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Pacific Air: How Fearless Flyboys, Peerless Aircraft, and Fast Flattops Conquered the Skies in the War With Japan
The exhilarating epic story of the heroic fighter pilots whose fast-flying, hard-turning planes turned the tide in the Pacific theater during World War II.
408 pages, Hardcover
First published May 31, 2011
33 people are currently reading
95 people want to read
About the author
David Sears
6 books13 followersDavid Sears is a New Jersey-based author, speaker and business consultant.
David's early career included service as a United States Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard destroyer Gearing (DD-710) and a tour of duty as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam conflict. David's Navy service and sea-going experience brings unique authenticity, perspective and passion to his books and his presentations to veteran, school, civic and business groups.
David has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Industrial Relations from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He lives in northern New Jersey.
David's early career included service as a United States Navy officer with extensive sea duty aboard destroyer Gearing (DD-710) and a tour of duty as an advisor to the Vietnamese Navy during the Vietnam conflict. David's Navy service and sea-going experience brings unique authenticity, perspective and passion to his books and his presentations to veteran, school, civic and business groups.
David has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Industrial Relations from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He lives in northern New Jersey.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 7, 2022
Whilst browsing in a local Barnes & Noble bookstore a couple of weeks ago (February 21, 2020), I came across this book by chance. As a longtime aviation enthusiast, I resolved to buy this book forthwith.
PACIFIC AIR is a fascinating story on many levels of how the U.S. Navy's aviation arm (inclusive of aircraft carriers) developed between the wars and became one of the key elements in America's arsenal that helped ensure victory against Imperial Japan in the Second World War. The book also shares with the reader the history of Grumman Aircraft, its burgeoning relationship with the U.S. Navy during the 1930s, and the aircraft it designed and perfected (e.g. the F4F Wildcat, the F6F Hellcat, and the TBF Avenger dive/torpedo bomber) whose pilots served as the spearhead from the earliest raids by U.S. carrier task forces against Japanese military installations in the Marshalls and Gilbert Islands in February 1942, to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway, later to the struggles for Allied supremacy in the Solomon Islands during 1942 and 1943, and onward to the final decisive sea and air battles in the Central Pacific in 1944 and 1945.
What also makes this book doubly interesting are the insertion of eyewitness accounts from the various U.S. Navy personnel (flyers, gunners, and junior and senior staff officers), which give an immediacy to "PACIFIC AIR" that otherwise it would be without. Furthermore, I appreciated the author's mention in various parts of the book about the life and combat career of Saburo Sakai, a prewar trained Imperial Japanese Navy fighter pilot who was one of the few of Japan's top aces to survive the war. His record of combat from China, to the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, over Guadalcanal (August 1942), and over the Pacific and Japan (after surviving a grievous head wound sustained in combat with U.S. Navy fighters and dive bombers) during 1944 and 1945, is truly impressive.
I highly recommend "PACIFIC AIR" for anyone who is fascinated with aviation and compelling human interest stories. It also has some interesting photos of planes and the various U.S. Navy pilots and personnel who played crucial roles in the Second World War.
PACIFIC AIR is a fascinating story on many levels of how the U.S. Navy's aviation arm (inclusive of aircraft carriers) developed between the wars and became one of the key elements in America's arsenal that helped ensure victory against Imperial Japan in the Second World War. The book also shares with the reader the history of Grumman Aircraft, its burgeoning relationship with the U.S. Navy during the 1930s, and the aircraft it designed and perfected (e.g. the F4F Wildcat, the F6F Hellcat, and the TBF Avenger dive/torpedo bomber) whose pilots served as the spearhead from the earliest raids by U.S. carrier task forces against Japanese military installations in the Marshalls and Gilbert Islands in February 1942, to the Battles of Coral Sea and Midway, later to the struggles for Allied supremacy in the Solomon Islands during 1942 and 1943, and onward to the final decisive sea and air battles in the Central Pacific in 1944 and 1945.
What also makes this book doubly interesting are the insertion of eyewitness accounts from the various U.S. Navy personnel (flyers, gunners, and junior and senior staff officers), which give an immediacy to "PACIFIC AIR" that otherwise it would be without. Furthermore, I appreciated the author's mention in various parts of the book about the life and combat career of Saburo Sakai, a prewar trained Imperial Japanese Navy fighter pilot who was one of the few of Japan's top aces to survive the war. His record of combat from China, to the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, over Guadalcanal (August 1942), and over the Pacific and Japan (after surviving a grievous head wound sustained in combat with U.S. Navy fighters and dive bombers) during 1944 and 1945, is truly impressive.
I highly recommend "PACIFIC AIR" for anyone who is fascinated with aviation and compelling human interest stories. It also has some interesting photos of planes and the various U.S. Navy pilots and personnel who played crucial roles in the Second World War.
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October 11, 2021If you are flying through Chicago, and you process through O'Hare Airport, you may not give it a moment's thought. But Butch O'Hare was a Hero of the Pacific Air War, the first US Navy Ace, and just one of the interesting and compelling characters to populate David Sears' book about the Pacific War from 1937 to the "Marianas Turk Shoot" in 1944, the battle that broke the back of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Sears, a Navy and Vietnam War Vet, and author of other Military Histories, tries to make all the key figures into Characters, and pretty much succeeds, leading me to think this might have started as a Documentary or Dramatisation script and then been made more bookish. It works, and people like the Engineering team around Roy Grumman designing the F4F Wildcat and then the F6F Hellcat, the pilots like O'Hare and Thach creating tactics that could defend the carriers, Admirals like Spruance and Halsey thinking out the grand tactics of Carrier War, and even the Japanese, with Saburo Sakai the Japanese master- ace embodying the enemy's doctrine. I was worried it might get hokey- but it just keeps working. When we start its with the Biplanes and the seven carriers - retracting wheels are New, as are enclosed Cockpits and folding wings- all pretty important to serious carrier ops. Then we follow the creation of the Wildcat(Martlet/Wildcat to you brits) and then the Hellcat, the rumour and then reality of the Mitsubishi Zero, the torpedo/bomb aircraft , the tactics of both sides, and then the war itself. I had been warned the author could take time to warm to a subject, but this book fairly flies along bouncing between the characters and the weapons and the entropy that occurs when then began to collide.
Sears reminds us how compressed this time scale is. Pilots who had never flown a monoplane in 1938 were flying a Wildcat in 1940- going from open cockpit, fixed wheels, and two synchronised machine guns through the propeller- to an enclosed cockpit, retractable gear, self sealing fuel tanks, and 6-8 MGs in the wings. The Hellcat would be another whole step up in power and weight and features. Admirals who thought in terms of preserving their 7, then 6 then 5 carriers in the Pacific would learn to be aggressive with 15-20 Carriers of three different types , creating modern carrier groups of 3-4 flight decks and an array of support ships. While Sears does leave the topic with the war not fully won, I do appreciate the period he's chosen to focus on. Once the American Materialschlact approach to war got going- the flow of ships and new better gear does make the war a forgone conclusion. Sears is giving us the period when the coming war/present war was in balance and the American were making good decisions that would secure their future- even when they did not know what that would be. I think the general reader can appreciate the progress we get to watch.
There are some adult themes and a few graphic injury passages, so this is a good book for the Junior reader at about 11/12 with an interest in history or aeronautics. For the the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, I think it a good bet. I think alot of the Aerial Combat passages will make for good scenarios in the air, and the Naval battles can assist developing Carrier Battle Scenarios- as you get to think with the Admirals as they process the Intel they have. For the Modeler, the b/w photos included and the text provide a plethora of build and diorama ideas. The Military Enthusiast gets a engaging fast moving text that reminds those without a WWII Veteran parent to talk to them about the war, how compressed these timelines were. People who were designing Airframes that would fly into the Cold War (say the F6F Hellcat in Indochina/Algeria) has been born in a world of horse-carts. Pilots who would later fly Jets in Vietnam- had been born on Farms without electricity. Sears' choice to characterise all the players works- and makes for a compelling read, and a real appreciation for the "Greatest Generation".
Sears reminds us how compressed this time scale is. Pilots who had never flown a monoplane in 1938 were flying a Wildcat in 1940- going from open cockpit, fixed wheels, and two synchronised machine guns through the propeller- to an enclosed cockpit, retractable gear, self sealing fuel tanks, and 6-8 MGs in the wings. The Hellcat would be another whole step up in power and weight and features. Admirals who thought in terms of preserving their 7, then 6 then 5 carriers in the Pacific would learn to be aggressive with 15-20 Carriers of three different types , creating modern carrier groups of 3-4 flight decks and an array of support ships. While Sears does leave the topic with the war not fully won, I do appreciate the period he's chosen to focus on. Once the American Materialschlact approach to war got going- the flow of ships and new better gear does make the war a forgone conclusion. Sears is giving us the period when the coming war/present war was in balance and the American were making good decisions that would secure their future- even when they did not know what that would be. I think the general reader can appreciate the progress we get to watch.
There are some adult themes and a few graphic injury passages, so this is a good book for the Junior reader at about 11/12 with an interest in history or aeronautics. For the the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast, I think it a good bet. I think alot of the Aerial Combat passages will make for good scenarios in the air, and the Naval battles can assist developing Carrier Battle Scenarios- as you get to think with the Admirals as they process the Intel they have. For the Modeler, the b/w photos included and the text provide a plethora of build and diorama ideas. The Military Enthusiast gets a engaging fast moving text that reminds those without a WWII Veteran parent to talk to them about the war, how compressed these timelines were. People who were designing Airframes that would fly into the Cold War (say the F6F Hellcat in Indochina/Algeria) has been born in a world of horse-carts. Pilots who would later fly Jets in Vietnam- had been born on Farms without electricity. Sears' choice to characterise all the players works- and makes for a compelling read, and a real appreciation for the "Greatest Generation".
August 3, 2021
Well written and engaging. Doesn't deliver the all encompassing air story of the Pacific war that the title promises but focuses on snippets from select pilots and mostly Grumman aircraft. The many vignettes really put you in the seat of the aircraft and it is quite enjoyable and I liked the deep dive into the pre-war aircraft development at Grumman. Recommended
September 11, 2020
As far as World War II books go, this is a gripping one that seems tailor-made for a film or miniseries adaptation of some kind. The book itself connects a variety of figures together who were involved on both sides of the Pacific War and its emphasis on carrier aircraft and tells the story with a high degree of drama, pointing out issues of logistics as well as tactics for Americans as well as Japanese involved in the complex aerial war of World War II. This is a subject that is of great interest to a wide variety of readers and it is one that should have a large and appreciative reading audience that is able to take this book and to ponder how it is that the United States won a war in which it began unprepared and which it faced a skill foe who nonetheless seemed to underestimate (as many nations do) the importance of logistics and preserving one's skilled and well-trained pilots in the sort of war that World War II became as a result of a mutual determination on the part of the United States and Japan to win, which had some tragic outcomes on the well-being of those who all too easily were whipped up into war fever on the side of the Japanese.
This book is almost 350 pages long and it is divided into five parts and twenty chapters that give a cinematic scale to the air war in the Pacific in World War II and its context. The first part of the book looks at the state of war (I) and where it found American airplane manufacturers (1) as well as pilots facing the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor (2). After that the author talks about the hard-pressed nature of America's initial efforts (II), with a discussion of prototype pilots (3), the quest to find and survive terminal velocity (4), the samurai culture of Japanese pilots (5), and the tactical development of the Thach beam defense (6). The meatgrinder nature of carrier warfare is then discussed (III), with chapters on the division of early naval pilots (7), how America sought to deal with its initial inferiority in carriers (8), the competition between American and Japanese pilots (9), the attritional nature of warfare in the Pacific (10), the learning process of flying (11), and efforts at increasing achievement in the face of conflict (12, 13). After that there is a discussion the air war of Guadalcanal (III), which takes up four chapters, and then a much shorter look at the increasing American superiority in the skies after that, which influenced America's ultimate victory (V), told in the last four chapters of the book, after which there are notes, a glossary, appendix, bibliography, acknowledgements, and index.
Unsurprisingly, given the wide disparity in sources concerning the aerial technology of World War II, this book has a lot more to say about the Americans involved in it than it does about the Japanese. But what it does have to say about both is that there were different cultures in mind about how important it was to preserve life and how much materials each side had to work with. Even though the United States had a lot more war material to work with, there is still some commentary here about the clashing cultures that existed between companies like Grumman Air and GM, who helped create near-brand equivalents in mass for the war effort, as well as the resourcefulness that was sometimes requires to get a factory off the ground. And, of course, the book also deals with the sort of rivalries that existed between branches of the military and the sort of culture that existed among pilots and the tactical creativity that allowed the Americans to hang with the Zero until American capacity overtook the Japanese and the US was able to meet the Zero in speed and surpass it in safety considerations. All of this suggests a certain importance in learning and growing and improvement as an aspect of the American way of war that is worthy of consideration and reflection.
This book is almost 350 pages long and it is divided into five parts and twenty chapters that give a cinematic scale to the air war in the Pacific in World War II and its context. The first part of the book looks at the state of war (I) and where it found American airplane manufacturers (1) as well as pilots facing the surprise attack of Pearl Harbor (2). After that the author talks about the hard-pressed nature of America's initial efforts (II), with a discussion of prototype pilots (3), the quest to find and survive terminal velocity (4), the samurai culture of Japanese pilots (5), and the tactical development of the Thach beam defense (6). The meatgrinder nature of carrier warfare is then discussed (III), with chapters on the division of early naval pilots (7), how America sought to deal with its initial inferiority in carriers (8), the competition between American and Japanese pilots (9), the attritional nature of warfare in the Pacific (10), the learning process of flying (11), and efforts at increasing achievement in the face of conflict (12, 13). After that there is a discussion the air war of Guadalcanal (III), which takes up four chapters, and then a much shorter look at the increasing American superiority in the skies after that, which influenced America's ultimate victory (V), told in the last four chapters of the book, after which there are notes, a glossary, appendix, bibliography, acknowledgements, and index.
Unsurprisingly, given the wide disparity in sources concerning the aerial technology of World War II, this book has a lot more to say about the Americans involved in it than it does about the Japanese. But what it does have to say about both is that there were different cultures in mind about how important it was to preserve life and how much materials each side had to work with. Even though the United States had a lot more war material to work with, there is still some commentary here about the clashing cultures that existed between companies like Grumman Air and GM, who helped create near-brand equivalents in mass for the war effort, as well as the resourcefulness that was sometimes requires to get a factory off the ground. And, of course, the book also deals with the sort of rivalries that existed between branches of the military and the sort of culture that existed among pilots and the tactical creativity that allowed the Americans to hang with the Zero until American capacity overtook the Japanese and the US was able to meet the Zero in speed and surpass it in safety considerations. All of this suggests a certain importance in learning and growing and improvement as an aspect of the American way of war that is worthy of consideration and reflection.
April 12, 2019
I enjoyed this fast paced read. The author describes the carrier war in the Pacific form several perspectives. There is a description of the main features of the carrier war, like the battles of the oral Sea, Midway, the Solomons, the Great Marians Turkey Shoot, as one would expect. However the story is more in depth than that. Most of the book is narratives about the fighter pilots and Navy strategists who fought in the Pacific. We see the big picture and the details of air to air combat through the eyes of the men who fought. The reader gets a vicarious feeling of the fear and exhilaration of combat. One of the scariest feelings relates to pilots who bailed out in the open ocean, sometimes hundreds of miles from their carrier. Hoo boy, how could you keep your sanity? Interleafed with the combat narrative is the story of Grumman Aircraft, the Long Island company that built the F4F wildcat, a rather poor plane compared to the Mitsubishi Zero, and then the mighty F6F Hellcat that swept the Japanese away. (I wish there had been more about the Chance Vought Corsair, which I have always thought was the studliest lane in the Pacific theatre.) The book ends about a year before the end of WWII, and just mentions the kamikaze attacks. It is mainly concerned with the actual carrier war, between dueling fleets. The early war is all Japan but once U.S. production of ships and planes got into full swing, the tide turned quickly.
April 7, 2021
I enjoyed Sears's book about naval aviators in the Korean War (Such Men as These.) The virtues of that book-- an "in the cockpit" approach provided by detailed first-person stories-- are present here, but in a more frequently-told story, this book gives lots of action, but less new insight. Well worth a read, but recommend the author's first book more.
March 11, 2024
The book that stole 10 days of reading pleasure. It might have been a great book, but it just does not come together.
April 20, 2024
Generally interesting. A good starter book for someone interested in WW2 Naval Air training, tactics, strategy, and results. Some good perceptions are shared at the personal flier level.
April 16, 2014
The value in this book is that it shows the interplay between the nascent aviation industry, test pilots and the navy's aviation proponents that would produce one of the most powerful organizations of World War II -- the Fast Carrier Strike Forces -- as well as shape American power projection in the post-World War II world. The author does this by following several key figures from both the pre-war era and those who were called up for the war -- Thatch, King, Vraciu and others -- as well as recounting several pivotal vignettes along the way. For example, the recovery of a Japanese Zero in the aftermath of the Midway campaign is well-known, but the author recounts it's discovery by a reconnaissance aircraft and subsequent recovery and testing in some detail, supporting his thesis about the interplay that leads to combat developement. Unfortunately, other than these few vignettes, there is little new that isn't already available in secondary sources, all of which he acknowledges. Lundstrom's "The First Team" and his other works recount in much more detail the challenges faced by Navy fighter pilots in the first years of the war while Paschall's "Shattered Sword" has a much more detailed and enlightening description of Midway from both perspectives. In the end, I would only recommend this if you weren't already familiar with some of the other works I have mentioned. If not, this will be a great introduction into a fascinating chapter of American Military History.
August 15, 2013
The book attempt to cover the air war in the Pacific from the career aviation perspective. Although it started out promisingly by covering the interesting story of how the Grumman aircraft corporation was founded (Grumman is the primary supplier of the US carrier fighters such as F4 and F6 during WW II) and how the company came up with the F4 and later the F6. It also has good description of the early days of the war when fighter leaders such as Jimmy Thatch and Jim Flatley devised tactics that ultimately enable well-trained US fighter pilots to effectively engage Japanese pilots flying Zero despite flying a machine (F4F) that is inferior in performance to the Zero. Unfortunately, the book then looses focus and although covering a wide variety of key air battles in the Pacific and profiling several naval aces. As a result, it feels like an unfinished or a book that was rushed out to publication. For example, although the book described Hornet Torpedo 8 skipper, Waldron, prior to and during the battle of Midway, nothing explicit was told of the heroic action of the Torpedo 8 in the battle. Later on, the reader would infer that something catastrophic happened to the squadron but it was never actually described.
January 16, 2012
This book features stories of Navy flyboys who flew Grumman aircraft in the Pacific theater during World War II. Though Japanese Zero fighter planes had a slight maneuverability edge over Grummans, American pilots learned to adapt and shoot down many. Mentioned are naval battles of Midway, Guadalcanal, Coral Sea, Santa Cruz, Tarawa and Marianas. Book is full of military acronyms, pilot names and ranks, often hindering narrative continuity. At times I found myself wallowing in detail, especially descriptions of dogfight tactics. Research is mostly secondary, with first-hand stories coming from interviews with one 90-year-old American Ace.
May 15, 2012
I hoped that this book would be a memoir written by the actual pilots of the Pacific theater of World War II, but it was instead an comprehensive history of aviation during World War II, in excruciating detail. I didn't make it past the first chapter which was so full of names I would have needed a flow chart, except that none of them would be mentioned again. There was so much information, it was hard to see an emerging story. I flipped through the rest of the book, and saw that the pattern continued. I suppose this is a case of too much research and not enough narrative.
If you like the minutia then maybe this is the book for you. If you are looking for a military memoir, move on.
If you like the minutia then maybe this is the book for you. If you are looking for a military memoir, move on.
March 2, 2014
According to other reviews (from people who know much more than I do!) there are many historical inaccuracies, lots of typos and some fairly basic errors.
The writing style is decent, but overall hard to follow. The delineation of each battle is unclear, names aren't mentioned until later (e.g. the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" is only mentioned at the very end of the chapter on it, for example), and the chronology really isn't correct.
It does feature some stories from people I have no heard before, such as the Grumman story, but I'm left wondering how much I can really trust...
The writing style is decent, but overall hard to follow. The delineation of each battle is unclear, names aren't mentioned until later (e.g. the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot" is only mentioned at the very end of the chapter on it, for example), and the chronology really isn't correct.
It does feature some stories from people I have no heard before, such as the Grumman story, but I'm left wondering how much I can really trust...
January 23, 2014
I had higher hopes for this book, but it was not to be. The one bright spot is if you are looking for a account of the start of the Grumman Aircraft Company and World War II including test pilots and contracts, (which maybe should have been the focus or title of the book in the first place) then this is your book, but as a overall air war in the Pacific book, I'd look elsewhere.
November 26, 2011
Excellent overview of the naval carrier battles in the Pacific. Not a book about the overall Pacific War, though, as it pretty much ends after the last naval air engagement. Well-written and interesting.
June 7, 2011
See our review at http://www.relaxedfitezine.com/m.news...
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