From an historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a Marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943 when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the Marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war. It looks at the war through the eyes of some of the greatest fighter pilots of all time, including Bob Hanson, the “Maharajah of Rabaul” and highest-scoring Corsair pilot in history.

Today, U.S. Marine infantry and armored units can count on timely and effective close air support thanks in part to the intrepid Marine pilots and crews who pioneered carrier-based air support of amphibious landings in the final push to defeat Japan in World War II. This little-known part of the Pacific campaign is explored fully for the first time in this detailed history by one of the program's architects.

The Vought F4U Corsair was the greatest fighter plane in the WWII Pacific theater. For its pilots, survival was not guaranteed. Enemy planes and antiaircraft fire were dangerous, but aerial mishaps, poor flying, mechanical gremlins, weather, and bad luck took their toll too. American, British, and New Zealander Corsair pilots often found themselves with just seconds to escape. Some disappeared as POWs. A few, such as Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, emerged alive at the end of the war. Others had to rely on their training and the means at hand to escape do-or-die situations. Coast watchers, submarines, blimps, and air-sea rescues saved many. Even the French Foreign Legion smuggled a pilot to safety in the most daring Corsair pilot rescue of WWII. Others escaped death initially only to have to fight alongside their rescuers. Included are firsthand accounts from surviving pilots and tales of many of the great WWII Corsair aces.

Whistling Death is the true story, by the test pilot, of the rush to produce the F4U Corsair, the Navy fighter that brought America air superiority over the Japanese Zero in World War II. Here is the crash program - complete with crash landings - powered by the dedicated men and women of the home front who designed and built this revolutionary, tide-turning airplane. Boone T. Guyton, an experimental test pilot at Chance Vought during and after World War II, flew 105 types of aircraft in 45 years as a pilot.

This is the remarkable story of an airplane that became a legend--with a sleek silhouette and bent wings, it doubled as a day and night fighter, could fly off carriers or from land, and served both as a dive bomber and reconnaissance plane. Filled with facts and figures, this fast-paced history begins with the nerve-wracking test flights of the 1940s and concludes with the F4Us that were active thirty-eight years later. Placed skillfully in between are the stories that gave birth to the legend: the exploits of the aces, including the Medal of Honor recipient who shot down twenty-five enemy planes, and the details of the combat missions of Charles A. Lindbergh. During thirty months of combat in World War II with the U.S. Navy and Marines, the Corsair shot down more than two thousand Japanese planes. In Korea the U-bird, as it was called, was credited with ten aerial victories. A trip down memory lane for anyone who has followed the career of this Cadillac of the props, this new paperback edition of a book first published in hardcover in 1979 offers fine historical aviation reading that presents a riveting picture of the men and machine that helped win two wars.

This book tells the story of the 26 US Navy Squadrons, most of which were carrier based, and the six Marine Corps F-4 squadrons that flew combat missions against the North Koreans. Drawing from a vast repository of personal interviews with F-4 pilots, the author paints a harrowing picture of the deadly combat of this often forgotten air war. Included in this volume is the story of Lt Guy Bordelon, the US Navy's sole ace of the Korean War, who flew an F4U-5N night-fighter against the night raiders sent up by the Korean Air Force. Supporting the text is a vast number of previously unpublished private photographs that bring the stories of these pilots to life. Finally the book contains extensive appendices that detail every unit deployment by carrier, air group, Corsair model and tail code, as well as detailed lists noting every Corsair lost in the war.