A Good Pre PTO Release Read

[pilotpierre]

The Sunday Times top ten bestseller

 

"The Kamikaze Hunters - Fighting For The Pacific, 1945" by Will Iredale

 

It is a recent (2015) release - a non fiction account of the British Fleet Air Arm flying Corsairs, Seafires and Avengers.

 

"Drawing on meticulous research and unique personal access to the remaining survivors, Will Iredale tells the stories of the young pilots of the British Pacific Fleet. He describes the terrifying reality of flying against enemies who, in the cruel last summer of the war, chose death rather than risk their country's dishonorable defeat"

[DD_Arthur]

Hi Pierre.  I got this in paperback last year.  

 

I've read a lot of pilot memoirs where their first operational sortie was a quiet patrol with the squadron in which nothing much happened and they just concentrated on keeping formation and learning local land marks, etc. but for Keith Quilter his first operation was dive bombing the Tirpitz in a Corsair!

 

Great book

Edited May 28, 2017 by DD_Arthur

[Trooper117]

Just bought it for £2.80p... bargain!

 

You should also try to get hold of 'Carrier Pilot' by Norman Hanson... cracking book!

[Flitgun]

I have ordered this book on your recommendation. 

[pilotpierre]

Just bought it for £2.80p... bargain!

 

You should also try to get hold of 'Carrier Pilot' by Norman Hanson... cracking book!

Read it sometime ago trooper, its on my bookshelf.

[Feathered_IV]

I picked up the audio version of kamikaze hunters recently. Really enjoyed it.

[Trooper117]

Read it sometime ago trooper, its on my bookshelf.

 

Yes mate, I remember reading the first chapter in 'Carrier Pilot' and thinking, Gawd strewth!, I can't even imagine how he coped with that awful situation... Seafires, Betty bombers, bodies, blood and snot. Not good! 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Trooper117

[C-Bag]

If I may, I discovered this book when searching for the above mentioned.

 

Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII

 

This is the exploits of one of the most influential pilots of the early Pacific named PI "Pappy" Gunn. Maybe he's more famous than I knew but I'd never heard of him and the tails of his long career and many adventures is the kind of stuff I always look for in pilot bios, but don't always get.

 

In reading this I hope we get the gunship mod's of the B-25 and A-20 he came up with along with the cluster munitions. There are so many facinating stories and characters that continue to come out. Just like the Eastern Front was a deep dive into history I knew little about before buying IL-2 the move to the PTO and this book make me realize there is going to be a body of history I'm going to enjoy learning about.

[Trooper117]

I have just re-read 'Carrier Pilot'... I am still amazed on the amount of death and injury incurred by the FAA in training accidents, and more frequently in carrier landings.

Those chaps faced possible and likely death on a daily basis, let alone combat action.

The book is a great read, and yes, it's not action all the way (if that's all you want then this book is not for you) but it charts the authors trials and tribulations, with all his accounts from training, squadron routine, postings around the world before he gets to the pacific.