Customer Reviews

In My Sights: The Memoir of a P-40 Ace

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James Morehead's autobiography of his World War II experiences is a very good addition to the genre. Anyone with a general interest in the subject will like the book, but those with a deeper background in Pacific War literature will appreciate it even more. It should be noted that Morehead had a very unusual perspective on events. He was one of the first US fighter pilots to arrive in the Pacific theater and consequently, along with a handful of other young men, was given the dubious honor of facing the Japanese juggernaut when it was at high tide. The book has a hard edge to it as befits a very hard period of the war for the US. For my money, Morehead's discussion of the strange but bloody war in Java and the early battles over Darwin when the Allies were usually on the short end of the stick is worth the price of admission. He describes the fragile nature of morale when defeat has shaken the very young men fighting a seemingly invincible foe. His descriptions of aerial combat are vivid. Although his tour in the Pacific ended as his men were slowly stabilizing the situation, Morehead attacks the technical inferiority of early war equipment and US preparations for war in general. There is a hard edge to the narrative that is most appropriate to an account of the period that Morehead flew over the Pacific. As counterpoint, Morehead later in the war flew a tour in the Mediterranean. Piloting a fine P-38 with well trained comrades, the physical and psychological balance had turned on it's head - the US was winning and its pilots knew it. This experience only made Morehead's early tour seem more wasteful of brave but ill-prepared young pilots. As well as a fine memoir, In My Sights is a sobering reminder to what can happen if a nation gets involved in a military campaign without proper preparations and underestimating a dangerous enemy. I certainly recommend this account.

It was a rare and cherished opportunity. During the course of Eric Anderson's reunion in Big Sky, Montana as a number of members gathered in the hospitality suite, I found myself sitting beside Colonel Morehead. He was striking in his dress white uniform and warm in his conversation. He started talking about his childhood in Oklahoma, the dust bowl Oklahoma during the Great Depression. His spellbinding telling of those days and times so took over my consciousness that the rest of the room ceased to exist.

In My Sights starts in those Okie years and lays the foundation for the war years to follow. The skills learned, hardships endured, and tenacity gained all pay later dividends for Colonel Morehead.

Jim introduces us to his flight cadet time wherein some humor is found. He describes various assignments and one where he is forced to parachute to safety. This captivating book takes us to the South Pacific and lets us fly along in P-40s facing the Japanese Zeros. Challenged by vast distances, inexperienced pilots, and an enemy with superior equipment, Jim, with keen insight, discloses how he and his fellow pilots managed to survive.

After duty in the Pacific culminating with two Distinguished Service Crosses, Colonel Morehead volunteered for duty against the Luftwaffe. He describes the duty in Europe and contrasts it to the desperation he felt in the dark days of 1942 in the South Pacific.

In February 1944, through a succession of transfers, Jim ended up in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations. He had acquired the rank of major and was ready for a command. Circumstances created by inept leadership at a higher level caused him to have to share a command and expose himself by flying in the least favored position. Read how he hangs on and eventually prevails against bad policy, bad training, and poor execution. Flying over the Ploesti oil fields on D-Day contributed immensely to his feeling of satisfaction.

This is a book worth reading; it is a story worth telling, told by a natural story teller. A pleasure to read. ~ M. G. Worley

It is a rare treat when you read a book that is so engrossing that you can't wait for the workday to end so that you can dash home to dig back into it. But this was indeed the happy case when I red Col. James Moreheads' book "In My Sights." The book chronicles the life of a great fighter pilot. The recipient of many decorations for bravery including TWO Distinguished Service Crosses and a Silver Star. Most of the story centers on Colonels' World War II memories. They are truly fascinating. I thought the writing was extraordinary. When I first bought this bok, I immediately checked to see if I was familiar with the "Ghost Writer." There was't any. Colonel Morehad wrote it himself. Being a teacher in a middle school, I know a little bit about writing, and thought this was firat rate. Very professional. His discriptions were what really got me! The wonderful attention to detail. How to fly an airplane in the tropics when it's 120 degrees, and it's too hot to touch anything metal. The stories Col. Morehad told: Flying from Austraila in the teeth of a typhoon. The attack on the Japanese bombers. Taking off with a poisenous snake in the cockpit. What it feels like to bail out of your airplane--twice! The description of the attacks on the Japanese planes in Jave and Australia were so vivid, I could clearly see it in my minds eye. I can count on one hand the number of authors who have touched me in this way: Robers Scott, Ernest Gann, Robert Johnson and Richard Bach are a few. His pre-war stories about live in America during the Depression were fascinating. All the while I read the book, I kept my family, car-pool riders, fellow teacher and students entertained with stories from the book. I hated to see it end. It was great!

I have a unique circumstance in writing this review in that I was priviledged to meet the author a few days after reading the book. Colonel Morehead was being inducted into the Hall of Fame for the American Airpower Heritage Museum for which I am a volunteer. I was asked to be his attache during his visit. After learning of his book, having been released just a few short months before, I purchased a copy on Amazon and read it in preparation for his visit.

Col. Morehead was born and raised in rural Oklahoma during the height of the Great Depression and knew at a very young age that an education was the avenue to climbing out of destitution. His desire and tenacity to improve his life is the story within the story. He even joined air corp flight training to qualify for more scholarship money. As a result, he was highly trained as the war began and was stationed in Australia when Pearl Harbor was attacked.

When duty called, he accepted it with the same vehemence of gaining an education. Truly an inspiring read for anyone wishing to improve their lot in life. I also recommend this to any student thinking that life is too hard, or that earning an education is not expected of them.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in history; especially the WWII era as well as the Great Depression. I ranked this book a four star vs. a five as the publisher, for reasons I do not understand, cut several areas that would have added to the content. I know this as I was given a copy of the original manuscript to read. I made several remarks to Col. Morehead during our visit that prompted him to give me a copy of the original. Hope that you enjoy it.

Sincerely,
Blake Cowart

I was most interested in reading about the air combat experiences and they certainly are spell-binding. However, I became engrossed in just the historical content of the book as well. I felt like I was living during the war years. A very good book.

As someone who reads quite a few WWII memoirs, I can confirm the earlier positive reviews from when the book was published. 'In My Sights' is in the top rank, and a compelling story. It is also the kind of book that seems to spin off ideas, and I found myself pondering some of the deeper notions it touches on for many days later. Like what it must feel like to find oneself in a world gone mad with war, and very likely soon to become a victim of it. Or the difference between what the author had to overcome growing up in the Depression and what the more privileged generations since feel justified in complaining about. I worry that we are running out of the James B. Moreheads of the world and that we won't have his steel tempered character to cope with all the messes we are creating. But we can certainly celebrate those we have, and it is gratifying that the author was properly honored by his country, and that we now have his memoirs recounting such a grave time in our history.

This book is not written like a history of what happened, it is written with the feelings and thoughts of the man that flew the plane. He doesn't say that they were heros, just that they could do a better job later in the war because they had more experience. You can see him flying the plane from the descriptions in the book. It was a nice change from just facts of war, it was good to get a pulse of what the men that fought that war felt.

Many wonderful memoirs have been written by WW2 combat airmen. This is not one of them. It is a rambling set of stories about the highlight events of his WW2 experience -- it is not really about his experience as such, just his activities. Other people are rarely mentioned, and Morehead rarely brings up his own feelings about who or what was going on around him except when they play a direct role in particular incidents (which can be very frustrating -- the all-too-few photographs, from only one of the theatres he was in, show people and events that are barely mentioned, if at all, in the text). I had a very difficult time keeping track of dates, places, and the relationship of his activities to the changing strategic situation of the war (and the lack of an index makes it that much more difficult to sort things out). When he does discuss the latter, the discussions are often marred by errors of fact. Stylistically the narrative is very awkward; there are numerous digressions, repetitions (sometimes almost word-for-word), and the use of figurative language is extraordinarily awkward. On occasion I couldn't figure out what he was talking about. But perhaps the worst thing about this book is the main character. In a memoir, the author is necessarily the central character, and at least as represented in this book, he is not a likeable fellow, which makes it difficult to appreciate him as a war hero -- and make no mistake, he earned his silver star, 2 DSC's, and 2 DFC's. Morehead was an officer, yes, but his gentlemanly side is not as apparent in this account, which is frustrating because I think one of the reasons why we read books like this is to see that good-hearted humanity can survive in the midst of war and death. His admittedly rock-hard early life seems to have made him "look out for no. 1;" he variously comes across as self-righteous, a bully, chauvinist, and bigot, and perhaps other things as well. Most (but not all) of the events discussed in this book involve some sort of conflict with other people, whether the enemy (mostly), his superiors, his peers, or his family. Perhaps his difficult childhood is responsible, but his ability to function in society, whether civilian or military -- indeed, even his ability to learn the rules of social engagement through experience -- seems underdeveloped, which is frustrating for the reader who wants war heroes to be as good people as they are warriors. I started out admiring his ability to overcome adversity, but by the end I could barely respect his contribution to the war effort. Ultimately this book was a great disappointment. I finished it more out of obligation than pleasure. Its rambling style, lack of strategic context, lack of personal context, and unpleasant main character make it one of the least satisfying books I've read in a long time.