Customer Reviews

Panthers over Korea

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the only book out that I know of that covers the korean war by a f-9f panther jet pilot And what it took to fly fighter bomber missions from a ww2 carrier. Great story, great history with lot of jet flying action. 161 missions off 2 old ww2 carriers I love it. It has 16 Photos. I would of liked a photo or 2 of the the bombs and rocket on the panther that the author carried and wrote so mouch about but that is a small thing. I wish there was more books by combat pilots like Panthers Over Korea. This marine thanks you Georgr Schniter for your service and for taking me along on your panther jet combat missions!. Johnny A. ABQ NM

I bought this book without fully "doing my homework" so to speak. I had thought it would be an overview history of naval air operations over Korea. When the thing did arrive, it quickly became apparent that this was basically one man's recollections. Uh-oh. Most such books, especially from low volume presses like this one, are of highly variable quality, to put it charitably. Furthermore, far too many of them involve the subject, however commendable his wartime service, pontificating on political and historical themes that such service gives them no particular expertise in.

Shock and amazement - this book did none of that. George Schnitzer takes us through his initial flight training and two combat tours in korea as an F9F jock. it's honest, straightforward, and interesting. he is honest about his mistakes and exceedingly humble about his successes. he makes essentially zero political points of any sort; in fact, he doesn't even pause at any point that i can remember to wax philosophical about the poor bastards at the occasional receiving end of his rocket, bomb, and strafing attacks. we do get to hear a bit about his bartending skills vis-a-vis the footlocker bar he smuggled aboard the USS Princeton, but his descriptions in that do nothing so much as give credence to the idea that we are privvy to the diaries of somebody who was in his early 20s at the time. in short, he comes accross as very likeable and sincere.

much of the book is based on what i'm guessing is three principal written sources: a diary that he must have kept, his pilot logbook, and various ship/unit logbooks. it weaves together into a very well pace narrative - by which i mean it is fast paced at the fast paced bits, and a bit repetitive, directionless, and boring during the repetitive, directionless, and boring parts of his career. I'm an occasional pilot and have had the privilige of flying small (now vintage) jet trainers briefly, and his technical descriptions are very interesting without being patronizing. actually, it's done quite well - if he were to describe a panther flight from startup through shutdown in one go, it would be one long, very technical chapter. instead, he spreads the technical discussions around - while describing a particular mission, for example, he might just emphasize things related to engine startup and on another describe what goes into a catapult launch.

I rarely have much to recommend about personal experience books such as this, but 'panthers over korea' was a nice exception. you really got a nice feel for his experiences. it's a very quick read, and while i have a few qualms with the physical presentation of the book (at parts the writing and proofreading was at best befitting of a book that will be read by maybe a few hundred people at most), overall the book is a 4/5 stars, but I knock it up to 5 based on 'reviewer's tilt'.