Mitsubishi Type 1 Rikko ‘Betty’ Units of World War 2 PDF Download

Author: Osamu Tagaya
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472800508
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
The most produced Japanese bomber of the war, the G4M saw action on every front from the first day of the Pacific conflict through to VJ-Day. The 'Betty's' very long range made it a key weapon during the opening year of the war. However, to achieve this, the aircraft was built with very little protective armour for its crew or fuel tanks, and Allied pilots soon exposed its extreme vulnerability. In the first in a series of volumes examining the key Japanese aircraft of WW2, Dr Osamu Tagaya details the G4M's extensive combat history, and lists all the units which operated the bomber.

Author: Barrett Tillman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1782009531
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 335

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Book Description
The US Marine Corps has a long heritage of aviation excellence, a reputation that was largely built on the impact and performance of the “flying leathernecks” in the bitter fighting in the Pacific during World War II. As the US island-hopping campaign against Japan gathered pace, US Marine Corps fighter squadrons operating legendary Grumman and Vought aircraft became instrumental in the success of amphibious assaults and in breaking fierce enemy resistance, engaging Japanese attack aircraft in the skies and ground-based targets while supporting and protecting US ground forces. The flying legends Marion Carl, Greg “Pappy” Boyington, Joe Foss and others were all World War II Marine fighter pilots, taking to the skies in Corsairs, Wildcats, Venturas and Hellcats. Aviation historian Barrett Tillman's comprehensive account US Marine Corps Fighter Squadrons of World War II pays homage to these individuals and their mounts, and is packed with historic and organizational details of the squadrons who took to the skies above the Pacific.

Author: Charles Stephenson
Publisher: Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN: 1526783649
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
A study of the British Royal Navy’s activities in the Indian Ocean during World War II, led by Admiral Sir James Somerville. The story of the British Eastern Fleet, which operated in the Indian Ocean against Japan, has rarely been told. Although it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy prior to 1945 and played a vital part in the theatre it was sent to protect, it has no place in the popular consciousness of the naval history of the Second World War. So Charles Stephenson’s deeply researched and absorbing narrative gives this forgotten fleet the recognition it deserves. British pre-war naval planning for the Far East is part of the story, as is the disastrous loss of the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse in 1941, but the body of the book focuses on the new fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Somerville, and its operations against the Japanese navy and aircraft as well as Japanese and German submarines. Later in the war, once the fleet had been reinforced with an American aircraft carrier, it was strong enough to take more aggressive actions against the Japanese, and these are described in vivid detail. Charles Stephenson’s authoritative study should appeal to readers who have a special interest in the war with Japan, in naval history more generally and Royal Navy in particular. Praise forThe Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944 “This meticulously researched, outstandingly clear, well written and absorbing account is long overdue and will most likely become a standard work. The text is most helpfully supported by over 80 pages of detailed end notes referenced to each chapter and a detailed index. This is not only a book for naval historians but also for anyone with an interest in the War in the Indian Ocean region. Highly recommended.” —Military Historical Society “I enjoyed this book – it gives us an account of an often neglected part of the war at sea, and of the achievements of Admiral Somerville, who kept his fleet intact in the face of a potentially overwhelming opponent, then was willing to acknowledge that his fleet needed to improve massively before it could take on the Japanese.” —Dr John Rickard, author and webmaster of the ‘Military History Encyclopedia on the Web’

Author: Anthony Cooper
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473830079
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
The Japanese air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942 are well-known to most Australians, although not perhaps to the rest of the world. What happened afterwards, however, remains unknown to many. This publication attempts to illuminate this little-known period of war history, charting the exploits, losses and successes of the RAF's No 1 Fighter Wing and the contribution they made to the allied war effort. The stalwart Spitfire is celebrated in a narrative that is sure to appeal widely.For almost two years the airspace over North West Australia was routinely penetrated by Japanese raids, tallying about 70 in total. The 1942-43 air raids on Darwin constituted the only sustained and intensive direct assault on Australian mainland territory in the whole of World War II - and the whole history of post- 1788 Australia - yet, surprisingly, most Australians have no idea that it ever happened. And the rest of the world are yet more so in the dark.Telling the story of the RAF'S No 1 Fighter Wing, composed of both Australian and British Spitfire pilots, Darwin Spitfires explores the little known 1943 season of air combat over the top end, recovering important aspects of Australian history. It brings to the attention of the world the heroic exploits of the skilled pilots who did so much to protect Australia and support the Allied effort. This important publication attempts to celebrate and commemorate the spirit of solidarity that characterized the experiences of No 1 Fighter Wing.As featured in Aeroplane Monthly

Author: Jonathan Parshall
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597973092
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 734

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Book Description
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange s bestselling "Miracle at Midway," Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement. Unlike previous accounts, "Shattered Sword" makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida s "Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan," an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, "Shattered Sword" will become an indispensable part of any military buff s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by "Proceedings" as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005."

Author: Michael John Claringbould
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472857488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
This book details the exploits of the highly skilled Naval Aviators charged with achieving air supremacy over New Guinea in their A6M2/3 Zero-sens. The combat record of the Zero-sen in New Guinea has mostly been overstated, with little due being given to the constraining conditions under which the fighter operated. The air combats fought over New Guinea in 1942 between Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) pilots and their Allied counterparts in P-39 Airacobras and P-40 Warhawks were often 'trial and error' affairs, with both belligerents being caught out by weather. This study covers the key role played by governing factors including geography and climatic conditions, and examines the modified tactics employed by IJNAF Zero-sen pilots to help them cope in-theatre through the comprehensive analysis of RAAF, USAAF and Japanese operational after action reports. Using first-hand accounts from both famous aviators and previously unknown RAAF and Japanese pilots, and specially commissioned artwork, leading South Pacific historian and author Michael John Claringbould sheds new light on the air war fought over the wilds of New Guinea during the course of 1942.

Author: Peter Ingman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472840887
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
The P-40E Warhawk is often viewed as one of the less successful American fighter designs of World War II, but in 1942 the aircraft was all that was available to the USAAC in-theatre. Units equipped with the aircraft were duly forced into combat against the deadly A6M2 Zero-sen, which had already earned itself a near-mythical reputation following its exploits over China and Pearl Harbor. During an eight-month period in 1942, an extended air campaign was fought out between the two fighters for air superiority over the Javanese and then northern Australian skies. During this time, the P-40Es and the Zero-sens regularly clashed without interference from other fighter types. In respect to losses, the Japanese 'won' these engagements, for many more P-40Es were shot down than Zero-sens. However, the American Warhawks provided a potent deterrent that forced the IJNAF to attack from high altitudes, where crews' bombing efficiency was much poorer. Fully illustrated throughout, and supported by rare and previously unpublished photographs, this book draws on both American and Japanese sources to tell the full story of the clashes between these iconic two fighters in Darwin and the East Indies.

Author: Norman Polmar
Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc.
ISBN: 1597973440
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 866

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Book Description
Aircraft Carriers is the definitive history of world aircraft carrier development and operations. Norman Polmar’s revised and updated, two-volume classic describes the political and technological factors that influenced aircraft carrier design and construction, meticulously records their operations, and explains their impact on modern warfare. Volume I provides a comprehensive analysis of carrier developments and warfare in the first half of the twentieth century, and examines the advances that allowed the carrier to replace the battleship as the dominant naval weapons system. Polmar gives particular emphasis to carrier operations from World War I, through the Japanese strikes against China in the 1930s, to World War II in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Arctic, and Pacific theaters. It begins with French inventor Clément Ader’s remarkably prescient 1909 description of an aircraft carrier. The book then explains how Britain led the world in the development of aircraft-carrying ships, soon to be followed by the United States and Japan. While ship-based aircraft operations in World War I had limited impact, they foreshadowed the aircraft carriers built in the 1920s and 1930s. The volume also describes the aircraft operating from those ships as well as the commanders who pioneered carrier aviation. Aircraft Carriers has benefited from the technical collaboration of senior carrier experts Captain Eric M. Brown and General Minoru Genda as well as noted historians Robert M. Langdon and Peter B. Mersky. Aircraft Carriers is heavily illustrated with more than 400 photographs—some never before published—and maps. Volume II, which is forthcoming from Potomac Books in the winter 2006-2007 (ISBN 978-1-57488-665-8), will cover the period 1946 to the present.

Author: Anthony Cooper
Publisher: NewSouth
ISBN: 1742241743
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 573

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Book Description
The author of the bestselling Darwin Spitfires casts a forensic eye over the role that Allied air forces played – or failed to play – in crucial World War II campaigns in New Guinea. This is the story of the early battles of the South West Pacific theatre – the Coral Sea, Kokoda, Milne Bay, Guadalcanal – presented as a single air campaign that began with the Japanese conquest of Rabaul in January 1942. It is a story of both Australian and American airmen who flew and fought in the face of adversity – with incomplete training, inadequate aircraft, and from poorly set up and exposed airfields. And they persisted despite extreme exhaustion, sickness, poor morale and the near certainty of being murdered by their Japanese captors if they went down in enemy territory.

Author: Mark Stille
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472836456
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 81

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Book Description
The striking power of the Imperial Japanese Navy's carrier-­based attack aircraft was established at Pearl Harbor, and the IJN's carrier-­based torpedo­ and dive-­bombers showed their prowess again at the Battle of Coral Sea when they sank the US Navy carrier USS Lexington and damaged the carrier USS Yorktown. Even at the disastrous Battle of Midway, the relatively small number of IJNAF attack- and torpedo-bombers that were launched against the US fleet proved that they remained a potent force by heavily damaging Yorktown again, which allowed an IJN submarine to sink the carrier. At Guadalcanal, IJNAF carrier-based aircraft sank the carrier USS Hornet and badly damaged USS Enterprise twice. However, throughout 1942, US Navy ship defences brought down an increasing number of attacking IJNAF aircraft. The final major battle of the year, the Battle of Santa Cruz, exacted crippling losses on the IJN, setting the stage for the eclipse of the IJNAF's highly trained and effective aviation attack forces. Packed with illustrations and contemporary photographs, this engrossing volume details the design, tactics, and operational records of both the US Navy ships and the IJNAF aircraft which attacked them over the year following Pearl Harbor.