Pineapple Air Force: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo [Hardcover]

John W. Lambert (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1990

The old Hawaiian Air Force met the attack of the Japanese on 7 December 1941. Redesignated the Seventh Air Force, its bomber units moved on to combat in the Pacific almost immediately. The Seventh Fighter Command, however, has held back to defend Oahu against air attacks that never came. The pilots of the fighter units frustrated at their static role, said that they were left guarding the pineapples. From the cadre of the original Hawaiian units they spawned two new fighter groups. Eventually, those fighter squadrons, a close-knit fraternity, began to garrison outlying island bases, and eventually saw combat in the Marshals-Gilberts, the Marianas. Finally toward war's end, they were flying long-range missions against Japan from Ie Shima and Iwo Jima. The lieutenants of 1941 were the colonels of 1945, and some survivors served until the Japanese surrender

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 214 pages
• Publisher: Specialty Pr Pub & Wholesalers; First edition (July 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962586005
• ISBN-13: 978-0962586002
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,718,169 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Times & Machines Have Changed, Attitudes Have Not, July 13, 2003

By 

Warren Kerzon, LtCol, USAF (ret) (Durango, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pineapple Air Force: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo (Hardcover)

Was impressed how the Fighter Pilot Attitude has not changed from WWII to today. Aggressiveness and Do-What-It-Takes to accomplish the mission as ordered was our "routine" in Vietnam flying into the heavily defended areas of North Vietnam as it was for the Pineapple Air Force throughout their long "march" north to the Jap homeland. A paragraph on page 67 brought it home that, for a fighter pilot, the biggest fear was not Death or Capture, but failing to do your job that cost the lives of others. Great Read!! A "Keeper"!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pineapple Air Force, June 19, 2000

By 

JD CONROY JR. D.O. (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pineapple Air Force: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo (Hardcover)

This is a wonderfully well done history of the 7th Air Force. The book provides and excellent starting point for veterans and thier families looking into the past history of the Air Force that was involved in combat from 7 December 1941 to the last mission over Japan in 1945. The stories are of the actual pilots who flew the missions and lived to tell about aerial combat. While Mr. Lambert is a historian and not a member of the 7th Air Force, he seems to have caught the intensity of the moment with his interviews. The chronological detail of the location and missions of individual squadrons and groups does assist as a starting point for future research. The many photographs express the difficult conditions and incredible fortitude of the men in multiple combat situations. This is clearly a work of reference in any WWII library of the Pacific area.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Resource for the 7th Fighter Command, March 20, 2001

By 

Mark Stevens (Renton, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pineapple Air Force: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo (Hardcover)

I became associated with the 7th several years ago through my interest in the war in the Pacific and have found this book to the the best resource on the 7th and it's corresponding Groups and Squadrons. A definite must for WWII Pacific Historians. Jack Lambert's research and writing shows great knowledge and sensitivity towards those men and women of the 7th who we owe so much to as Americans.