P-38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group

Description

When the 82nd Fighter Group was organized in March 1942, most of its initial pilot cadre was comprised of newly graduated staff sergeant pilots of Class 42-C - enlisted men! They learned to fly the P-38 at Muroc, in California's Mojave Desert, and then moved to the Los Angeles area to continue their training and to serve as part of its air defence. In September 1942 the group was transported to the East Coast, from where it shipped out to Ireland on the Queen Mary. By this time all its remaining sergeant pilots had been commissioned. As of VE-Day the 82nd Fighter Group's score of confirmed aerial victories stood at 548 aircraft shot down, plus a huge amount of enemy materiel - including aircraft - destroyed on the ground and the sea. It had been awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The cost of this success was high, however, for around 250 of the group's pilots had either been killed in action or captured.

Steve Blake, a retired US civil servant and a freelance writer and editor, has been researching and writing about World War 2 fighter operations for more than 30 years. This is his third book on the Lightning, and he has had dozens of articles published in various periodicals. For the past ten years he has also been editor of Lightning Strikes, the official publication of the P-38 National Association. Chris Davey has illustrated more than 30 titles for Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces, Combat Aircraft, and Aviation Elite Units series. He is one of the last traditional airbrush artists in the business and has become Osprey's artist of choice for both USAAF fighters and RAF subject matter, proving his undoubted skill when dealing with large aircraft subjects such as the Halifax and Sunderland. Chris is based in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, UK.

"In this book by Steve Blake, we get a good look at the 82nd from inception until the end of the war. Its early days of training in the US as well as its exploits in North Africa, Sicily and Italy are covered in some detail. We get to meet the pilots of the unit, read of some of their more interesting exploits and see period photos of these men and their aircraft. Typical of the series, the research is very well done, something we have come to expect from Osprey titles." --Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness (September 2012) "Chris Davey's color profiles and nose scrap views of 82nd FG P-38s -- including Snooks IV, Sloan's famous mount -- should certainly inspire modeling projects. Archival photos further enhance the first-hand accounts -- and give glimpses into the lives of these brave men. Highly recommended reading." --Rachel Veres, www.cybermodeler.com (November 2012) "[The book] pairs detailed histories of the elite fighter pilots with discussions of their aircraft and first-hand accounts by the combat veterans themselves, adding specially comissioned original color artwork, new scale plans, and fine, archival photos. The result is a top pick, highly recommended for any military aircraft collection." --The Midwest Book Review (November 2012)