Customer Reviews

Woodbine Red Leader: A P-51 Mustang Ace in the Mediterranean Theater

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The thing that intrigued me most in reading this book was the mindset of these brave men. From their days as cadets till their discharge, the pilots who succeeded had a lust for victory. The matter of fact style of writing conveys this mindset, this "failure is not an option" mentality that made pilots pray nothing would keep them from participating in the next mission. It would be incorrect to say that fear is not addressed here, but it would be totally accurate to say that, in their pursuit of victory, these men were fearless. I could not help thinking, while reading the day-to-day story of becoming a pilot, that I would have wanted to be a cadet too. Mr. Loving doesn't make it sound easy, but he does show that it was an age of heroes, where the workingman could have the chance of becoming a fighter ace. In the end though, it is evident that, just like today, it takes a special breed of men to rise to this level, and many, then as now, washed out. On the lighter side, it was also very refreshing to hear tales of quick pleasure trips to exotic cities and nights out on the town to take the edge off the pressures of combat. All in all, the book gave me a much more realistic impression of what America's fighter pilots went through, alone but together, one plane, but a member of an indomitable force. The drive and adherence to honor and truth are values that stick with you long after the book has been read. A patriotic Thumbs Up!

George Loving's memoir of his time as a fighter pilot in the Mediterranean Theater, first in Spitfires and then in the famed P-51 Mustang, ring true. He seems to have kept a meticulous diary during his time in Italy and one gets a good feel for the long periods of dull routine broken up by occasional hot combat. You see how long it could take for a pilot to achieve the status of ace, i.e., the weeks or months needed to shoot down five enemy planes. And you also see how many pilots fell to mechanical problems and bad weather, rather than enemy fire. Unfortunately, while that probably makes for good history, it's not the most compelling reading. Still, one can't help but be amazed at the courage of these pilots, and especially of the bomber pilots they escorted.

I'm a very big WWII buff. I can't seem to get enough information on the history of the war. The individual accounts of ground and aerial combat are very riveting. This book is no exception. Awesome! I couldn't put it down.

December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day, occurred as George Loving,Jr. and I were hitch-hiking to see our lady friends at Farmville State Teacher's College. We were students at E.C.Glass High School in Lynchburg. That was the first day of the war for us.

As I read his book of experiences in the air over Italy, I felt as though I was right at his side reliving the events and feeling the goose bumps as things became sticky from time to time. I cleaned my plate by reading this saga from cover to cover in a short time, wanting it to go on and on.

I found this book fascinating on many levels. Mainly because the dashing young pilot is my father! But I also appreciated, and think all boomers will appreciate, the enthusiasm, bravery and incredible courage it took for these very young men to go to war so far away from home. It is written, not in a swaggering, macho tone, but with a gentle and sincere voice. It really brought home the experiences particular to the pilots. Thank you daddy!

This history was written about 50 years after George Loving served as a fighter pilot in World War 2, and it suffers for it: Loving has lost most of the details - or, as it seems in some places, intentionally leaves them out so as not to alter the oral history he may have told those he knows - of what it was like to fly combat missions in prop-driven aircraft. But that's a quibble, mostly. The story he tells is interesting, giving you a picture of what it was like to join the Army as a cadet and become a fighter pilot.

If anything, his matter-of-fact delivery of his own experiences gives a certain new flavor to tales of this sort: he is always non-plussed. You never knew being a fighter pilot could be this dull and routine, even for an ace! But it's his delivery in this method that makes some of what he tells more real: the tales of bombers falling from the sky, trailing parachutes; the scenes of enemy fighters suddenly appearing in the sky out of nowhere; the unsatisfactory bewilderment at wondering just what happened to a buddy in the midst of aerial combat when nobody was looking and now he's gone.

And, he tells - briefly - the story of a trip to Russia to help the Soviets against the Germans that cries out for more details. This is worth the price of the book, right there, because that bit of history is so easily overlooked or forgotten in the stories you read. That and the fact that at the beginning of his story, he is flying a Spitfire, something lots of part-time WW2 buffs probably didn't realize the US did at the beginning of the war.

And, if you ever thought becoming an ace was glamorous, Loving will dispel that for you in the quick, easy telling of his five kills.

GEORGE LOVING BRINGS US A HANDS ON PICTURE OF THE AIR WAR IN NORTH AFRICA AND ITALY DURING WWII. I AM A MARINE FIGHTER PILOT WHO SERVED IN THE PACIFIC DURING THAT PERIOD AND WE NEVER HEARD ANYTHING ABOUT THE AIR WAR OVER AFRICA AND ITALY. GEORGE HAS TREMENDOUS RECALL AND GIVEN US AN INTIMATE PICTURE OF THE ACTION THAT TOOK PLACE IN THAT THEATER. A FASCINATING BOOK.

December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day, occurred as George Loving,Jr. and I were hitch-hiking to see our lady friends at Farmville State Teacher's College. We were students at E.C.Glass High School in Lynchburg. That was the first day of the war for us.

As I read his book of experiences in the air over Italy, I felt as though I was right at his side reliving the events and feeling the goose bumps as things became sticky from time to time. I cleaned my plate by reading this saga from cover to cover in a short time, wanting it to go on and on.

General Loving has done an outstanding job of not only covering the fighter pilots eye veiw of the air war in the Mediterranean Theater during WWII but also what led to his becomming a pilot in the first place. Much has been written about 8th Air Force operations out of England but very little has ever been written about the war fought in the air in the Med theater. I found several points extremely interesting about the combat operations. First, the amount of time that was spent in training new pilots to bring then up to combat readiness and the constant training that continued. Second, he describes the times he had problems in the air when he goofed or though he had. Third, I knew the US had sent one B17 task force to work out of Russian air space with disasterous results, but I though that was only time when in fact it appears there were at least three such operations. Last, it shows how far down hill the German Air Force had gone in defending important targets once the bulk of the GAF was pulled back to defend Germany proper. This a well written, easy to follow book that I found very hard to out down. Well done General.

An excellent book, read it the day I received it because I simply could not put it down. If you have a historical interest in WW II, this is a book you shouldn't miss. I had uncles in B-17s and I knew they went through hell, but from the perspective of the fighter group, it was even worse.