The Black Sheep

by Bruce Gamble

With their renowned squadron leader Greg “Pappy” Boyington, Marine Fighting Squadron (VMF) 214 was one of the best-known and most colorful combat units of World War II. The popular television series Baa Baa Black Sheep added to their legend—while obscuring the truly remarkable combat record of the Black Sheep and Boyington. A retired naval flight officer and former historian for the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation, Bruce Gamble provides a highly readable account that serves to both correct and extend the record of this premier fighting force.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Aviation, Military History

476 pages, Paperback

First published June 9, 1998

About the author

A native of central Pennsylvania, Bruce Gamble is an award-winning author and historian specializing in highly readable narratives about World War II in the Pacific.

During his career as a Naval Flight Officer in the closing years of the Cold War, Bruce logged nearly 1,000 hours as a navigator in EA-3B Skywarriors, including deployments aboard aircraft carriers in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Later, while serving as a flight instructor in Pensacola, Florida, he was diagnosed with a malignant spinal cord tumor. After undergoing a complicated surgery, Bruce was medically retired from the Navy in 1989.

Bruce soon began volunteering at the National Naval Aviation Museum and eventually worked part-time as the staff historian for the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. Over the next several years he collected oral history interviews and wrote numerous articles, then made the leap to book-length manuscripts and published his first nonfiction book, The Black Sheep, in 1998.

With a total of six titles now in print and a seventh due for publication in late 2018, Bruce is recognized as one of the top historians on the air war in the Pacific. He does a substantial amount of public speaking and is featured in documentaries produced by the History Channel, Fox News Channel, PBS, and the Pritzker Military Library.

Bruce's literary awards include the Admiral Arthur W. Radford award for excellence in naval aviation history and literature, presented in 2010, and a Florida Book Award in 2013.

Holding life memberships in the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation and Paralyzed Veterans of America, Bruce has been cancer-free more almost 30 years. He lives near Madison, Georgia.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book chronicles VMF-214 in it's various reincarnations during WWII, from it's beginnings as the Swashbucklers to it's abrupt stolen identity transition to Black Sheep to the horrific Franklin disaster. First off, I should state that prior to reading this book I knew nothing about this squadron or about the famous Boyington, so with that in mind take my opinion with a grain of salt. I enjoyed this book and thought it was accurately titled "The Definitive History...". The author backs up his facts with extensive evidence and himself appears to have the credentials to write such a book. A few reviews I've read were upset that the author pointed out inconsistencies when due, whether how something was wrongly portrayed in the media to exaggerated kill totals to discrepancies in Boyington's stories, etc. Personally, I take this as a positive. I wanted to read this book to know the history of what really happened, and this book did a swell job doing just that. So for those interested in the real history of a remarkable squadron, then I'd recommend this. If you are looking for a very fast paced, overly dramatic fighter pilot account that you don't particularly care of it's validity, then this book probably isn't for you.

[Bob Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, but very dry reading.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing like the TV show, but what do you expect. When Hollywood gets a hold of a book they just use the name and never stick to the book. Boyington only served 4 months as commander over the Black Sheep, they never called him Pappy. He was a drunkard, never cared for anyone but himself. I could go on and on about him. By the time I finished reading the book, I couldn't stand Boyington. This is one book I am going to get rid of. It is a good read for other reasons, I did learn a lot of other information about the war.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well written and interesting book and story But one gets the sense the author didn't like Greg Boyington and writes with some disdain. I'll look to other books on this story. I'm familiar with the Baa Baa Black Sheep tv show and its characterization (said taken from Boynton's book I can't find).

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of information but it was a little too dry for me.

[Robert Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting, but very dry reading.

[Jenny]

I don't rate books I gave up on. I thought I may want to read this book because my husband and I like the TV series but it's too much nonfiction for me to enjoy it.

[Mhorg · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading Mr. Gamble's awesome Trilogy about Rabaul, I decided to read this. For me, all this book really did was make me like Gregory Boyington a lot less. The story of the Black Sheep Squadron revealed nothing new, and compared to the Rabaul trilogy, I found this rather dry and uninvolved. I actually found myself bored while I read it and it's been a while since I read through a book about the Pacific War and felt that. I won't say it wasn't worth reading, but I can't say it actually added anything to my knowledge of the war, either. Some more pictures scattered through the book, rather than crammed in at the end would have been a welcome distraction.

[James Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

THE BLACK SHEEP SQUADRON BY BRUCE GAMBLE Bruce Gamble has captured the flavor and importance of the Marine Fliers during the battles in and around the Solomans. His extensive history research was without peer and gives the reader a sense of being there. You die a little each time we lose an aviator and celebrate vigorously with each mission when all return unhurt. I can't wait to read everything this man writes, all of undoubtedly which will join all profound written accounts of our men of WWII.
Jim p

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting look at VMF-214, aka the Black Sheep Squadron. As this book shows, they were much more than Pappy's "Black Sheep". This book aims to tell the complete story of this Marine flying unit, and does that well. However it does it in a rather dry manner, seeming to just follow the unit's activity log. This book could have used some interview material of the men that were there to give it a more personal connection.

[Lani · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor Excuse for a Book

This book has no photos, no glossary and no maps! The author uses nicknames and number or letter designations for both US and Japanese planes. I'm thinking that only someone who was there could make much sense of it. I've read quite a few books about WWII and this is the only one that has been boring and frustrating to wade through.

[Jfarley]

If you ever wanted to know about every aircraft that flew, how they were destroyed, and what was in each pilot's survival bags, this is the book you've been searching for.



It's interesting, but pack a lunch and some coffee to get through it.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book apparently retells the Black Sheep story based on a little more truth than the first telling by Pappy.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting read. Well balanced in pointing out where Boyington took liberties with his autobiography without vilifying him. In reality he likely wrote his book out of his memory more as a memoir.