Dauntless Helldivers: A Dive Bomber Pilot's Epic Story of the Carrier Battles

The author piloted dive-bombers in the Pacific campaigns of WW II, participating in most of the major naval-air battles: Coral Sea, Midway, Eastern Solomons, Philippine Sea. Besides flying from the decks of the carriers Yorktown , Saratoga , Enterprise and Hornet , he saw much action during a wild four-week sojourn with the Marines' ``Cactus Air Force'' on Guadalcanal. Buell is refreshingly self-revealing, admitting his doubts and fears, his passionate desire to become ``a killer angel, an avenging force,'' and incidentally giving frequent credit to his personal guardian angel. The engaging memoir recounts one Navy pilot's experiences waging war in a now-extinct manner, i.e., dive-bombing, and conveys in vivid detail what the crucial carrier war was all about. Photos. (Aug.)