premier fighters, the P-47 and P-51, also made significant contributions to the victory against Japan from 1943 onwards. This book relates the appearance of the Allison-engined A-36As and P-51As over Rangoon from India in November 1943, the 1st Air Commando Group in China, P-47s over the jungles of New Guinea in 1943, escorting B-29s on long-range bombing sorties against the Home Islands in 1944-45 and elsewhere.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For aficionados of the famous P-47 and P-51, this book documents the history, personalities and aerial engagements of Thunderbolts and Mustangs. Illustrated with numerous photos, this book has plenty for historians of the Pacific, or anyone interested in stories about air combat in WWII." -www.pacificwrecks.com

From the Publisher

Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series combines full colour artwork, the best archival contemporary photography, and first hand accounts from aces to bring history's greatest airborne conflicts to life.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 100 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855327805
• ISBN-13: 978-1855327801
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book About Fighters Not Usually with the Pacific War, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 26) (Paperback)

Once again Osprey Books delivers in their series of books on Fighter Aces and the planes that they flew. This book covers a much overlooked area of aviation history dealing with P-47 Thunderbolts and P-51 Mustangs in the CBI and the Pacific Theaters. The First hand accounts from the pilots in the book are also excellent. This book gives these gentlemen their due. It is a great book and I recommend it highly. I look forward to more books by John Stanaway. How about doing one on the P-40 Aces of the Pacific and the CBI.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book about unknown aces, January 31, 2010

By 

Hercule Poirot (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 26) (Paperback)

This is a great book about unknown P-51 aces of the CBI. The only reason why I don't give it 5 star is that they had some color plates of P-51s that were flown by people who did not achieve acedom in the CBI and other theaters of war.

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bronco and the Thunder, March 24, 2009

By 

Ira Kepford "Jolly Roger" (Springfield MO) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Mustang and Thunderbolt Aces of the Pacific and CBI (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces No 26) (Paperback)

When you think of the Pacific theatre, you think of lots of water, Navy and Marine planes, ships and bad hand-to-hand fighting on the islands. But there were also ETO planes that fought in the Pacific. The Thunderbolt make it's existence known against the Japanese in 1943 (the P-51 was soon to follow).
The Thunderbolt was not liked too much by it's pilots, who formerly flew the P-38 Lightning. The `Jug' lacked efficient range to escort bombers to Japanese bases. The `Jug' also lacked maneuverability against the Ki-43's and A6M's. But the P-47 had an advantage of deadly firepower of 8 50.cal machine guns and ruggedness. The P-47 was used well against the weak points of all the Japanese fighters-their lack of amour/self sealing fuel tanks.
The P-51 was firstly used in Burma against the deadly Japanese fighters. `Oscars' and `Zeroes' ruled the skies over Asia from the beginning of the war to the later years. The only thing that opposed them was outdated P-40 Warhawks. The P-51B Mustang was a new breed of fighter (It's design originally was to be a better model of the P-40, but was changed to a whole new airframe. So the P-51's `father' was surprisingly the P-40!), with 4 50.cal machine guns and superb maneuverability, the P-51 was a great choice to oppose the Japanese in the CBI theatre.

A book that has been out of print for a while, so I immediately jumped on the chance to buy it at $30.00, (I saw the book was $20.00 a few days later!!) this book has been the most expensive one I've bought of an Osprey book-and it's worth it!! The information on the aces are very well laid-out. John Stanaway has delivered a wonderful book. The color plates of P-51's, P-47's and pilots who flew them.
Neel Kearby, Oscar Perdomo, Charles Older, Edward McComas and a LOT of other not-known aces. I enjoyed all 87 pages. Pictures of both aces and planes from Burma to New Guinea. In short, great book! (Buy soon or the price will go up to $60 bucks again!!)