Very Long Range P-51 Mustang Units of the Pacific War

Description

These pilots called themselves the 'Tokyo Club'. It was a simple task to become a member. All you had to do was strap yourself into a heavily loaded P-51 Mustang, take off from Iwo Jima, fly 650 miles north over the sea - often through monsoon storms - in your single-engined aircraft to Japan, attack a heavily defended target and then turn around and fly home despite a shrinking fuel supply and perhaps battle damage as well. Do it once and you earned membership in the club. Do it 15 times and you earned a trip home. But make one mistake or have one touch of bad luck, and you had a very good chance of ending up dead. This book tells the little-known story of these brave men and their efforts to defeat the aerial forces defending Japan.

A resident of Mount Vernon, Washington, USA, Carl Molesworth is an editor and writer for Reed Elsevier. He has been researching and writing about fighter operations in World War 2 for more than 25 years. His six previous titles include three books in Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces series, namely P-40 Warhawk Aces of the CBI, P-40 Warhawk Aces of the MTO, and P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific (all have reprinted at least once). In 2004, he won a Gold Award for his writing in the Trade Association Business Publications International's annual competition. Artist Jim Laurier is a native of New England, growing up in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He has been drawing since he could hold a pencil and throughout his life he has worked in many mediums creating art work on a variety of subjects. He has worked on the Osprey Aviation list since 2000, and in that time he has produced some of the finest artwork seen in these volumes.

"Provides a riveting combat history joining others in the 'Aviation Elite Units' series." --Library Bookwatch "Over in England, Osprey just keeps cranking out high-quality aviation books under the editorship of Tony Holmes... [This book is] in Osprey's Aviation Elite series and features the usual blend of concise text, good quality black and white photos, and numerous color profiles... The sage of the Very Long Range P-51s has been overlooked by historians... Most of the photographs have not been publishing and there are numerous good stories in the volume... recommended." --Jim Larsen, Mustangs International "I highly recommend this title." --Fred Rick Boucher, AeroScale (September 2006)