Wings of the Rising Sun: Uncovering the Secrets of Japanese Fighters and Bombers of World War II

by Mark A. Chambers

In the Pacific War's early years, Japanese air power was dominant. The only way for the Allies to defeat their enemy was to know it. This made the task of maintaining productive intelligence gathering efforts on Japan imperative. Establishing Technical Air Intelligence Units in the Pacific Theatre and the Technical Air Intelligence Center in Washington DC, the Allies were able to begin to reveal the secrets of Japanese air power through extensive flight testing and evaluation of captured enemy aircraft and equipment. These provided an illuminating perspective on Japanese aircraft and aerial weapon design philosophy and manufacturing practice.

Fully illustrated throughout with a wealth of previously unpublished photographs, Mark Chambers explores Allied efforts to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese air power during the war years, and how this intelligence helped them achieve victory in the Pacific.

Genres: History

479 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 29, 2018

About the author

Mark Chambers is an avid World War II aviation enthusiast and aviation history author. He has studied World War II military aviation, with a keen focus on the air war in the Pacific, extensively. He is the author of Images of Aviation: Flight Research at NASA Langley Research Center (2007), Images of Aviation: Naval Air Station Patuxent River (2014), Building the Supermarine Spitfire: Speed in the Skies (2016), The Remarkable Career of Jack Reeder, Engineering Test Pilot (2007) and From Research to Relevance: Significant Achievements in Aeronautical Research at NASA Langley, 1917–2002 (2002). He works as a government contractor technical editor for the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

Reviews

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was good, but wasn't quite what I was hoping for. I was looking for a history of the TAIC, but the book is predominately just the CliffsNotes of TAIC reports with only a minimal amount of analysis. Errors in the reports are often just printed verbatim with no correction provided by the author, giving off the impression that the reports were 100% accurate. That all being said, if you are looking for a brief summary of what the TAIC thought of some Japanese aircraft then this book will do the job.

[Aki Korhonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrong title

This book is a great listing of various Japanese aircraft and their weapons, but it is not much of a description of how the uncovering of them was accomplished. It heavily borrows excerpts from government reports instead of reorganizing it into a more easily consumed whole. I was planning to give it 3 stars, but had enough instances of learning new details that I bumped it up to 4.