The 4th Fighter Group, armed with P-51s and aggressive, seasoned pilots, battled the Luftwaffe in the air and on the ground, achieving an impressive score of 1,016 German planes destroyed, the highest score of all Allied Groups. Instrumental in achieving this record were eighty-one pilots who became aces and men whose stories are the subject of this book. Their accounts go beyond the battles and individual victories to give a glimpse of their original motivations and their subsequent successes, failures, and often violent deaths. The accounts are written by the author, a fellow ace, who lived with them, fought with them, and survived to tell their fascinating stories.

A compact, illustrated history of the 4th Fighter Wing and the beginnings of combat in Korea for the United States. The entry of the United States' premier jet interceptor into the Korean War was triggered by the ever-increasing presence of the Soviet-built MiG-15 south of the Yalu River. The possibility of the USAF losing air supremacy over the Korean Peninsula was unacceptable. The 4th Fighter Wing got the call for combat in Korea. They were made up of a combination of new pilots right out of jet training and the older combat veterans of World War II vintage. This combination of pilot types wrote and re-wrote the text books on jet warfare. Of the 40 jet aces that the war produced, the 4th Wing boasted 24 of them. With first-hand accounts and stunning illustrations inside, this book details these incredible pilots and the planes they flew.

Nicknamed the 'Bluenosed Bastards of Bodney' due to the garish all-blue noses of their P-51s, the 352nd FG was one of the most successful fighter groups in the Eighth Air Force. Credited with destroying almost 800 enemy aircraft between 1943 and 1945, the 352nd finished fourth in the ranking of all groups within VIII Fighter Command. Initially equipped with P-47s, the group transitioned to P-51s in the spring of 1944, and it was with the Mustang that its pilots enjoyed their greatest success. Numerous first-hand accounts, 55 newly commissioned artworks and 140+ photos complete this concise history of the 'Bluenosers'.

Unquestionably the best American fighter of World War 2, the North American P-51 Mustang served in large numbers with the USAAF's Eighth Air Force from late 1943 until VE Day, and was the mount of most aces in-theatre. Charged with the responsibility of escorting huge formations of B-17 Flying Fortress and B-24 Liberator bombers on daylight raids deep into Germany, the P-51 pilots of the various fighter groups within the 'Mighty Eighth' went head to head with the cream of the Luftwaffe's fighter squadrons for control of the skies over the Third Reich.

With the 50th Anniversary of Victory in World War II comes PROTECT & AVENGE: The 49th Fighter Group in World War II.\nAfter six years of research, author and illustrator S.W. Ferguson, Along with 49ERS Association historian William K. Pascalis, have recreated the war-years odyssey of the famous 49ERS, the most successful fighter group in the war against Japan. Flyers Paul Wrutsmith, Bob Morrissey, Ernie Harris, Gerry Johnson, Bob DeHaven and leading American ace Dick Bong, are but a few of the men who contribute to the 49ERS legend. \nFrom their desert air strips of Northwest Territory, Australia, through their jungle camps of New Guinea and the Philippines, to the final moment of victory on the Japanese homeland, all are detailed in this new volume. Derived from the diaries and logs of 49ERS veterans, the groups official USAF history and the U.S. National Archives, the story chronicles more than thirty aces and their crews who achieved over 600 aerial kills in three years of continuous combat.\nThe text is highlighted by more than 600 black and white photos, six compaign maps, and twenty-four color profiles of select P-40s, P-57s, and P-38s.\nS.W. Ferguson lives in Colorado Springs where he has pursued his teaching, writing and art career for the last ten years. His interests are American writers and history of the 20th century, and swift waters that yield trout. \nBill Pascalis is a veteran aircraft mechanic of the 49ERS Selfridge AFB cadre and served through the New Guinea campaign of mid-1943. After the war, he established a long career with Tranworld Airlines. He now lives with his wife in retirement in Florida, enjoying golf, his grandchildren and research in the 5th Air Force archives.

Formed with the best available fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific, the 475th Fighter Group was the pet project of Fifth Air Force chief, General George C Kenney. From the time the group entered combat in August 1943 until the end of the war it was the fastest scoring group in the Pacific and remained one of the crack fighter units in the entire US Army Air Forces with a final total of some 550 credited aerial victories. Amongst its pilots were the leading American aces of all time, Dick Bong and Tom McGuire, with high-scoring pilots Danny Roberts and John Loisel also serving with the 475th. This book details these pilots, the planes they flew and the campaigns and battles they fought in including such famous names as Dobodura, the Huon Gulf, Oro Bay, Rabaul, Hollandia, the Philippines and Luzon.

A unique, detailed account of the aces that flew in the bitter air fighting during the protracted eight-year war against Japan and the subsequent civil war against the Chinese Communists The ace pilots of the Republic of China Air Force have long been shrouded in mystery and obscurity, as their retreat to Taiwan in 1949 and blanket martial law made records of the RoCAF all but impossible to access. Now, for the first time, the colourful story of these aces can finally be told. Using the latest research based on released archival information and full-colour illustrations, this book charts the history of the top scoring pilots of the RoCAF from the beginning of the gruelling, eight-year Sino-Japanese War to the conclusion of the Civil War against the Chinese Communists. Beginning as a ragged and very disparate group of planes and pilots drawn from various provincial air forces, the RoCAF gradually became standardised and was brought under American tutelage. Altogether it produced 17 aces who scored kills whilst flying a startling variety of aircraft, from biplanes to F-86 Sabres.

Dubbed the 'Eagles of Duxford', the 78th Fighter Group (FG) was unique in being the only fighter unit in the 'Mighty Eighth' to fly the P-38 Lightning, P-47 Thunderbolt and P-51 Mustang operationally. The 78th FG produced the very first Eighth Air Force ace, and flew exclusively from Duxford throughout its time in the UK. Initially equipped with the P-38 Lightning, the group received P-47 Thunderbolts in March 1943, followed by the iconic American ace-maker, the P-51 Mustang, in December 1944. Arriving in the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) in November 1942, and eventually committed to combat five months later, the 78th, along with the 4th and 56th FGs, 'wrote the book' on long-range fighter escort by VIII Fighter Command in the ETO. This volume charts the group's highs and lows during its two years in action from Duxford, focusing on the exploits of the 51 pilots who achieved ace status with the 78th during World War 2. These men included Capt Charles London, the very first Eighth Air Force ace, and Maj Quince Brown, who was the 78th's most successful aerial ace prior to being murdered by the SS after he was shot down over Germany. Alongside stunning illustrations, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver explains how, by VE Day, the 'Eagles of Duxford' had downed 316 aircraft and destroyed a further 320 machines on the ground during strafing attacks on German airfields.