Pacific Ghosts: Pearl Harbor Half Century Retrospective [CD-ROM]

Justin Taylan (Author), Michael Claringbould (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 24, 2002

Pacific Ghosts presents unique and astonishing history. Our team has found and documented many intact survivors of the Pacific war. Resting in swamps and jungles, the relics are silent aerial machines which more than half a century ago fought each other in tropical skies.

Some are fully intact, others are not, but all have fascinating histories on how they fell, landed or were abandoned in their final resting place. Both American and Japanese aircraft are represented.

Nowadays they are isolated and difficult to find, for this is why they are still undisturbed. Not only has our team tracked down the previously-undiscovered remnants of there historic aircraft, always under dangerous conditions, but they have subsequently employed world experts to research and meticulously define each and every history.

You will not find such depth of aviation archaeology anywhere else. From the A-20 "Hell'n Pelican" that crashed landed after the 5th Air Forces infamous Black Sunday mission, to the wreckage of a Japanese Ki 43 Oscar from the Japanese Army's first and only raid against Guadalcanal, or the former P-38 Lightning of ace Richard E. Smith. "Pug" Southerland's F-4F Wildcat on Guadalcanal, victim of ace Saburo Sakai.

This CD ROM's color video, color slides, WWII photos, live commentaries and documented histories are all testament to this. Our team spent nearly two years trekking unexplored tropical jungles and swamps to bring you the breathtaking images and full histories of these historical wonders.

American aircraft wrecks include: F4-F Wildcat, SBD Dantless, P-38 Lightning, P-39/P-400 Airacobra, B-25 Mitchell, B-17 Flying Fortress. Japanese aircraft include: G4M1 Betty, A6M Zero, Ki-46 Dinah, Ki-48 Lily, Ki-49 Helen, Ki-43 Oscar J1N1 Irving, D3A2 Val

Editorial Reviews

Review

Fascinating coverage the likes of which I have never seen before. Outstanding! -- Robert C. Mikesh, Former Curator National Air & Space Museum

Switch on your computer and let this CD-ROM take you to these living 'Pacific Ghosts' -- FlyPast Magazine, August 2002

The best wartime nostalgia CD ROM on the international market -- Flightpath Australia's Premiere Aviation Magazine

This CD will provide you with hours of fascinating viewing -- P-38 National Association & Museum

Very impressed with the production quality of this disc and would recomend to anyone interested in WWII wrecks -- Scott Rose, Warbird Resource Group

About the Author

Justin Taylan
Justin has just returned from trekking the jungles of the Pacific, to obtain first-class high resolution color slides and digital video footage of surviving WWII aircraft. Grandson of WWII combat photographer Carl R. Thien and the author of No Place For A Picnic, a graphic novel about his grandfather’s service in the South Pacific. Fascinated by the relics of the Pacific war that exist to this day, Justin created the Pacific Wreck Database. Today, the site has become a huge community of participants and collaborators and to its own credit has assisted in the discovery of "new" wreck sites, identification of others, returning artifacts such as photographs and dog tags, and reuniting former aircrews. Mr. Taylan is team leader for Pacific Ghosts expeditions in Papua New Guinea.

Michael Claringbould
Michael’s connection with the history of the Pacific war is deep, and ongoing. It commenced when he was growing up in Papua New Guinea, and on weekends he would walk New Guinea’s jungles finding aircraft relics. In 1976 he conducted numerous surveys of crash sites in Papua New Guinea while based at Lae. The following year he continued his survey of crash sites in the Solomon Islands. In 1984 he was a key member of a RAAF salvage team, which recovered an intact Douglas A-20G named The Hell’N Pelican II. From 1995 to 2001 he conducted fourteen surveys of crash sites in the Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. These sites include Grumman Wildcat F4F-4 Bu 5192 of U.S Navy Squadron VF-5, the first US aircraft shot down in the Guadalcanal campaign, and presented on this CD. These surveys also resulted in the recovery of Japanese MIA aircrew from two Japanese 705th Kokutai G4M1 bombers.

Michael is an established author in this field as well. His books to date include Helluva Pelican, The Forgotten Fifth, Forty of the Fifth, and Black Sunday. His most detailed historical work, Rampage of the Roaring 20s, is to be published with IRP in Colorado in 2002. Michael is also Pacific correspondent for Flightpath Magazine, Australia, and the designer and owner of Aerothentic, the most comprehensive website in the world on the US 5th Air Force. On this site he offers complimentary aircraft and Missing-In-Action identification services.

In 1999 Michael was made an Honorary member of the Zero Fighter Pilots Association (proposed by former Japanese Ace Saburo Sakai after discovering the wreckage of Southerland’s F-4F Wildcat as described above). Today he is also a consultant to the US military Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii (CILHI), and in this capacity was a guest presenter at CILHI’s regional conference in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, held April 2001.

Product Details

• CD-ROM: 224 pages
• Publisher: Wanpela Books; Cdr edition (August 24, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885240058
• ISBN-13: 978-1885240057
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,205,668 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must Have- WWII Aircraft Archeology & History, December 12, 2002

By 

"m_roberts222" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pacific Ghosts: Pearl Harbor Half Century Retrospective (CD-ROM)

See WWII aircraft wrecks from all over the Pacific. If you are a fan of aviation, you will want to see this CD-ROM. It includes half American and half Japanese aircraft - both fighters and bombers, including some very well known types like the B-25 Mitchell and P-38 Lightning, and more unknown planes, of the Japanese, including the well know A6M "Zero" and G4M "Betty"

The connection to Pearl Harbor is with a Japanese A6M2 "Zero" that flew over Pearl Harbor, and was later shot down over Australia. In addition, it includes aircraft of aces, including Richard E. Smith, and other famous aircraft, like "Pug" Southerland's F-4F Wildcat - who shot down the first Japanese plane over Guadalcanal and also, the first U.S. aircraft loss over Guadalcanal - shot down by famed Japanese ace Saburo Sakai. Also, each includes full history, photos, video and WWII photos to accompany each profile.

If your interested in aircraft wrecks, history or just amazing images and video of aircraft wrecks left today in jungles around the world - this product is highly recommended!!!

Learned about it from a review in Flight Journal Aviation Magazine February 2003 issue.