Author: Raymond Cheung
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472805631
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233
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Book Description
A unique, detailed account of the aces that flew in the bitter air fighting during the protracted eight-year war against Japan and the subsequent civil war against the Chinese Communists The ace pilots of the Republic of China Air Force have long been shrouded in mystery and obscurity, as their retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and blanket martial law made records of the RoCAF all but impossible to access. Now, for the first time, the colourful story of these aces can finally be told. Using the latest research based on released archival information and full-colour illustrations, this book charts the history of the top scoring pilots of the RoCAF from the beginning of the gruelling, eight-year Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the Civil War against the Chinese Communists. Beginning as a ragged and very disparate group of planes and pilots drawn from various provincial air forces, the RoCAF gradually became standardised and was brought under American tutelage. Altogether it produced 17 aces who scored kills whilst flying a startling variety of aircraft, from biplanes to F-86 Sabres.
Author: Raymond Cheung
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472805623
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97
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Book Description
A unique, detailed account of the aces that flew in the bitter air fighting during the protracted eight-year war against Japan and the subsequent civil war against the Chinese Communists The ace pilots of the Republic of China Air Force have long been shrouded in mystery and obscurity, as their retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and blanket martial law made records of the RoCAF all but impossible to access. Now, for the first time, the colourful story of these aces can finally be told. Using the latest research based on released archival information and full-colour illustrations, this book charts the history of the top scoring pilots of the RoCAF from the beginning of the gruelling, eight-year Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the Civil War against the Chinese Communists. Beginning as a ragged and very disparate group of planes and pilots drawn from various provincial air forces, the RoCAF gradually became standardised and was brought under American tutelage. Altogether it produced 17 aces who scored kills whilst flying a startling variety of aircraft, from biplanes to F-86 Sabres.
Author: Daniel Ford
Publisher: Warbird Books
ISBN: 0692734732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422
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Book Description
During World War II, in the skies over Burma and China, a handful of American pilots met and bloodied the "Imperial Wild Eagles" of Japan and won immortality as the Flying Tigers. One of America's most famous combat forces, the Tigers were recruited to defend beleaguered China for $600 a month and a bounty of $500 for each Japanese plane they shot down--fantastic money in an era when a Manhattan hotel room cost three dollars a night.This May 2023 revision has never-before-published information about Chennault's early years. "Admirable," wrote Chennault biographer Martha Byrd of Ford's original text. "A readable book based on sound sources. Expect some surprises." Flying Tigers won the Aviation/Space Writers Association Award of Excellence in the year of its first publication.
Author: Hakan Gustavsson
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289
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Book Description
Author: Nicholas Millman
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781849086622
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Introduced into service early in 1938 during a time of extensive re-organisation of Army air units, the Ki-27, known as the 97 Sen by its pilots, achieved its first successes during the so-called 'China Incident' against the mainly biplane types operated by the Chinese. On 10 April 1938 Ki-27 pilots of the 2nd Daitai (later to become the 64th Sentai) claimed 24 Chinese biplane fighters shot down for the loss of only two of their own. Almost within a year of its combat debut against the Chinese the 97 Sen was to be tested in fighting against the Russians during the Nomonhan Incident of 1939. Initially the 97 Sen proved superior to the Soviet I-16 monoplanes, but the latter were hastily modified to better engage the Japanese fighter and the Russian pilots rapidly adapted to exploit their own strengths and the enemy weaknesses. A handful of Japanese Army Air Force (JAAF) aces emerged from this showdown to be lauded by the Japanese press and ever associated with the iconic 97 Sen - Shimada the 'Red-Legged Hawk', Shihonara the 'Richthofen of the Orient' and Yoshiyama, the 'warrior of the Holombile Plateau'. These were the glory days for the JAAF and many of the successful 97 Sen pilots went on to become the outstanding leaders and veteran aces of the Pacific War. By December, 1941 the JAAF had just started to replace the 97 Sen with the more modern Hayabusa, but the fixed undercarriage fighter still equipped 17 of the 19 Army fighter Sentai and took the brunt of the offensive against the British and Americans in Southeast Asia and the Philippines, as well as the Homeland Defence capability at the time of the Doolittle Raid. Initially facing more modern Allied types of fighter, the 97 Sen was more than able to hold its own by exploiting its outstanding aerobatic qualities. But the writing was on the wall for an unarmoured, fixed undercarriage aircraft with two rifle-calibre machine guns as the Allies consolidated and began their fightback. In China, Chennault had already assessed the 97 Sen's strengths and weaknesses, describing it as a fighter that 'climbs like a sky rocket and manoeuvres like a squirrel'. Prior to the outbreak of the Pacific War he had sent a complete dossier on the type to the USA where it was studiously ignored. The pace of re-equipment with new types and the resurgence of Allied airpower required JAAF units to continue with the 97 Sen as main equipment, especially on the quieter fronts and in Home Defence. By 1943 it was considered seriously obsolete but was still being encountered in combat by Allied pilots, especially in the air defence role. The Ki-27 also found an important secondary role as an armed fighter trainer, equipping an important number of training units and flying schools. The Mansyu Ki-79, a purpose built trainer produced in both single and two-seater versions, was based on the Ki-27. It also served expediently in the suicide attack role and in at least one epic air defence combat. In February 1945, over Chiba, experienced ace WO Masatoshi Masuzawa, flying one of the open cockpit trainers, downed a US Navt Hellcat. Masuzawa had scored his first victory in a 97 Sen over Nomonhan in 1939, and in three months of fighting there had claimed 12 enemy aircraft shot down. He epitomised the veteran JAAF flyers who had first taken the 97 Sen to war and survived to see the atom bombs dropped on their homeland.
Author: Maurer Maurer
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428915850
Category : United States
Languages : en
Pages : 520
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Book Description
Author: Kari Stenman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472804562
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 159
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Book Description
A complete survey of all of the pilots who achieved Aces status using the Brewster F2A Buffalo. Although designed and built for the US Navy, the F2A fought in only one major US engagement, the battle of Midway, in which F2A pilots managed to shoot down a number of Japanese fighters. Soon replaced by the navy, the F2A was exported to Britain, where it was nicknamed the 'Buffalo' thanks to its stubby appearance. The British sent most of these fighters to the Far East where they were used in the defence of Singapore and Malaya. It was in the Winter War, however, that the F2A truly found a home. Calling the plane simply the Brewster, the Finnish flew it against the invading Russians. As this volume shows, overall 37 Finns achieved ace status flying the Brewster, and it was the Finnish fighter of choice until succeeded by the Bf 109 in 1943.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990488
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C.R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions.
Author: Wayne Thompson
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 0788140094
Category : Korean War, 1950-1953
Languages : en
Pages : 65
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Book Description
Despite American success in preventing the conquest of South Korea by communist North Korea, the Korean War of 1950-1953 did not satisfy Americans who expected the kind of total victory they had experienced in WW II. In Korea, the U.S. limited itself to conventional weapons. Even after communist China entered the war, Americans put China off-limits to conventional bombing as well as nuclear bombing. Operating within these limits, the U.S. Air Force helped to repel 2 invasions of South Korea while securing control of the skies so decisively that other U.N. forces could fight without fear of air attack.
Author: Stephen Lee McFarland
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 96
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Book Description
Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.
