Pacific Adversaries Volume One Japanese Army Air Force vs The Allies New Guinea 1942-1944 by M Claringbould
This volume is the first in a planned Pacific Adversaries series which will record detailed stories of aerial warfare and dogfights during WW2 in the South Pacific. The stories chosen have been authenticated and checked to both Japanese and Allied war records. The detailed narrative is supported by available photographic or other evidence. Special importance is provided on aircraft types with magnificent artwork illustrating the battle and livery of aircraft discussed.
This first volume focuses exclusively on confrontations involving the Japanese Army Air Forces against the USAF and RAAF in New Guinea and the Solomons.
The JAAF operated completely separately from their Imperial Navy counterparts, using dissimilar doctrine, command structures and aircraft. The Japanese Fourth Air Army was an integral part of the South Pacific conflict, yet so little about their exploits appears in the English language, largely as so few survived to get home.
JAAF units first arrived in the South Pacific in December 1942 and effectively ceased operations in mainland New Guinea in April 1944. Theirs is a rich and colorful history about which many falsehoods and myths persist. Perhaps the biggest is that their Allied counterparts thought they were mainly fighting "Zeros", a falsehood still published and accepted to this day.
In New Guinea the Allies ratcheted up a grueling, coordinated and unrelenting campaign, destroying most JAAF air power on the ground, not the air. Their assault against Wewak's key bases involved an interwoven and complex strategy which eventually overpowered the Japanese.
Never before have detailed accounts matched up adversaries so closely and in doing so shine light on key events in Pacific skies so many years ago.
The battle accounts include:
Wirraway Only Victory over Buna 26 December 1942
Lightning vs Hayabusa Lae 1942
Exploits of Shiromoto Nauhara Solomons 1943
Takehashi Takeo.. Hayabusa vs USMC Wildcats
1976 Discovery of a Japanese Hien in New Guinea Highlands
KI 48 Sokei WW2 crash at Tsili Tsili
Details of the attack that Major Ralph Cheli awarded the Medal Of Honor
Ki 45 Toryu downs a Fifth Air Force B17 Flying Fortress
Cape Gloucester 1943
Shooting of a Mitchell B 25G near Nadzab
Ten Knights in a Bar Room Liberator Hein action over Wewak 1943
To title just a few of the intriguing stories listed in this new book.
Pacific Adversaries Volume One Japanese Army Air Force vs The Allies New Guinea 1942-1944 by M Claringbould
