tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post7673236282295893480..comments2024-03-29T11:20:34.172+00:00Comments on Aviation of Japan 日本の航空史: Goodbye To Some ~ A NovelStraggler 脱走兵http://www.blogger.com/profile/10129611267271999294noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post-39297850005688371002022-12-09T19:53:16.865+00:002022-12-09T19:53:16.865+00:00Loved the book. Fictionalized to some degree but ...Loved the book. Fictionalized to some degree but seem to closely parallel the war record of VPB 106 and 111 out of Palawan in 1945.John K.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post-42082548613729271822013-12-24T11:02:13.168+00:002013-12-24T11:02:13.168+00:00Concur with the sterling review. First read this ...Concur with the sterling review. First read this overlooked gem years ago when I was a midshipman and have revisited it several times since. Not only is Forbes depiction of aerial combat unmatched, but his capturing of the frustrating banality and colorful personalities of squadron life is timeless - some of the characters reminded me of people I flew with in a USN squadron over 60 years later!<br /><br />On a related subject, I'd also recommend the works of aviation historian Alan Carey, particularly his patrol "trilogy" - We Flew Alone, Above an Angry Sea, & U.S. Navy PB4Y-1 Squadrons in Britain - covering VP/VPB operations in World War Two. Very detailed and lavishly illustrated, these books chronicle the exploits of the unsung heroes who flew in navy land-based patrol bomber squadrons.Scuba Scottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post-138365606296612702013-12-18T03:46:33.044+00:002013-12-18T03:46:33.044+00:00Thanks so much for this review Nick. My favorite a...Thanks so much for this review Nick. My favorite aviation book of all time is a memoir from WWI. It's my favorite not for its romanticism, but for its honesty. This one is definitely on my list now.WDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05204900692700819218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post-36386343803834548812013-12-17T04:59:25.978+00:002013-12-17T04:59:25.978+00:00My father served as a mechanic/gunner in PB4Y-2 Pr... My father served as a mechanic/gunner in PB4Y-2 Privateers with VPB-118, the first US Navy patrol squadron equipped with the new type. <br /><br /> By late 1944, most squadrons' PB4Y-1 aircraft had been phased out. Some war worn Navy Liberators still served in transport and liaison duties with squadrons.<br /><br /> Long, uneventful patrols were referred to as "white cap patrols." However it was not unusual to encounter Japanese aircraft on "practice" missions to Rabaul or Truk and as patrols ranged to Korea and nearer to "The Empire."<br /><br /> During the 60's I showed a picture of an FM2 "Pete" from the photo pages of Masatake Okumiya's book "Zero" to my father. I asked if he'd ever seen such a thing as a Japanese biplane while in the Pacific. To my surprise, he said "I sent one of them home smoking."<br /><br /> During the 1980's, members of this squadron began compiling flight logs and recollections which resulted in a rare, but most interesting book, "VPB-118-Patrol Bombing squadron 118."<br /><br />Steve DiederichAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5748156690521830936.post-53596369572150610962013-12-16T17:38:59.413+00:002013-12-16T17:38:59.413+00:00I concur that this is a book of enduring value. It...I concur that this is a book of enduring value. It has a haunting quality. No one who reads it will quickly forget the character of Prime, a hell-for-leather pilot of undoubted bravery bordering on insanity, but a kind with whom few want to fly, and one that most deeply dislike. (Whether it was fair or not, I couldn't help but think of McGuire). At some point in a Prime mission, everything in the cockpit will be 'glued to the overhead,' and most everyone inside terrified that the ship will break up. And after this book, 'siphoning' afterward always will have a malevolent secondary meaning. <br /><br />Yet it's one of the funniest books I can remember, if that humor is sometimes black, and even Elmore Leonard never wrote better dialogue. I've read it twice and will again; it's a good antidote to the blind romanticism that characterizes much aviation history. Technically it's fiction, yet nothing rings untrue; and some details demand attention as history, forgotten by all others except the ones to whom it was happening, a Minority Report to the official squadron history. <br /><br />There is no real affection for the aircraft, rather a mistrust and dread, and a deep desire to survive the machine. Japanese aircraft are occasionally encountered or reported, but not feared in the way that an overloaded Consolidated routinely sent just beyond its maximum range (usually for an officer's glory) is feared. I thought I wanted to build a PB4Y someday, but after reading this book years ago, that oddly and permanently changed! We asked so much of men like these, how could they possibly have come home and told the rest of us what it was like? Forbes needed a few years to process it, but the novel was the perfect form, and the result remains a masterpiece. Mark Smithnoreply@blogger.com