Customer Reviews

Wildcat: The F4F in World War II, 2nd Edition

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I personally have been fascinated by the history of the war in the Pacific. In particular, it is the carrier battles that have held my interest and fascination. Barrett Tillman provides an excellent account of the history of one of the most important naval fighters of all time. The F4F held the line against the superior Japanese A6M Zero until more advanced and capable fighters (the F4U and F6F) could be introduced to push the Japanese back across the Pacific Ocean. This book gives the details of the Wildcat's development and battle history, from Midway until the end of the war where it was serving on the escort carriers. This book is highly recommended!

The book is well written as are, in my opinion, all of the books I have read so far by Barrett Tillman. But most of you may already know this about the author if you are into WW II aircraft history books. It's both informative and entertaining and not just a run-of-the-mill narrative of the development and operational history of the aircraft, the F4F Wildcat. This comes as a pleasant surprise considering the other books I have read on the operational histories of WW II aircraft. Very good reading for any WW II aircraft history buff.

Barrett Tillman has written many books about the Pacific War and aviation in WW2. I have several of these books, which follow the same format - a very brief review of the history and development of the plane, followed by many narratives from the pilots who flew them.

That's ok, but the book gets boring after awhile, so and so shot down this plane on such a date, the Zeros jumped a formation of Wildcats on that date and such and such happened. If you want a nuts and bolts history of the F-4 Wildcat, look elsewhere. There are several pages of good black and white photographs but no line drawings.

Don't get me wrong - the F-4 Wildcat was very important to the US until it could get more modern designs in there such as the F-6 Hellcat or F4U Corsair. I just think there could be a better balance between the pilot's stories and the development of this warbird that gave great service in the Atlantic, Pacific and on escort carriers giving better than it got.