Just weeks after Pearl Harbor, Darwin was mauled by a massive Japanese attack. Without a single fighter to defend Australian soil, the Australian government made a special appeal to Britain for Spitfires. A year later the Spitfire VC-equipped No 1 Fighter Wing, RAAF, faced the battle-hardened 202nd Kokutai of the IJNAF, equipped with A6M2 Zero-sens, over Darwin. This was a gruelling campaign between evenly matched foes, fought in isolation from the main South Pacific battlegrounds. Pilots on either side had significant combat experience, including a number of Battle of Britain veterans. The Spitfire had superior flight characteristics but was hampered by short range and material defects in the tropical conditions, while the Japanese employed better tactics and combat doctrine inflicting serious losses on the over-confident Commonwealth forces. Fully illustrated with detailed full-colour artwork, this is the gripping story of two iconic aircraft facing off against each other above Australia.

Just weeks after Pearl Harbor, Darwin was mauled by a massive Japanese attack. Without a single fighter to defend Australian soil, the Australian government made a special appeal to Britain for Spitfires. A year later the Spitfire VC-equipped No 1 Fighter Wing, RAAF, faced the battle-hardened 202nd Kokutai of the IJNAF, equipped with A6M2 Zero-sens, over Darwin. This was a gruelling campaign between evenly matched foes, fought in isolation from the main South Pacific battlegrounds. Pilots on either side had significant combat experience, including a number of Battle of Britain veterans. The Spitfire had superior flight characteristics but was hampered by short range and material defects in the tropical conditions, while the Japanese employed better tactics and combat doctrine inflicting serious losses on the over-confident Commonwealth forces. Fully illustrated with detailed full-colour artwork, this is the gripping story of two iconic aircraft facing off against each other above Australia.

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.

After the huge advances made in the early months of the Pacific war, it was in remote New Guinea where the advance of Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) A6M Zero-sen fighters was first halted due to a series of offensive and defensive aerial battles ranging from treetop height up to 30,000 ft. Initially, the IJNAF fought Australian Kittyhawks, but by May 1942 they had fought themselves into oblivion, and were relieved by USAAF P-39 and P-400 Airacobras. The battles unfolded over mountainous terrain with treacherous tropical weather. Neither IJNAF or USAAF pilots had been trained for such extreme conditions, incurring many additional losses aside from those that fell in combat. Using specially commissioned artwork and contemporary photographs and testimony, this fascinating study explains how, despite their initial deficit in experience and equipment, the Airacobras managed to square the ledger and defend New Guinea.

Although the P-40 and the Bf 109 joined the air war over North Africa at nearly the same time in 1941, the German fighter had already racked up a considerable combat career, dating back to 1937 in Spain. In contrast, the P-40 was a bit of an unknown quantity and was making its combat debut in the hands of the RAF's Desert Air Force. Discover how the huge differences between the veteran Bf 109 and the new P-40 determined the tactics they adopted and the ultimate outcome of their epic confrontation in this new book. The author covers all aspects of the aerial battle, from the small, agile Bf 109's ability to operate more effectively at high altitudes through to the P-40's advantage in manoeuvrability, which outweighed its poor high altitude performance.

Dr. Chun's Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century: A Basic Primer is a great start towards understanding the importance of aerospace power and its ability to conduct modern warfare. Aerospace power is continually changing because of new technology, threats, and air and space theories. However, many basic principles about aerospace power have stood the test of time and warfare. This book provides the reader with many of these time-tested ideas for consideration and reflection. Although Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century was written for future officers, individuals desiring a broad overview of aerospace power are invited to read, share, and discuss many of the ideas and thoughts presented here. Officers from other services will find that this introduction to air and space forces will give them a good grasp of aerospace power. More experienced aerospace leaders can use this book to revisit many of the issues that have affected air and space forces in the past and that might affect them in the future. Air Force officers will discover that Aerospace Power in the Twenty-First Century is a very timely and reflective resource for their professional libraries.

Hailed as one of the finest examples of aviation research, this comprehensive 1984 study presents a detailed and scrupulously accurate operational history of carrier-based air warfare. From the earliest operations in the Pacific through the decisive Battle of Midway, it offers a narrative account of how ace fighter pilots like Jimmy Thach and Butch O'Hare and their skilled VF squadron mates--called the "first team"--amassed a remarkable combat record in the face of desperate odds. Tapping both American and Japanese sources, historian John B. Lundstrom reconstructs every significant action and places these extraordinary fighters within the context of overall carrier operations. He writes from the viewpoint of the pilots themselves, after interviewing some fifty airmen from each side, to give readers intimate details of some of the most exciting aerial engagements of the war. At the same time he assesses the role the fighter squadrons played in key actions and shows how innovations in fighter tactics and gunnery techniques were a primary reason for the reversal of American fortunes. After more than twenty years in print, the book remains the definitive account and is being published in paperback for the first time to reach an even larger audience.