American Aces against the Kamikaze - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook American Aces against the Kamikaze write by Edward M. Young. This book was released on 2012-10-23. American Aces against the Kamikaze available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The Japanese High Command realized that the loss of Okinawa would give the Americans a base for the invasion of Japan. Its desperate response to the invasion of Okinawa was to unleash the full force of the Special Attack Units, known in the west as the Kamikaze ('Divine Wind'), in the hope of inflicting punishing casualties on the US Pacific fleet that in turn disrupted the invasion. In a series of mass attacks in between April and June 1945, more than 900 Kamikaze aeroplanes were shot down. Conventional fighters and bombers accompanied the Special Attack Units as escorts, and to add their own weight to the attacks on the US fleet. In the air battles leading up to the invasion of Okinawa, as well as those that raged over the island in the three months, that followed, and in strikes on Japanese airfields in Kyushu (the base of the Special Attack Units), the Japanese lost more than 7000 aircraft both in the air and on the ground. In the course of the fighting, 67 Navy, 21 Marine, and three USAAF pilots became aces, destroying at least five aircraft between March and June 1945. In many ways it was an uneven combat. While many regular Japanese Army and Navy aviators volunteered for the Special Attack Units, a large number of the pilots in the Special Attack Units were inexperienced and only recently out of flying training. They also often flew obsolete aircraft. These less experienced pilots were no match for the Hellcat, Corsair and Thunderbolt pilots who were at the peak of their game. Indeed, many of the latter had been flying fighters for two or more years, and had previous combat experience. On numerous occasions following these uneven contests, American fighter pilots would return from combat having shot down up to six Japanese aeroplanes during a single mission. Indeed, during the campaign 13 Navy, five Marine Corps and two USAAF pilots became 'aces in a day'.
American Aces against the Kamikaze
American Aces against the Kamikaze - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook American Aces against the Kamikaze write by Edward M. Young. This book was released on 2013-09-20. American Aces against the Kamikaze available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The Japanese High Command realised that the loss of Okinawa would give the Americans a base for the invasion of Japan. Its desperate response was to unleash the full force of the Special Attack Units, known in the west as the Kamikaze ('Divine Wind'). In a series of mass attacks in between April and June 1945, more than 900 Kamikaze aeroplanes were shot down. Conventional fighters and bombers accompanied the Special Attack Units as escorts, and to add their own weight to the attacks on the US fleet. In the air battles leading up to the invasion of Okinawa, as well as those that raged over the island in the three months that followed, the Japanese lost more than 7,000 aircraft both in the air and on the ground. In the course of the fighting, 67 Navy, 21 Marine, and three USAAF pilots became aces. In many ways it was an uneven combat and on numerous occasions following these uneven contests, American fighter pilots would return from combat having shot down up to six Japanese aeroplanes during a single mission.
F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-9
F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-9 - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-9 write by Edward M. Young. This book was released on 2014-03-20. F6F Hellcat Aces of VF-9 available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. VF-9 was activated in March 1942 as part of Carrier Air Group (CAG) 9, one of the many air groups the US Navy was hurriedly forming in the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Equipped with Grumman F4F Wildcats, VF-9 first saw combat during the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942, where the squadron engaged Vichy French fighters over Morocco. Returning to the United States, VF-9 became one of the first squadrons to receive the Grumman F6F Hellcat and to deploy on the USS Essex, the first of its class of fleet carriers that would form the backbone of the US Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force. VF-9, the Hellcat, and the Essex all entered combat in the fall of 1943. In the hands of the squadron's pilots, and with other Navy fighter squadrons, the Hellcat proved superior to the Imperial Japanese Navy's A6M Zero, which had heretofore been the world's premier carrier fighter plane.
Rain of Steel
Rain of Steel - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Rain of Steel write by Stephen Moore. This book was released on 2020-09-01. Rain of Steel available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The last Pacific campaign of World War II was the most violent on record. Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher’s Task Force 58 carriers had conducted air strikes on mainland Japan and supported the Iwo Jima landings, but his aviators were sorely tested once the Okinawa campaign commenced on 1 April 1945. Rain of Steel follows Navy and Marine carrier aviators in the desperate air battles to control the kamikazes directed by Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. The latter would unleash ten different Kikusui aerial suicide operations, one including a naval force built around the world’s most powerful battleship, the 71,000-ton Yamato. These battles are related largely through the words and experiences of some of the last living U.S. fighter aces of World War II. More than 1,900 kamikaze sorties—and thousands more traditional attack aircraft—would be launched against the U.S. Navy’s warships, radar picket ships, and amphibious vessels during the Okinawa campaign. In this time, Navy, Marine, and Army Air Force pilots would claim some 2,326 aerial victories. The most successful four-man fighter division in U.S. Navy history would be crowned during the fight against Ugaki’s kamikazes. The Japanese named the campaign tetsu no ame (“rain of steel”), often referred to in English as “typhoon of steel.”
Desperate Sunset
Desperate Sunset - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Desperate Sunset write by Mike Yeo. This book was released on 2019-12-26. Desperate Sunset available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. By the middle of 1944, Imperial Japan's armed forces were in an increasingly desperate situation. Its elite air corps had been wiped out over the Solomons in 1942–43, and its navy was a shadow of the force that had attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. But the Japanese had one last, desperate, card to play. The Japanese High Command decided that the way to inflict maximum damage on the superior enemy forces was to get the poorly trained Japanese pilots to crash their explosive-laden aircraft onto their target, essentially turning themselves into a guided missile. The kamikazes announced themselves in the immediate aftermath of the Leyte Gulf naval battles, sinking the USS St. Lo and damaging several other ships. The zenith of the kamikaze came in the battle of Okinawa, which included ten kikusui (Floating Chrysanthemum) operations which involved up to several hundred aircraft attacking the US fleet. Fully illustrated throughout, Desperate Sunset examines the development and evolution of the kamikaze using first-hand accounts, combat reports and archived histories.
