Wings of Gold: The U.S. Naval Air Campaign in World War II

This chaotic history gives anything but a bird's eye view of the Second World War. Military historian Astor, author of Terrible Terry Allen, focuses on the exploits of aircraft-carrier pilots in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to the final attacks on the Japanese home islands, with occasional glances at operations guarding convoys and covering landings in the Atlantic and Mediterranean theaters. The broad outlines tell a story of burgeoning American military might as the colossal U.S. war economy gears up. Initially battling superior Japanese numbers, equipment and skill, by 1943 Navy fliers were shooting down ten Japanese planes for every American lost, the""superabundance"" of American planes and pilots was causing air traffic-control problems and fighter pilots were competing for the right to attack ever-rarer enemy planes. Unfortunately, the broad outlines are pretty hard to discern in Astor's rendition. He tells the story mainly as oral history, through pilots' first-hand reminiscences of training, dogfighting, strafing, bombing, ditching and being rescued, and wrangling with hidebound Navy brass. The best of the reminiscences vividly convey the procedure, panic and elation of aerial combat; however, important points are frequently buried in off-hand comments, and the brief stabs at exposition, analysis and perspective are quickly broken up by the next round of cockpit anecdotes. Indeed, their sheer number and repetitiousness at times makes it seem as if Astor wants to reenact the entire war through shot-by-shot micro-narratives of the tiniest duels. Hardcore military buffs will delight in the nonstop action, tactical lore, and clipped flyboy lingo, but many readers will feel shell-shocked. Photos.