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Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Masters of the Sky
The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot.
In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces"-the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker-offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now.
Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced.
The pilots-Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson-riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight.
But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades.
Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart
In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces"-the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker-offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now.
Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced.
The pilots-Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson-riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight.
But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades.
Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart
522 pages, Hardcover
First published January 14, 2020
456 people are currently reading
2785 people want to read
About the author
John R. Bruning
24 books122 followersJohn Bruning is the author or coauthor of twenty-two non-fiction books, including four New York Times best sellers, and seven national best sellers, including the critically acclaimed "Race of Aces," "Indestructible," "Outlaw Platoon" (with Sean Parnell) and "House to House" (with David Bellavia).
In 2011, he received a Thomas Jefferson Award for his photojournalism and reporting in Afghanistan during the surge in 2010.
He lives in Oregon with his family and writes with an office staff that includes three dogs and two cats, one of whom identifies as canine and enjoys swimming, hiking and urban exploration.
For further information on John, his office staff and his published words, please check out:
johnbruning.com
John R Bruning on Facebook
and Sylvie_the_canine_cat on Instagram
In 2011, he received a Thomas Jefferson Award for his photojournalism and reporting in Afghanistan during the surge in 2010.
He lives in Oregon with his family and writes with an office staff that includes three dogs and two cats, one of whom identifies as canine and enjoys swimming, hiking and urban exploration.
For further information on John, his office staff and his published words, please check out:
johnbruning.com
John R Bruning on Facebook
and Sylvie_the_canine_cat on Instagram
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 161 reviews
January 19, 2021
This is a longish review (because I am sharing a lot of selections from the book) but I believe that is necessary to give you a sense of the scope, style and detail that this history/techno-biography provides.
"The aces—they were the ones who scored the kills, did the damage, and garnered headlines back home. Fewer than 5 percent of combat fighter pilots, they accounted for 47 percent of all the enemy planes knocked out of the sky."
Brunning has some history to relate ostensibly about a competition among American military pilots for a “top ace” designation. But, if that is all you come to this book for, you may resent what else Brunning includes.
I was both surprised and delighted to find that this “Race of Aces” was just the teaser to a most interesting history of how air power helped to turn the tide in the War in the Pacific. It has all of the drama and fascinating details of why and how this came about. We follow the lives of several “aces” as they decided to join up, train and set off for the Pacific theater.
"General Kenney had inherited the most disorganized and defeated command in Air Force history. To turn it around, he knew he needed two things: an aggressive spirit that pervaded every corner of the 5th Air Force and a plane that could beat the Japanese. He hoped the Lockheed P-38 Lightning would be that plane."
"Morale was near collapse. Mail hardly ever came. One local Aussie flying boat pilot became a local folk hero for refusing to make the run to Moresby from Townsville without somebody throwing at least a few sacks of mail into his aircraft. But most of the time, the planes and ships arrived with nothing. The mail piled up in Australia, weeks and weeks behind. For men already thinking they were in for a repeat of the Singapore campaign—trapped between the sea and a pitiless Japanese army—the lack of mail pushed some to the breaking point."
"Every day, they climbed into their (P-39) cockpits, sleep deprived and sickly, knowing that they faced diminishing odds of survival against the Zeroes sure to be waiting for them. They knew if they bailed out, their chances of survival diminished even more. Clambering out of the Airacobra’s car door was tough enough, but they soon found that doing so usually resulted in catastrophic injuries as the tail hit them when they free-fell from the cockpit. Those who survived to open their chutes often came down with broken limbs or severe head trauma."
"For a year, the press touted the P-38 as the United States’ most advanced and deadly fighter. Now it finally began to live up to the hype, and the men behind their controls became household names at a time when the USAAF had few victories to trumpet."
And, luckily, into their world strode the WW I ace, Eddie Rickenbacker: "He was the example Kenney’s men needed. Tough, resourceful, and built with a bulletproof never-quit attitude that even being lost at sea for weeks could not diminish, he set out to meet Kenney’s fighter pilots. This new generation of pilots greeted the old warrior with awe and not a little hero worship. Rickenbacker was touched. He felt for the kids suffering and dying in this primal hellhole. Kenney seized the moment and challenged his men to beat Eddie’s score. The pilots saw what that could mean: hero status, their name in papers across the country, and their faces in the newsreels."
About the P-38; "his hands flew across the controls. To get a Lightning into fighting trim took a blizzard of activity. Forget a step, and you’d be in trouble. Adrenaline poured through his body. Dick struggled to remain calm and remember exactly what to do. Switch to internal fuel.
Release the drop tanks.
Flip the gun switches on. Switch the gun sight on.
Throttle forward.
Fuel mix rich.
Don’t forget prop pitch and RPMs.
Watch manifold pressure.
Double-check the RPMs.
Coolant’s in the green." "Generators failed, engines quit. Fuel pumps died at the worst times. With no hangars, the birds sat out in the tropical sun, through downpours, and baked in the humidity. Stuff broke constantly. The ground crews threw everything they had into their tasks. They worked harder and longer than everyone else, dawn to dusk and beyond to try to make these fussy, complicated, high-tech planes stay in the air."
This “race of aces” may have been the accellerent needed to keep the pilots and crews focused on the mission and not on their environs or their fear and exhaustion.
"“Everything here is trying to kill you. Even the birds are poisonous. Leave the wildlife alone. Stay away from crocs—they’re vicious. Avoid snakes. Don’t touch the centipedes—especially the ones that are almost a foot long. Keep your boots upside down at night so scorpions don’t get in them. When you go swimming, watch out for the blue-and-black–striped snakes. They’re deadly. Oh, and take your antimalarials regularly. If you don’t, you’re sure to get it.”"
The P-38 was the warplane that made the Allies equal or better than the Japanese in the Pacific. It wasn’t a done deal because these planes were touchy and replacement parts were slow on arrival. It may have been the pilots that got the glory but it was the crews that did the incredible work of keeping them flying. Okay, having put that down I have to admit that I loved Bruning’s many descriptions of dogfights and battle tactics. Combines with close-up personality studies it made for compelling reading. What makes this book special are the many levels of investigation that we are seeing – from the privations of the soldiers and airmen to the way in which this “competition” was used to keep the “folks back home” engaged.
"In the pattern, Dick’s battle-damaged P-38 lost all hydraulic pressure. He lowered the gear by hand and settled onto the runway, only to discover a bullet had flattened one tire. He fought to keep the aircraft under control, braking as hard as he dared until finally coming to a stop. Moments later, as he taxied for the flight line, his P-38 ran out of fuel."
"Watkins and Gerald fought on, a team of two relentless tigers who tied up the second group of Hiens long enough to keep them off Bong’s flight. Watkins shot a Japanese fighter off Gerald’s tail. The Oregonian returned the favor a moment later. They climbed and dived, weaving through the Japanese as they made their passes and kept each other alive. It was brilliant teamwork, and Watkins flamed three more fighters. Then he lost Gerald in the swirling fight. The Oregonian had turned into an attacking Hien. Nose to nose, the two fighters sped toward each other, the Japanese pilot matching Gerald’s determination and aggressiveness. The American opened fire first; Gerald’s bullets stitched holes in the Hien’s cowling and wings. The Japanese returned fire, sending tracers over Johnson’s P-38 high and to the left. In an eyeblink, the two planes sped to point-blank range until Johnson’s cannon did its deadly work, blowing the Hien’s wing off. The doomed Japanese fighter spun crazily, out of control—and straight for Gerald, who tried to juke out of the way. He pulled up, but the Hien either exploded or spun right into his tail boom, catching the bottom of the vertical fin. Gerald heard a thump. The ’38 shuddered violently. He held his climb, trying to figure out what just happened and whether his Lightning could still be controlled."
"The squadron celebrated and morale lifted. Winning always did wonders for the mood, which was often tense on the ground. The men lived a pressure-cooker existence in a primitive space filled with physical misery. Kicking the enemy in the teeth meant an escape from that. For the moment, nobody scratched his jungle rot or minded the dreadful food while gathered in the O club, toasting the latest ace within their ranks."
"In Jim, Gerald, and Dick, a competitive fire burned that drove the rivalry between them. It also helped the 9th Squadron’s sense of esprit de corps to know that they were Kenney’s elite, the best of the best,"
"After Gerald received a wave of press back home, Barbara wrote him, “I think you like your job too much.” Gerald bristled at this. To him, dedication to the war effort was the reason he volunteered for so many missions, but in his most honest moments he recognized that Barbara hit a little too close to home. Being a fighter pilot was the biggest high he’d ever known. Proving he was better than the other pilot shooting at him fed something in him he didn’t understand, and the more he thought about it, he realized he didn’t want to. He’d prefer to go on thinking he was only destroying machines."
"teamwork in the air kept men alive. One P-38 was vulnerable, but two P-38s working together? Almost unbeatable."
"As he matured as a fighter pilot, he never chose personal score over what was best for the men around him. What was best was keeping everybody alive first, shooting planes down second."
"Those eight machine guns in their noses shredded wooden-hulled boats as if they were made of paper. Johnson later wrote that nobody could have survived such an onslaught. Given what they knew of the savagery the Japanese troops displayed toward the Aussies and American troops fighting in the nearby jungle, few of the Knights lost any sleep over the sight of this carnage."
"Tommy McGuire destroyed two more planes at the end of August to become one of the 475th Fighter Group’s first aces. Back home, nobody noticed. Vern and the other reporters covering the ace race ignored him, though in Australia the papers did carry an account of his first fight over Wewak. He was lost in the crowd of new aces rising with the P-38’s ascendancy, and the fact that he still was not well regarded by his peers—despite his astonishing success that August—had done him no favors."
"Kenney learned a valuable lesson that day. Publicity, accolades, and victory could be used as political currency to get what he wanted for his theater. He’d executed a masterful end run around Hap Arnold, who could not have been pleased with his insubordination. But the commander in chief ordered Arnold to send Kenney reinforcements, and dutifully he picked several about to head to England and directed them to Australia instead."
"Fagan had simply vanished. Dick felt responsible for his death, and he took it exceptionally hard. After a year of flying and fighting in theater, Bong was at the edge of his endurance. He was worn out, and even the leave in August hadn’t brought him all the way back. It was the same with all the high-time pilots in theater. The months of bad food, jungle diseases, and constant tension and fear affected everyone at a different rate."
At the moment, when Kenney demanded the utmost of them, the Knights could not field anything close to a full squadron of fighters. The birds were old, worn out by months of service in terrible jungle weather. They sat outside during thunderstorms. The humidity and moisture caused electrical issues. The gun sights failed. Tanks hung. Crashes took out even more birds, the worst of which happened to Clayton Barnes, who was nearly burned alive in his cockpit after losing an engine on takeoff."
"The attack was a complex one, with lots of moving parts that demanded exceptional timing. The 3rd Attack Group would take its B-25s around the coast of New Britain to attack the shipping from the north. Two other B-25 groups would bomb and strafe the airfields while laying a smokescreen to blind the land-based antiaircraft gunners. The 475th, 80th, and 39th would cover the bombers hitting the airfields. Johnson’s Flying Knights would have the extraordinarily difficult task of staying with the 3rd Attack Group as they skip-bombed the ships in the harbor. They’d have to be low to cover those B-25s, which would make the P-38s vulnerable to getting bounced from above by any patrolling Japanese fighters. This made surprise an essential part of the plan."
"He was sitting tranquil on his cot again. A doctor arrived, and while he seemed to be completely healthy, the attack wiped the P-38 pilot’s memory completely. He had no idea who he was, where he was, or what he was doing. Confused and frightened, he was led away by the medical staff. Everyone had a breaking point. Rabaul pushed the Lightning pilots to the brink and beyond. As Bob watched the pilot go, he wondered how close to the edge he was."
"“It isn’t like I like to kill anybody,” Kearby told the reporters, “but I do like to hunt.” For all his aggressiveness, Neel found comfort in the same psychological barrier to the killing as the other aces in the race. It was the plane he was destroying, not the pilot inside it. He didn’t think of that man, just the machine."
"The next batch of new P-38s arrived in Australia a few days after Lynch’s last mission, and it took the depots over a month to assemble them and get them combat ready. Had Lynch lived, perhaps the Flying Circus may have been fleshed out. Instead, it would be remembered only as an excuse to let two aces hunt and rack their scores up."
"this wasn’t 1943. The few Japanese bombers remaining in New Guinea flew only at night. As Gerald settled back in, he saw troubling signs everywhere. The 49th had been in continuous action for two years, and while the pilots rotated home, the ground crews did not. These men were burned and leathery from working under the tropical sun for months on end. They’d endured every imaginable disease, accepting that diarrhea was simply a part of life in New Guinea. They sweated and worked without enough tools, spare parts, or even basic facilities. Hangars simply did not exist in theater."
"Trench foot, dysentery, malaria—they would be hallmarks of life at Tacloban for months to come."
"Since the summer, his letters home to Marilynn were peppered with references to possible leave. He desperately needed it, his body covered in jungle sores and rashes. The medics gave him creams that tinted his skin purple but offered little relief. He was gaunt, emaciated from months of bad food, jungle living, and bouts with typhus and malaria, along with the constant stress of combat flying. His body was shot through from the constant adrenaline rushes. His cheeks grew sunken. He walked with a limp, and he smelled terrible from the mix of ointments, sweat, and oozing rashes. He kept going on sheer force of will, displaying great personal courage on the ground at times to motivate his men."
"As diverse as their personalities were, Dick and Tommy shared a similar loneliness. For different reasons, they were outsiders among their warrior tribe.
"The movie cameras of Pathé, Universal, Paramount, and Movietown stood on tripods, their operators panning across the throngs of people….There were so many photographers and movie camera crews that the Bongs had to repeat their vows again and again as they cycled through to get their images. Marge would later joke that on February 10, 1945, she married Dick four times."
If the topic interests you this is the one.
"The aces—they were the ones who scored the kills, did the damage, and garnered headlines back home. Fewer than 5 percent of combat fighter pilots, they accounted for 47 percent of all the enemy planes knocked out of the sky."
Brunning has some history to relate ostensibly about a competition among American military pilots for a “top ace” designation. But, if that is all you come to this book for, you may resent what else Brunning includes.
I was both surprised and delighted to find that this “Race of Aces” was just the teaser to a most interesting history of how air power helped to turn the tide in the War in the Pacific. It has all of the drama and fascinating details of why and how this came about. We follow the lives of several “aces” as they decided to join up, train and set off for the Pacific theater.
"General Kenney had inherited the most disorganized and defeated command in Air Force history. To turn it around, he knew he needed two things: an aggressive spirit that pervaded every corner of the 5th Air Force and a plane that could beat the Japanese. He hoped the Lockheed P-38 Lightning would be that plane."
"Morale was near collapse. Mail hardly ever came. One local Aussie flying boat pilot became a local folk hero for refusing to make the run to Moresby from Townsville without somebody throwing at least a few sacks of mail into his aircraft. But most of the time, the planes and ships arrived with nothing. The mail piled up in Australia, weeks and weeks behind. For men already thinking they were in for a repeat of the Singapore campaign—trapped between the sea and a pitiless Japanese army—the lack of mail pushed some to the breaking point."
"Every day, they climbed into their (P-39) cockpits, sleep deprived and sickly, knowing that they faced diminishing odds of survival against the Zeroes sure to be waiting for them. They knew if they bailed out, their chances of survival diminished even more. Clambering out of the Airacobra’s car door was tough enough, but they soon found that doing so usually resulted in catastrophic injuries as the tail hit them when they free-fell from the cockpit. Those who survived to open their chutes often came down with broken limbs or severe head trauma."
"For a year, the press touted the P-38 as the United States’ most advanced and deadly fighter. Now it finally began to live up to the hype, and the men behind their controls became household names at a time when the USAAF had few victories to trumpet."
And, luckily, into their world strode the WW I ace, Eddie Rickenbacker: "He was the example Kenney’s men needed. Tough, resourceful, and built with a bulletproof never-quit attitude that even being lost at sea for weeks could not diminish, he set out to meet Kenney’s fighter pilots. This new generation of pilots greeted the old warrior with awe and not a little hero worship. Rickenbacker was touched. He felt for the kids suffering and dying in this primal hellhole. Kenney seized the moment and challenged his men to beat Eddie’s score. The pilots saw what that could mean: hero status, their name in papers across the country, and their faces in the newsreels."
About the P-38; "his hands flew across the controls. To get a Lightning into fighting trim took a blizzard of activity. Forget a step, and you’d be in trouble. Adrenaline poured through his body. Dick struggled to remain calm and remember exactly what to do. Switch to internal fuel.
Release the drop tanks.
Flip the gun switches on. Switch the gun sight on.
Throttle forward.
Fuel mix rich.
Don’t forget prop pitch and RPMs.
Watch manifold pressure.
Double-check the RPMs.
Coolant’s in the green." "Generators failed, engines quit. Fuel pumps died at the worst times. With no hangars, the birds sat out in the tropical sun, through downpours, and baked in the humidity. Stuff broke constantly. The ground crews threw everything they had into their tasks. They worked harder and longer than everyone else, dawn to dusk and beyond to try to make these fussy, complicated, high-tech planes stay in the air."
This “race of aces” may have been the accellerent needed to keep the pilots and crews focused on the mission and not on their environs or their fear and exhaustion.
"“Everything here is trying to kill you. Even the birds are poisonous. Leave the wildlife alone. Stay away from crocs—they’re vicious. Avoid snakes. Don’t touch the centipedes—especially the ones that are almost a foot long. Keep your boots upside down at night so scorpions don’t get in them. When you go swimming, watch out for the blue-and-black–striped snakes. They’re deadly. Oh, and take your antimalarials regularly. If you don’t, you’re sure to get it.”"
The P-38 was the warplane that made the Allies equal or better than the Japanese in the Pacific. It wasn’t a done deal because these planes were touchy and replacement parts were slow on arrival. It may have been the pilots that got the glory but it was the crews that did the incredible work of keeping them flying. Okay, having put that down I have to admit that I loved Bruning’s many descriptions of dogfights and battle tactics. Combines with close-up personality studies it made for compelling reading. What makes this book special are the many levels of investigation that we are seeing – from the privations of the soldiers and airmen to the way in which this “competition” was used to keep the “folks back home” engaged.
"In the pattern, Dick’s battle-damaged P-38 lost all hydraulic pressure. He lowered the gear by hand and settled onto the runway, only to discover a bullet had flattened one tire. He fought to keep the aircraft under control, braking as hard as he dared until finally coming to a stop. Moments later, as he taxied for the flight line, his P-38 ran out of fuel."
"Watkins and Gerald fought on, a team of two relentless tigers who tied up the second group of Hiens long enough to keep them off Bong’s flight. Watkins shot a Japanese fighter off Gerald’s tail. The Oregonian returned the favor a moment later. They climbed and dived, weaving through the Japanese as they made their passes and kept each other alive. It was brilliant teamwork, and Watkins flamed three more fighters. Then he lost Gerald in the swirling fight. The Oregonian had turned into an attacking Hien. Nose to nose, the two fighters sped toward each other, the Japanese pilot matching Gerald’s determination and aggressiveness. The American opened fire first; Gerald’s bullets stitched holes in the Hien’s cowling and wings. The Japanese returned fire, sending tracers over Johnson’s P-38 high and to the left. In an eyeblink, the two planes sped to point-blank range until Johnson’s cannon did its deadly work, blowing the Hien’s wing off. The doomed Japanese fighter spun crazily, out of control—and straight for Gerald, who tried to juke out of the way. He pulled up, but the Hien either exploded or spun right into his tail boom, catching the bottom of the vertical fin. Gerald heard a thump. The ’38 shuddered violently. He held his climb, trying to figure out what just happened and whether his Lightning could still be controlled."
"The squadron celebrated and morale lifted. Winning always did wonders for the mood, which was often tense on the ground. The men lived a pressure-cooker existence in a primitive space filled with physical misery. Kicking the enemy in the teeth meant an escape from that. For the moment, nobody scratched his jungle rot or minded the dreadful food while gathered in the O club, toasting the latest ace within their ranks."
"In Jim, Gerald, and Dick, a competitive fire burned that drove the rivalry between them. It also helped the 9th Squadron’s sense of esprit de corps to know that they were Kenney’s elite, the best of the best,"
"After Gerald received a wave of press back home, Barbara wrote him, “I think you like your job too much.” Gerald bristled at this. To him, dedication to the war effort was the reason he volunteered for so many missions, but in his most honest moments he recognized that Barbara hit a little too close to home. Being a fighter pilot was the biggest high he’d ever known. Proving he was better than the other pilot shooting at him fed something in him he didn’t understand, and the more he thought about it, he realized he didn’t want to. He’d prefer to go on thinking he was only destroying machines."
"teamwork in the air kept men alive. One P-38 was vulnerable, but two P-38s working together? Almost unbeatable."
"As he matured as a fighter pilot, he never chose personal score over what was best for the men around him. What was best was keeping everybody alive first, shooting planes down second."
"Those eight machine guns in their noses shredded wooden-hulled boats as if they were made of paper. Johnson later wrote that nobody could have survived such an onslaught. Given what they knew of the savagery the Japanese troops displayed toward the Aussies and American troops fighting in the nearby jungle, few of the Knights lost any sleep over the sight of this carnage."
"Tommy McGuire destroyed two more planes at the end of August to become one of the 475th Fighter Group’s first aces. Back home, nobody noticed. Vern and the other reporters covering the ace race ignored him, though in Australia the papers did carry an account of his first fight over Wewak. He was lost in the crowd of new aces rising with the P-38’s ascendancy, and the fact that he still was not well regarded by his peers—despite his astonishing success that August—had done him no favors."
"Kenney learned a valuable lesson that day. Publicity, accolades, and victory could be used as political currency to get what he wanted for his theater. He’d executed a masterful end run around Hap Arnold, who could not have been pleased with his insubordination. But the commander in chief ordered Arnold to send Kenney reinforcements, and dutifully he picked several about to head to England and directed them to Australia instead."
"Fagan had simply vanished. Dick felt responsible for his death, and he took it exceptionally hard. After a year of flying and fighting in theater, Bong was at the edge of his endurance. He was worn out, and even the leave in August hadn’t brought him all the way back. It was the same with all the high-time pilots in theater. The months of bad food, jungle diseases, and constant tension and fear affected everyone at a different rate."
At the moment, when Kenney demanded the utmost of them, the Knights could not field anything close to a full squadron of fighters. The birds were old, worn out by months of service in terrible jungle weather. They sat outside during thunderstorms. The humidity and moisture caused electrical issues. The gun sights failed. Tanks hung. Crashes took out even more birds, the worst of which happened to Clayton Barnes, who was nearly burned alive in his cockpit after losing an engine on takeoff."
"The attack was a complex one, with lots of moving parts that demanded exceptional timing. The 3rd Attack Group would take its B-25s around the coast of New Britain to attack the shipping from the north. Two other B-25 groups would bomb and strafe the airfields while laying a smokescreen to blind the land-based antiaircraft gunners. The 475th, 80th, and 39th would cover the bombers hitting the airfields. Johnson’s Flying Knights would have the extraordinarily difficult task of staying with the 3rd Attack Group as they skip-bombed the ships in the harbor. They’d have to be low to cover those B-25s, which would make the P-38s vulnerable to getting bounced from above by any patrolling Japanese fighters. This made surprise an essential part of the plan."
"He was sitting tranquil on his cot again. A doctor arrived, and while he seemed to be completely healthy, the attack wiped the P-38 pilot’s memory completely. He had no idea who he was, where he was, or what he was doing. Confused and frightened, he was led away by the medical staff. Everyone had a breaking point. Rabaul pushed the Lightning pilots to the brink and beyond. As Bob watched the pilot go, he wondered how close to the edge he was."
"“It isn’t like I like to kill anybody,” Kearby told the reporters, “but I do like to hunt.” For all his aggressiveness, Neel found comfort in the same psychological barrier to the killing as the other aces in the race. It was the plane he was destroying, not the pilot inside it. He didn’t think of that man, just the machine."
"The next batch of new P-38s arrived in Australia a few days after Lynch’s last mission, and it took the depots over a month to assemble them and get them combat ready. Had Lynch lived, perhaps the Flying Circus may have been fleshed out. Instead, it would be remembered only as an excuse to let two aces hunt and rack their scores up."
"this wasn’t 1943. The few Japanese bombers remaining in New Guinea flew only at night. As Gerald settled back in, he saw troubling signs everywhere. The 49th had been in continuous action for two years, and while the pilots rotated home, the ground crews did not. These men were burned and leathery from working under the tropical sun for months on end. They’d endured every imaginable disease, accepting that diarrhea was simply a part of life in New Guinea. They sweated and worked without enough tools, spare parts, or even basic facilities. Hangars simply did not exist in theater."
"Trench foot, dysentery, malaria—they would be hallmarks of life at Tacloban for months to come."
"Since the summer, his letters home to Marilynn were peppered with references to possible leave. He desperately needed it, his body covered in jungle sores and rashes. The medics gave him creams that tinted his skin purple but offered little relief. He was gaunt, emaciated from months of bad food, jungle living, and bouts with typhus and malaria, along with the constant stress of combat flying. His body was shot through from the constant adrenaline rushes. His cheeks grew sunken. He walked with a limp, and he smelled terrible from the mix of ointments, sweat, and oozing rashes. He kept going on sheer force of will, displaying great personal courage on the ground at times to motivate his men."
"As diverse as their personalities were, Dick and Tommy shared a similar loneliness. For different reasons, they were outsiders among their warrior tribe.
"The movie cameras of Pathé, Universal, Paramount, and Movietown stood on tripods, their operators panning across the throngs of people….There were so many photographers and movie camera crews that the Bongs had to repeat their vows again and again as they cycled through to get their images. Marge would later joke that on February 10, 1945, she married Dick four times."
If the topic interests you this is the one.
January 26, 2020
When I was in high school back in the early 80's, I read Steve Birdsall's excellent book on the 5th Air Force, "Flying Buccaneers", and fell in love with the great race by several pilots to become the highest-scoring American ace of World War II. In the following years, I read stories about Richard Bong, Thomas McGuire, Neel Kearby, Gerald Johnson and Charles MacDonald in various other books, but never knew how much the desire to be Number One consumed some of them...until now.
John Bruning has written a fantastic book about these five men (albeit with a bit more emphasis on Bong and Johnson) and how the competition to first surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I victory total of 26, and then be the highest scoring American of World War II, consumed some of them and became a major story in newspapers across the United States. Most of the previous books I'd read about these pilots focused more on the facts about their numbers of victories and had virtually nothing about the more human sides of all of them. Bruning looks at each one in detail, with Bong and Johnson being a bit more detailed, and gives background on their upbringing, personalities, families, training and how they ended up competing against one another in the skies over New Guinea and the Philippines. For Bong and Johnson there is much detail about their early flight training and their love of the special women waiting back home for them in the U.S.
From the early days of flying P-39 and P-40 fighters to the later days of P-47 and P-38 supremacy, this book focuses mainly on a few fighter groups and squadrons, and is a bit of a love letter to the P-38 Lightning. Since the P-38 was the plane which four of the five pilots profiled flew the majority of the time, it's story is an integral part of their stories as well. The P-38 was my father's favorite plane from World War II and this made the book a bit more special to me.
Unfortunately, this book doesn't have a happy ending for four of the five pilots, something which they all deserved and which they fought so hard to achieve. Bruning's book is a wonderful tribute to these five heroes (and several others) and belongs in the library of anyone interested in the 5th Air Force, American aces and/or the war in the Southwest Pacific. Truly an excellent read.
John Bruning has written a fantastic book about these five men (albeit with a bit more emphasis on Bong and Johnson) and how the competition to first surpass Eddie Rickenbacker's World War I victory total of 26, and then be the highest scoring American of World War II, consumed some of them and became a major story in newspapers across the United States. Most of the previous books I'd read about these pilots focused more on the facts about their numbers of victories and had virtually nothing about the more human sides of all of them. Bruning looks at each one in detail, with Bong and Johnson being a bit more detailed, and gives background on their upbringing, personalities, families, training and how they ended up competing against one another in the skies over New Guinea and the Philippines. For Bong and Johnson there is much detail about their early flight training and their love of the special women waiting back home for them in the U.S.
From the early days of flying P-39 and P-40 fighters to the later days of P-47 and P-38 supremacy, this book focuses mainly on a few fighter groups and squadrons, and is a bit of a love letter to the P-38 Lightning. Since the P-38 was the plane which four of the five pilots profiled flew the majority of the time, it's story is an integral part of their stories as well. The P-38 was my father's favorite plane from World War II and this made the book a bit more special to me.
Unfortunately, this book doesn't have a happy ending for four of the five pilots, something which they all deserved and which they fought so hard to achieve. Bruning's book is a wonderful tribute to these five heroes (and several others) and belongs in the library of anyone interested in the 5th Air Force, American aces and/or the war in the Southwest Pacific. Truly an excellent read.
February 9, 2020
A few weeks ago, while seated in my cubicle at work having lunch, I came across "RACE OF ACES" quite by accident -- courtesy of The New York Times. Being an aviation buff, I could hardly contain my excitement from reading the NYT review of the book.
"RACE OF ACES" is a story that begins during the dark days of the Pacific War in the summer of 1942. From the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor (December 7th, 1941) to the middle of 1942, Japan's military machine had run riot in the Far East and Pacific, handily defeating the various American, British Empire, Australian, and Dutch efforts to thwart its advances into Burma, Malaya and Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and South Pacific.
There was one United States Army Air Force (USAAF) outfit that also played a role in trying to stem the Japanese tide of victory from April to July 1942 by which time it was placed in the hands of a new commander (General George Kenney) who was determined to restore its morale. This was the Fifth Air Force, whose fighter units in New Guinea with their P-39 Airacobra fighters were hard pressed to contest Japanese airpower because Japan's Zero fighters outclassed the P-39s in combat.
Upon arriving in New Guinea, Kenney was determined to reverse the fortunes of the Fifth Air Force and instill confidence in his fighter pilots to take on Japanese Army and Navy air units and win. As a way of achieving this goal, Kenney promoted what would come to be called the "Race of Aces", a challenge to every fighter pilot in the Fifth Air Force to surpass the victory score of America's Ace of Aces of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, who had achieved 26 victories in aerial combat against the Germans on the Western Front. Indeed, Rickenbacker himself, who visited Kenney and the Fifth Air Force near the end of 1942, offered a case of bourbon to any fighter pilot who surpassed his score. Kenney also offered an additional case of bourbon. The race was on.
It was also at the time of Rickenbacker's visit that a new, revolutionary USAAF fighter plane began to arrive in New Guinea in appreciable numbers to challenge Japanese air power in the Southwest Pacific. This was the twin-engined P-38 Lightning, which would go on to prove itself more than a match for the Zero and other Japanese fighters that were pitted against the Lightning in combat.
"RACE OF ACES" highlights 5 USAAF fighter pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy MacGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald, and Gerald Johnson -- who, through their prowess in aerial combat and their mounting victory scores, would grab the nation's attention as they contended to be the first to exceed Rickenbacker's score. What also makes this book so utterly compelling is the way Bruning recaptures the esprit de corps, the strong sense of unity of purpose and teamwork among the USAAF fighter units under Kenney's command (between pilots and ground crews), and the tensions, excitement, and perils of fighter-to-fighter combat.
Of the 5 pilots previously mentioned, it was Colonel Neel Kearby, a proud and boastful Texan who commanded the 348th Fighter Group --- which arrived in New Guinea during the summer of 1943 -- who was an exponent of the ruggedly built P-47 Thunderbolt, which was not looked on with favor by many of the fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific. Kearby, through his own example and the fierce loyalty he inspired from those who served under him in the 348th Fighter Group, set out to show what the Thunderbolt was capable of doing. In one scrap with the enemy, Kearby shot down 6 Japanese fighters, for which action he would be awarded the nation's highest decoration for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor.
"RACE OF ACES" also shows to the reader the high costs of war and how they impacted on the 5 aforesaid aces, their fellow fighter pilots in the Fifth Air Force, as well as the ground crews in V Fighter Command between 1942 and 1945. These are the costs that would be passed on to wives, sweethearts, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters -- and even unto future generations.
I cannot help but feel after reading this fantastic book a deep and abiding sense of gratitude for the sacrifices made by those Americans (like my Dad - who served as a GI in Europe from 1944 to 1946) who served in the military during the Second World War. We, who live today, owe them so much in the unending struggle to make the United States a better, more just and compassionate country for all who reside within it.
"RACE OF ACES" is a story that begins during the dark days of the Pacific War in the summer of 1942. From the attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor (December 7th, 1941) to the middle of 1942, Japan's military machine had run riot in the Far East and Pacific, handily defeating the various American, British Empire, Australian, and Dutch efforts to thwart its advances into Burma, Malaya and Singapore, the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, and South Pacific.
There was one United States Army Air Force (USAAF) outfit that also played a role in trying to stem the Japanese tide of victory from April to July 1942 by which time it was placed in the hands of a new commander (General George Kenney) who was determined to restore its morale. This was the Fifth Air Force, whose fighter units in New Guinea with their P-39 Airacobra fighters were hard pressed to contest Japanese airpower because Japan's Zero fighters outclassed the P-39s in combat.
Upon arriving in New Guinea, Kenney was determined to reverse the fortunes of the Fifth Air Force and instill confidence in his fighter pilots to take on Japanese Army and Navy air units and win. As a way of achieving this goal, Kenney promoted what would come to be called the "Race of Aces", a challenge to every fighter pilot in the Fifth Air Force to surpass the victory score of America's Ace of Aces of World War I, Eddie Rickenbacker, who had achieved 26 victories in aerial combat against the Germans on the Western Front. Indeed, Rickenbacker himself, who visited Kenney and the Fifth Air Force near the end of 1942, offered a case of bourbon to any fighter pilot who surpassed his score. Kenney also offered an additional case of bourbon. The race was on.
It was also at the time of Rickenbacker's visit that a new, revolutionary USAAF fighter plane began to arrive in New Guinea in appreciable numbers to challenge Japanese air power in the Southwest Pacific. This was the twin-engined P-38 Lightning, which would go on to prove itself more than a match for the Zero and other Japanese fighters that were pitted against the Lightning in combat.
"RACE OF ACES" highlights 5 USAAF fighter pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy MacGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald, and Gerald Johnson -- who, through their prowess in aerial combat and their mounting victory scores, would grab the nation's attention as they contended to be the first to exceed Rickenbacker's score. What also makes this book so utterly compelling is the way Bruning recaptures the esprit de corps, the strong sense of unity of purpose and teamwork among the USAAF fighter units under Kenney's command (between pilots and ground crews), and the tensions, excitement, and perils of fighter-to-fighter combat.
Of the 5 pilots previously mentioned, it was Colonel Neel Kearby, a proud and boastful Texan who commanded the 348th Fighter Group --- which arrived in New Guinea during the summer of 1943 -- who was an exponent of the ruggedly built P-47 Thunderbolt, which was not looked on with favor by many of the fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific. Kearby, through his own example and the fierce loyalty he inspired from those who served under him in the 348th Fighter Group, set out to show what the Thunderbolt was capable of doing. In one scrap with the enemy, Kearby shot down 6 Japanese fighters, for which action he would be awarded the nation's highest decoration for bravery in combat, the Medal of Honor.
"RACE OF ACES" also shows to the reader the high costs of war and how they impacted on the 5 aforesaid aces, their fellow fighter pilots in the Fifth Air Force, as well as the ground crews in V Fighter Command between 1942 and 1945. These are the costs that would be passed on to wives, sweethearts, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters -- and even unto future generations.
I cannot help but feel after reading this fantastic book a deep and abiding sense of gratitude for the sacrifices made by those Americans (like my Dad - who served as a GI in Europe from 1944 to 1946) who served in the military during the Second World War. We, who live today, owe them so much in the unending struggle to make the United States a better, more just and compassionate country for all who reside within it.
March 9, 2020
Awesome read from a very good author. The race is real, the stakes, huge, the flying amazing. Fantastic tribute to great aviators in one of the less well known periods of aviation history in WWII.
January 25, 2021
This is a hard one for me to rate. If I consider the story and concept of the book, I rate it 5 stars but that is what reviews are made for. Each of one of us looks at a book different. The general plot of this book is to challenge American aviators to be the first to break "Ace of Ace" Eddie Rickenbacker's WWI record of shooting down twenty six planes. John Bruning introduces us to the pilots that will achieve this accomplishment and does a great job of explaining combat scenes. Yet, to me duty and honor transformed into greed. By the end of the war they lost sight of what was truly important, their duty to allies and to their fellow pilots. They took horrendous risk to rack up their scores which resulted in many deaths. Maybe I'm analyzing this book to much. Maybe because the Japanese did so much damage to our military planes in the beginning that this was an effort to improve morale and we should overlook the deaths. I mean war is hell. It did go over big in the United States as many newspapers kept daily tallies of who was ahead in the count. I was looking for a book that added analysis and the broader context of the military situation these pilots are fighting in which would add depth to the story. At times I had to run to my computer to google a map of where they were fighting and what the plane look like they were fighting in. This little oversight was missing from this book. The story is a suspenseful 5, the adventure was a 3, and for all the maybe's I give it a 4. I just wish it didn't treat shooting down people trying to shoot them down like a home run derby.
February 13, 2021
What kind of nerve does it take to go up alone in a fighter plane and duel with an enemy? Race of Aces is an account of the best Allied fighters in the South Pacific during World War II. My thanks go to Net Galley and Hachette Books for the review copy. When I missed the publication date, I obtained a copy of the audio book from Seattle Bibliocommons. This proved to be a very good thing.
John R. Bruning does a fine job introducing each of the best fighters to us, and when he begins with a young man from Portland, Oregon, which is where I grew up, I was instantly engaged. There are five fighters whose stories are told here: Portlander Gerald Johnson, Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neal Kearby, and Charles MacDonald. The framework for the story is a competition for a prize offered by the iconic pilot, Eddie Rickenbacker, who promised a bottle of excellent bourbon to the first pilot to break his record of 26 planes shot down. The men’s heroism—and sometimes recklessness—makes for a compelling narrative for readers of military history.
I begin by listening to the audiobook as I make dinner, following up later each day by going over the digital review copy. However, I soon discover that the detailed descriptions of noteworthy dogfights are impossible to envision unless I do both at the same time. Soon my routine is to listen to the passages in between battles, knowing that whatever I am doing, I’d better drop it and grab my tablet so I can follow along once the pilots take to the air. When I do this, I am rewarded with a clear mental movie of what is unfolding. Some of these fights are breathtaking in their intensity.
A flying ace is someone that shoots down five or more enemy planes. The vast majority of World War II flyers were competent and may at some point have shot down a plane or two, but the aces were few and far between. They were often working with substandard equipment—with the best American machinery reserved for the war in Europe. One noteworthy statistic caught my attention:
“Fewer than 5 percent of combat fighter pilots achieved acehood, but they accounted for 47 percent of all the enemy planes knocked out of the sky.”
Again and again, I read instances in which the Allied fighter pilot plays a game of chicken with his opponent, flying straight at the enemy plane; usually the enemy veers off at the last minute, and once in awhile it’s the Allied fighter. There’s one noteworthy instance when they fly so close that the American pilot’s wing knocks into the Japanese plane; they find a smear of green paint on it after he lands. And so I kept wondering, what if nobody blinks? Of course, my mindset is diametrically opposite that needed for warfare; I think like a teacher. Don’t run with scissors. Slow down. Watch where you’re going, young man. Don’t wave your pencil or you’ll put somebody’s eye out. These guys, on the other hand, were warriors:
“Carl held his course and refused to break first. Blev watched in horror as he flew straight into a Zero, the two planes exploding with all the violence of a 500-mile an hour collision.”
Despite short rations at times, missing mechanical tools and parts of planes, and a number of other challenges, these men crippled the Japanese air corps in this part of the world, and because of this, the five aces were particularly loathed by the Japanese pilots. One of them is shot down toward the end, and although he survives the crash, he is shot repeatedly after he goes down. It’s just as well that he’s dead by the time they get to him:
“After he fell to the jungle floor, the Japanese stripped everything off him, including his boots, watch, clothes, jacket, and dog tags. They left his naked body unburied, sprawled facedown at the base of the tree, his parachute still entangled in its branches like a canopy for his anonymous grave.”
It’s a weird sort of compliment.
The audiobook frees me to check details not provided in the book itself. There is a description of the different aircraft available to the men, and as I listen. I search for images of them and find some diagrams; there are parts of the craft mentioned and I have no idea what they are. Hopefully those that pick up the finished copy may find some photographs or illustrations, but I have none, so I run some searches.
Ultimately, I don’t care at all who wins the bottle of bourbon, and I have trouble remembering who is who, apart from Gerald Johnson. But that doesn’t bother me; I am not in this thing for individual biographies of the pilots, or because of the Rickenbacker contest. I want to know more about the World War II pilots, and the contest between the five men provides an excellent framework for that information.
The audiobook, while useful, does have some small glitches. The narrator should have taken the trouble to find out how to pronounce place names. The story begins in Oregon, and every time the word “Willamette” is used—Willamette Valley, Willamette River, and so on—the mispronunciation sets my teeth on edge. I catch myself snarling at the reader as if he is there in the room with me. His general manner while describing the military aspects of the book, which of course is most of it, has a documentary feel to it, and it works well, but now and then we veer into the private lives of the pilots, and when more sensitivity and nuance are called for, the reader is still using that clipped documentary voice you’d associate with a movie shown in your high school social studies class. Because of these things as well as the complexity of the fight scenes, I recommend the printed version over the audio. However, if you can swing it, the best way of all is to use them both simultaneously.
Nobody can dispute that Bruning knows his material, and copious research was done to produce this book, at least on the American side of it. It is a bit longer than it needs to be, and my own preference would be to edit it down a bit. Also, although the “J” word is only used in quotations, it shouldn’t be used at all. Those that squawk about authenticity should try inserting the “N” word, which was also freely used during this time period, into the quotes, just to test the assertion, and then it’s obvious that of course no reputable author should publish such a thing. Racist terms, no matter how common to the time described, have no place in any reputable history publication, and he should have worked around them.
With these caveats, I recommend this book to those that enjoy military history.
John R. Bruning does a fine job introducing each of the best fighters to us, and when he begins with a young man from Portland, Oregon, which is where I grew up, I was instantly engaged. There are five fighters whose stories are told here: Portlander Gerald Johnson, Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neal Kearby, and Charles MacDonald. The framework for the story is a competition for a prize offered by the iconic pilot, Eddie Rickenbacker, who promised a bottle of excellent bourbon to the first pilot to break his record of 26 planes shot down. The men’s heroism—and sometimes recklessness—makes for a compelling narrative for readers of military history.
I begin by listening to the audiobook as I make dinner, following up later each day by going over the digital review copy. However, I soon discover that the detailed descriptions of noteworthy dogfights are impossible to envision unless I do both at the same time. Soon my routine is to listen to the passages in between battles, knowing that whatever I am doing, I’d better drop it and grab my tablet so I can follow along once the pilots take to the air. When I do this, I am rewarded with a clear mental movie of what is unfolding. Some of these fights are breathtaking in their intensity.
A flying ace is someone that shoots down five or more enemy planes. The vast majority of World War II flyers were competent and may at some point have shot down a plane or two, but the aces were few and far between. They were often working with substandard equipment—with the best American machinery reserved for the war in Europe. One noteworthy statistic caught my attention:
“Fewer than 5 percent of combat fighter pilots achieved acehood, but they accounted for 47 percent of all the enemy planes knocked out of the sky.”
Again and again, I read instances in which the Allied fighter pilot plays a game of chicken with his opponent, flying straight at the enemy plane; usually the enemy veers off at the last minute, and once in awhile it’s the Allied fighter. There’s one noteworthy instance when they fly so close that the American pilot’s wing knocks into the Japanese plane; they find a smear of green paint on it after he lands. And so I kept wondering, what if nobody blinks? Of course, my mindset is diametrically opposite that needed for warfare; I think like a teacher. Don’t run with scissors. Slow down. Watch where you’re going, young man. Don’t wave your pencil or you’ll put somebody’s eye out. These guys, on the other hand, were warriors:
“Carl held his course and refused to break first. Blev watched in horror as he flew straight into a Zero, the two planes exploding with all the violence of a 500-mile an hour collision.”
Despite short rations at times, missing mechanical tools and parts of planes, and a number of other challenges, these men crippled the Japanese air corps in this part of the world, and because of this, the five aces were particularly loathed by the Japanese pilots. One of them is shot down toward the end, and although he survives the crash, he is shot repeatedly after he goes down. It’s just as well that he’s dead by the time they get to him:
“After he fell to the jungle floor, the Japanese stripped everything off him, including his boots, watch, clothes, jacket, and dog tags. They left his naked body unburied, sprawled facedown at the base of the tree, his parachute still entangled in its branches like a canopy for his anonymous grave.”
It’s a weird sort of compliment.
The audiobook frees me to check details not provided in the book itself. There is a description of the different aircraft available to the men, and as I listen. I search for images of them and find some diagrams; there are parts of the craft mentioned and I have no idea what they are. Hopefully those that pick up the finished copy may find some photographs or illustrations, but I have none, so I run some searches.
Ultimately, I don’t care at all who wins the bottle of bourbon, and I have trouble remembering who is who, apart from Gerald Johnson. But that doesn’t bother me; I am not in this thing for individual biographies of the pilots, or because of the Rickenbacker contest. I want to know more about the World War II pilots, and the contest between the five men provides an excellent framework for that information.
The audiobook, while useful, does have some small glitches. The narrator should have taken the trouble to find out how to pronounce place names. The story begins in Oregon, and every time the word “Willamette” is used—Willamette Valley, Willamette River, and so on—the mispronunciation sets my teeth on edge. I catch myself snarling at the reader as if he is there in the room with me. His general manner while describing the military aspects of the book, which of course is most of it, has a documentary feel to it, and it works well, but now and then we veer into the private lives of the pilots, and when more sensitivity and nuance are called for, the reader is still using that clipped documentary voice you’d associate with a movie shown in your high school social studies class. Because of these things as well as the complexity of the fight scenes, I recommend the printed version over the audio. However, if you can swing it, the best way of all is to use them both simultaneously.
Nobody can dispute that Bruning knows his material, and copious research was done to produce this book, at least on the American side of it. It is a bit longer than it needs to be, and my own preference would be to edit it down a bit. Also, although the “J” word is only used in quotations, it shouldn’t be used at all. Those that squawk about authenticity should try inserting the “N” word, which was also freely used during this time period, into the quotes, just to test the assertion, and then it’s obvious that of course no reputable author should publish such a thing. Racist terms, no matter how common to the time described, have no place in any reputable history publication, and he should have worked around them.
With these caveats, I recommend this book to those that enjoy military history.
January 14, 2020
Wow, he can write! He has all of the requisite footnotes and indexes to prove this was a comprehensively researched book, but it races across the page like a tsunami!
That we won the war in the Pacific is a near on miracle. Our guys were fighting in inhospitable places, outnumbered, against a foe that did not tolerate frailty or failure. What did we have? A bunch of crazy brave young men willing to hurl themselves into the sky flying unpredictable machines into fierce battles with the odds dramatically against them.
Nor were the Japanese and jungles their only foe. Our pilots were given planes sometimes more intent on killing them than the Japanese! Profit over human safety in the manufacture of planes is not a new phenomenon. Lockheed’s P-38 Lightening was designed to go higher, faster thus have a better chance at taking on the nimble Japanese zeroes. A good idea, but poor execution. The planes had a nasty habit of killing the pilot and destroying their expensive selves. Engine failure on takeoff was one of the nasty surprises that felled plane and pilot. Or how about going in to battle and guns won’t work? It is not as if their foe would give them a time out from a ferocious battle to go fix their guns! As the planes were delivered and pilots trained on the complicated new system, in April 1942 there were 20 fatal crashes in California and Washington. Young pilots killed by their planes before they even got a chance at the intended foe.
In 1942 the battle in the Pacific was not going well. General MacArthur, not a fan of the Air Force to begin with, was finding no reason to believe they were going to help win this war. Then two things happened. General George Kenney, an experienced battle-hardened pilot himself, took over the pilots and a gauntlet was thrown. Our flyboys were not about to walk away from a dare. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was the stuff of legends, a larger than life hero. Fighting over the killing fields of WWI he shot down 26 enemy planes and won the highest award for combat, the Medal of Honor. He visited the Pacific, talking with the flyboys, keeping them spellbound as he recounted some of his exploits. He was known as the ace of aces, the best of the best. The highest total for an ace in the Pacific was Buzz Wagner with 8. Quite a difference. But the skies were buzzing with Japanese, a target rich environment. General Kenney seized the moment offering a case of scotch to the first pilot to beat Captain Rickenbacker’s record and the race was on!
But this was war, not a game, the stakes were life and death. John Bruning introduces us to the flyboys who took up the challenge. Gerald Johnson, a hometown kid from Eugene Oregon, an outdoors enthusiast, bit of a dare devil, totally besotted with his sweetheart Barbara. Dick Bong, a quiet farm boy from Wisconsin with an affinity for machinery nurtured from his years of working on farm equipment. Tommy McGuire, a smart New Jersey transplant to Florida, a rich kid surrounded by poor boys who never quite fit in. Tom Lynch, movie star handsome, with a degree in chemical engineering and the makings of a career in command. And others, all treated with respect and compassion by Bruning as he details a race that had far more consequences than any game.
Bruning takes the story from the delivery of the P-38’s to young flyboys with a penchant for mischief on to the end of the war and conclusion of the Race of Aces. Zooming under the Golden Gate Bridge, skimming the water at screaming speed. Exhilarating! Doesn’t that sound life fun??? Well, I might think it sounds like something pretty cool to try, but Air Force command was not amused. The battle scenes in the Pacific are detailed, well researched, and gripping. Our flyboys diving in against outrageous odds, crazy brave. And in the end, war exacts its price.
The Race of Aces is thoroughly researched with the foot notes to prove it, but it reads like a thriller, the scenes brought to vivid life in remembrance of young men who gave their all for their country.
That we won the war in the Pacific is a near on miracle. Our guys were fighting in inhospitable places, outnumbered, against a foe that did not tolerate frailty or failure. What did we have? A bunch of crazy brave young men willing to hurl themselves into the sky flying unpredictable machines into fierce battles with the odds dramatically against them.
Nor were the Japanese and jungles their only foe. Our pilots were given planes sometimes more intent on killing them than the Japanese! Profit over human safety in the manufacture of planes is not a new phenomenon. Lockheed’s P-38 Lightening was designed to go higher, faster thus have a better chance at taking on the nimble Japanese zeroes. A good idea, but poor execution. The planes had a nasty habit of killing the pilot and destroying their expensive selves. Engine failure on takeoff was one of the nasty surprises that felled plane and pilot. Or how about going in to battle and guns won’t work? It is not as if their foe would give them a time out from a ferocious battle to go fix their guns! As the planes were delivered and pilots trained on the complicated new system, in April 1942 there were 20 fatal crashes in California and Washington. Young pilots killed by their planes before they even got a chance at the intended foe.
In 1942 the battle in the Pacific was not going well. General MacArthur, not a fan of the Air Force to begin with, was finding no reason to believe they were going to help win this war. Then two things happened. General George Kenney, an experienced battle-hardened pilot himself, took over the pilots and a gauntlet was thrown. Our flyboys were not about to walk away from a dare. Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was the stuff of legends, a larger than life hero. Fighting over the killing fields of WWI he shot down 26 enemy planes and won the highest award for combat, the Medal of Honor. He visited the Pacific, talking with the flyboys, keeping them spellbound as he recounted some of his exploits. He was known as the ace of aces, the best of the best. The highest total for an ace in the Pacific was Buzz Wagner with 8. Quite a difference. But the skies were buzzing with Japanese, a target rich environment. General Kenney seized the moment offering a case of scotch to the first pilot to beat Captain Rickenbacker’s record and the race was on!
But this was war, not a game, the stakes were life and death. John Bruning introduces us to the flyboys who took up the challenge. Gerald Johnson, a hometown kid from Eugene Oregon, an outdoors enthusiast, bit of a dare devil, totally besotted with his sweetheart Barbara. Dick Bong, a quiet farm boy from Wisconsin with an affinity for machinery nurtured from his years of working on farm equipment. Tommy McGuire, a smart New Jersey transplant to Florida, a rich kid surrounded by poor boys who never quite fit in. Tom Lynch, movie star handsome, with a degree in chemical engineering and the makings of a career in command. And others, all treated with respect and compassion by Bruning as he details a race that had far more consequences than any game.
Bruning takes the story from the delivery of the P-38’s to young flyboys with a penchant for mischief on to the end of the war and conclusion of the Race of Aces. Zooming under the Golden Gate Bridge, skimming the water at screaming speed. Exhilarating! Doesn’t that sound life fun??? Well, I might think it sounds like something pretty cool to try, but Air Force command was not amused. The battle scenes in the Pacific are detailed, well researched, and gripping. Our flyboys diving in against outrageous odds, crazy brave. And in the end, war exacts its price.
The Race of Aces is thoroughly researched with the foot notes to prove it, but it reads like a thriller, the scenes brought to vivid life in remembrance of young men who gave their all for their country.
October 16, 2020
Great accounts of a forgotten piece of history. The dog fights in the South Pacific become real and visceral. But when you get the 40rh. Dogfight recounted in detail - much like the last twenty... it goes from excitement to mundane.
The writer does reveal some interesting historical tidbits and has a good style. Would love to give this book a five star rating - but much like the war itself, the book goes on forever.
The writer does reveal some interesting historical tidbits and has a good style. Would love to give this book a five star rating - but much like the war itself, the book goes on forever.
August 20, 2019
What an interesting historic novel. Bruning takes us on a fascinating read about the exploits of our air campaigns in the South Pacific. We follow the true lives of several pilots who go from average every day life to that of being wartime hero's. But on the way we get a great documented telling of the struggles of getting the right planes, the right pilots and the right leaders into the war theatre.
It was disheartening to read about the many pilots that never made it into war because they were killed flying planes that were untested and needed further development before they could go to war. How terrible it was to loose pilots just because equipment wasn't truly ready to fly!
But the story documents the lives of airmen who are challenged to break the record of ACES from WWI. Can they do better than scoring 20 plus kills? Can they become the next "ACE" pilot? Can they survive all of the cards stacked against them? Can they provide air cover for our ground troops and Navy so that we can prosecute the war in a way that will allow us to win?
I found this book interesting and yet sad because of what war does to people.
I think anyone would benefit from reading this account of the war and learning what brave men and women had to endure, overcome and accomplish so that we could live in a nation like the United States.
It was disheartening to read about the many pilots that never made it into war because they were killed flying planes that were untested and needed further development before they could go to war. How terrible it was to loose pilots just because equipment wasn't truly ready to fly!
But the story documents the lives of airmen who are challenged to break the record of ACES from WWI. Can they do better than scoring 20 plus kills? Can they become the next "ACE" pilot? Can they survive all of the cards stacked against them? Can they provide air cover for our ground troops and Navy so that we can prosecute the war in a way that will allow us to win?
I found this book interesting and yet sad because of what war does to people.
I think anyone would benefit from reading this account of the war and learning what brave men and women had to endure, overcome and accomplish so that we could live in a nation like the United States.
January 22, 2020
For those people interested in WWII aviation, this book provides a blow-by-blow, turn-by-turn account of many of the major air battles and dogfights in the Pacific theater, mostly during the campaign on New Guinea, leading up to and including the invasion of the Philippines.
Aerial warfare is a curious thing. Official counts are kept of enemy planes downed (called “kills” although the pilot may survive). Pilots either receive official credit, or credited with a 'probable', or uncredited when there are no allied witnesses or camera evidence. There are no shared credits, so when there's a conflict between two pilots who both fired on a plane, one of them gets sole credit. In some cases it came down to a coin flip or drawing cards.
This official crediting system gave rise to a competition among pilots to become the biggest Ace in US history, after WWI Ace Eddie Rickenbacker promised a case of whiskey to the Ace who beat his WWI record of 26. The press stoked the competitive fires, and the government saw it as a good morale-boosting exercise for the general public.
Unfortunately, it had deadly consequences for pilots. As the race heated up, leading contenders flouted common air warfare practice to go 'freelancing' to hunt enemy aircraft. Some of these men were killed by doing things that they would normally not do, and in fact had preached against doing earlier. The race warped their judgment. In their defense, there was a lot of pressure on them, and the conditions were physically and psychologically exhausting.
The author has done an astonishing amount of research to get this fine a detail. It's a real “You are there” approach, although some of the third-person omniscient narrative may be suspect (you ask yourself 'how does he know what that guy was thinking, or give a verbatim account of that conversation?), and he needs to be more careful with his slang; his use of the term REMF early in the book made me laugh out loud because I knew what it meant, but he doesn't define it until later. He never defined the "short snorter" that people were signing - I had to look it up.
In summary, the book is a compelling read that shines a light on the brutal conditions in that theater and the technical sophistication of aerial dogfighting at that time. Highly recommended for fans of WWII history.
Aerial warfare is a curious thing. Official counts are kept of enemy planes downed (called “kills” although the pilot may survive). Pilots either receive official credit, or credited with a 'probable', or uncredited when there are no allied witnesses or camera evidence. There are no shared credits, so when there's a conflict between two pilots who both fired on a plane, one of them gets sole credit. In some cases it came down to a coin flip or drawing cards.
This official crediting system gave rise to a competition among pilots to become the biggest Ace in US history, after WWI Ace Eddie Rickenbacker promised a case of whiskey to the Ace who beat his WWI record of 26. The press stoked the competitive fires, and the government saw it as a good morale-boosting exercise for the general public.
Unfortunately, it had deadly consequences for pilots. As the race heated up, leading contenders flouted common air warfare practice to go 'freelancing' to hunt enemy aircraft. Some of these men were killed by doing things that they would normally not do, and in fact had preached against doing earlier. The race warped their judgment. In their defense, there was a lot of pressure on them, and the conditions were physically and psychologically exhausting.
The author has done an astonishing amount of research to get this fine a detail. It's a real “You are there” approach, although some of the third-person omniscient narrative may be suspect (you ask yourself 'how does he know what that guy was thinking, or give a verbatim account of that conversation?), and he needs to be more careful with his slang; his use of the term REMF early in the book made me laugh out loud because I knew what it meant, but he doesn't define it until later. He never defined the "short snorter" that people were signing - I had to look it up.
In summary, the book is a compelling read that shines a light on the brutal conditions in that theater and the technical sophistication of aerial dogfighting at that time. Highly recommended for fans of WWII history.
May 24, 2021
Another story off the beaten path of familiar WWII stories. Five US war aces vied for the best of the best. An ace was a fighter who had five or more enemy aircraft kills. The stories were about the five individuals and the P-38 Lightning fighter.
Richard Bong ended up with the most US kills with 40. Forty kills were pretty low compared with the top ace of WWII, Erich Hartmann of Germany, who had 352 kills. There were 107 German pilots with more than 100 kills.
The P-38 is not the first fighter I think of US fighters. Maybe more like the P-51 Mustang. But nope, this was the dominant plane of US aces. It had distinctive twin booms and did not look the part of a sleek fighter. But it did the job.
Overall a good story but, just too long. At 552 pages and almost 17 listening hours on Audible, it just saps the enjoyment out of it. I like the 200-page guideline—brevity, brevity, brevity.
Richard Bong ended up with the most US kills with 40. Forty kills were pretty low compared with the top ace of WWII, Erich Hartmann of Germany, who had 352 kills. There were 107 German pilots with more than 100 kills.
The P-38 is not the first fighter I think of US fighters. Maybe more like the P-51 Mustang. But nope, this was the dominant plane of US aces. It had distinctive twin booms and did not look the part of a sleek fighter. But it did the job.
Overall a good story but, just too long. At 552 pages and almost 17 listening hours on Audible, it just saps the enjoyment out of it. I like the 200-page guideline—brevity, brevity, brevity.
October 8, 2020
Aerial warfare is much harder to follow than naval or ground combat. It also lacks the suspense of submarine warfare. I am convinced that the best pilot of WWII was not one of the men chronicled. We have an obsession with numbers—the best pilot may have had fewer kills but made much better decisions and did not put himself or his men at unnecessary risk to pad the stat sheets. To that pilot, lost to obscurity—my hat is off to you.
August 15, 2019
A detailed account of the air war in the Pacific from the perspective of Air Force aces. Bruning brings 30 years of research to play in this account of the aces who sought to break Eddie Rickenbacker's record and their goal to be be top American ace of WWII. Bruning makes the characters come alive, flaws and all.
The book is a record of the heroics of the Pacific War, but also a warning about the popularization of individual achievements in combat. The media, as well as the ambition of the pilots, drove the race of aces. Unfortunately, many died in combat due to their reckless actions in pursuit of kills.
This is a long and detailed book. However, after 100 pages I could not put it down. I recommend it to anyone interested in WWII or the history of aviation.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a prepublication ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The book is a record of the heroics of the Pacific War, but also a warning about the popularization of individual achievements in combat. The media, as well as the ambition of the pilots, drove the race of aces. Unfortunately, many died in combat due to their reckless actions in pursuit of kills.
This is a long and detailed book. However, after 100 pages I could not put it down. I recommend it to anyone interested in WWII or the history of aviation.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing a prepublication ARC in exchange for an honest review.
July 2, 2020
Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Masters of the Sky
by
John R. Bruning
4 Stars
John Bruning’s Race of Aces is a wonderful portrait of the Army Air Force fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. The book was obviously extensively researched, it is well written, and it is eminently readable. Bruning succeeds in bringing the war to life, exposing the heroism and the flaws of the pilots who battled to become America’s Ace of Aces while many times taking the reader right into the cockpit in the heat of battle. It’s not a history of the war in the Pacific, it’s the story of the men who fought it; and it’s a great one.
https://mhassett23.blogspot.com/2020/...
by
John R. Bruning
4 Stars
John Bruning’s Race of Aces is a wonderful portrait of the Army Air Force fighter pilots in the Southwest Pacific during World War II. The book was obviously extensively researched, it is well written, and it is eminently readable. Bruning succeeds in bringing the war to life, exposing the heroism and the flaws of the pilots who battled to become America’s Ace of Aces while many times taking the reader right into the cockpit in the heat of battle. It’s not a history of the war in the Pacific, it’s the story of the men who fought it; and it’s a great one.
https://mhassett23.blogspot.com/2020/...
December 4, 2019
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Some reviewers have described this book as an historical novel. The author probably took liberties with conversations and situations but all in the context of telling the story. I did find it difficult to stay interested with the characters and the situations they found themselves in, both in the civilian world and in combat. 'Race of Aces' does give the reader valuable insight into flight training and the minutiae of living in bare bones outposts. Good information just no wow factor.
July 19, 2020
Bruning's detailed account of the air war in the southwest pacific theater of the Second World War covers the half dozen or so leading American aces. What I found most interesting was that of those men, only one made it back to the US alive. Indeed, the highest scoring aces from most wars are killed in action by the time hostilities cease. This is a testament to the danger of fighting in the air, and the added danger of pursuing kills, which leads a pilot to take greater risk.
November 5, 2023
Part of my brain knew how the stories of these men serving in WWII would end, but the stubborn part of my brain refused to think about that and therefore it was a deeply emotional book for me. I am so glad to learned about these heroes and what the Pacific front was really like.
February 9, 2021
The author does a great job of putting you in the cockpit and in the tents of the US Army pilots flying against the Japanese in the SWPA. The book starts slow, talking about flight training and fashion but, he moves quickly into combat. The author did his research on the capabilities and limitations of the aircraft flown by the US pilots and the Japanese pilots and some of their tactics. He also researched official reports and correspondence between the US pilots and friends and family at home. The author also goes into the personalities and quirks of many of the pilots and how put him in the "Race of Aces" during WWII.
Although the author focuses on just a few pilots, he also discusses many others throughout the book. He paints a sad landscape when he discusses the living conditions of the flyers from 1942 - 1945. He also goes into great detail about how the ground forces operated during combat on those far-flung islands, the prevailing weather conditions as well as the wildlife native to both the land and the sea in the region. If you have a military background, you'll enjoy "Race of Aces", and if you don't, his frank discussion might be a little upsetting for someone who has never carried a rifle in the mud up to their hips while getting dust in their eyes.
Although the author focuses on just a few pilots, he also discusses many others throughout the book. He paints a sad landscape when he discusses the living conditions of the flyers from 1942 - 1945. He also goes into great detail about how the ground forces operated during combat on those far-flung islands, the prevailing weather conditions as well as the wildlife native to both the land and the sea in the region. If you have a military background, you'll enjoy "Race of Aces", and if you don't, his frank discussion might be a little upsetting for someone who has never carried a rifle in the mud up to their hips while getting dust in their eyes.
May 19, 2020
They were the true 🌟 of dark time in this country history.
The book is a great story of the home town kids growing up in middle of world torn apart by war. Boyes who became men be they time. Boyes who became a nation hero's when the nation need something to hang on to. They lived and to soon. May we never forget they and they brothers sisters are the reason we are and forever be grateful nation.
The book is a great story of the home town kids growing up in middle of world torn apart by war. Boyes who became men be they time. Boyes who became a nation hero's when the nation need something to hang on to. They lived and to soon. May we never forget they and they brothers sisters are the reason we are and forever be grateful nation.
April 26, 2021
Wow... good book!
February 13, 2025
Very well researched and we'll written. I think the author portrayed a few too many personal misplaced beliefs, but still a really good book
April 29, 2020
I was not ready for such unrelenting tragedy; the worst gift you can give a 22 year old boy is a twin engine fighter plane and a world war. Brilliantly told, and the best book I have read this year.
February 4, 2021
As I sit down to write this review, having flicked through the book to refresh my memory of the photos among other things, I am overcome by a slight sense of dread. As usual, it has been some months since I read Race of Aces. Indeed, it was late 2019 and I have been intending to write a review since then, initially to coincide with the book’s launch. Best laid plans and all that. The sense of dread comes from remembering how much is in John Bruning’s latest treatise on the Pacific air war and, to be honest, I don’t think a review begun as soon as I finished the final page would have been any easier. The ‘warm fuzzies’ are returning though. Why? It’s because this book, about the ‘race’ to become the top American ace, has few, if any, equals.
Besides the men featured in this 520-plus page book, one of the heroes of the tale is the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Perhaps more than any other Allied aircraft in the South Pacific, the Lightning is the fighter. Its success here overshadows its escort work in Europe and that’s mostly because it is always associated with the USAAF’s top ace, the man who won the race, Richard Bong. Add Tom Lynch, Gerald Johnson, Charles MacDonald and Tommy McGuire, not to mention a good number of other quality fliers, and the Lightning just about deserves the pedestal it has ascended to in modern times. Yet, it had serious issues early on, killing many a new, and some not quite so new, pilot as they worked up in California in 1942. Its complexities proved challenging in theatre too, not helped by a supply line stretching across the Pacific to Australia. That the pilots achieved what they did, upon finding their feet in New Guinea, speaks of the ingenuity, skill and determination that was common across Allied units during the dark days of late 1942.
The one outlier in the race was Neel Kearby, the hard-charging, redoubtable, freelancing P-47 Thunderbolt pilot determined to show the Lightning boys up. Sadly, like two of his colleagues above, he was killed breaking one of the golden rules of aerial combat, rules these men lived by and were the greatest proponents of. In the case of McGuire, the apparently prickly, aggressive and opinionated pilot who came closest to Bong’s score, the rules were broken to save a colleague. That’s the thing, they were just men. They were not invincible and were far from perfect as both aviators and individuals. Every single one of them, at least once, struggled home in a damaged aircraft, sometimes wounded. They were human, they had flaws. They made mistakes, but, for the most part, they had the skill to get away with it. Heroic men, yes, and they were clearly feted as such, but there is no gushing hero worship here. It’s not needed.
The origins of the race came from the challenge, created by General George Kenney, and inspired by the Great War ace Eddie Rickenbacker, to beat the latter’s tally of 26 victories. The Americans, with the Australians, had a foothold in New Guinea, but the Japanese aerial forces, stretched as they proved to be, were mostly free to raid Allied airfields with relative impunity, American and Australian fighters struggling to meet them on even terms, let alone remain in serviceable condition to do so. The idea of the race was what Kenney needed to inject some motivation, some esprit de corps, into his men. It helped highlight the struggles they faced to the people stateside too. The South Pacific conjured up idyllic images – palm trees, sandy beaches and the like – but the reality, while including those, featured mud, heat, humidity, malaria and rotting clothes as a part of everyday life. It was draining, on men and equipment, and made no easier by a logistical nightmare and supply lines still reeling from the retreat from the Philippines and Java.
This is the world into which the reader is placed immediately from the first page. It’s a taste of what’s to come, while the next few chapters concentrate on setting the scene in the US, as young men, soon to be giants, find their feet in the Army and in life. Ultimately, this world, that the author recreates beautifully, is one stretching from hometown America right across the Pacific to Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines (if New Guinea was hell, what on earth was fetid, putrid Tacloban?). It is a world both familiar and unimaginable. The exquisite snapshot of 1942 San Francisco, a particular literary highlight, is of a modern, vibrant and fashionable city (a stark contrast to the Port Moresby area some of the Lightning men found themselves in six months later), and is but a fond memory several hundred pages later when the author casts his eye over the same city after two years of war.
Those years of war, and beyond, in which we follow the fighter units and the grinding Allied advance, see supply issues slowly improve, living conditions slowly improve, and fighter pilots rise and fall. Journalists, ably assisted by Kenney and his staff, scramble to report on the latest victories, introducing men to the American public who quickly became household names, so much so that even events in their private lives become front page news. The reader, too, is equally invested because, as hinted above, their heroics are but the tip of the iceberg. Having followed the author's travelogue on social media as he visited archives across the country, it was clear, even then, he was going far deeper than just recording the combat careers of America’s greatest fighter pilots, far deeper than anyone before. While these men have been a decades’ long fascination for John Bruning (a partial outlet being his early 2000s Jungle Ace biography of Gerald Johnson), there was still much to discover, to learn, in order to bring these flyers back to life. This shows early on with a stunningly candid look at McGuire’s time in Alaska. You know who he is, what he will do, but he is hard to like. Similarly, Bong’s struggle to move on from losing wingmen, resulting in the quiet country boy withdrawing further into himself to the point he is completely misunderstood by many of his squadron-mates, is as painful and heart-wrenching as his love for Marge is joyous to behold. We can’t ever truly know these men now, but, such is the power of this book, you feel like you do.
The women, and families to a lesser extent, in the lives of the pilots figure strongly and it is pleasing to see three of them feature in the glossy photo section (that, I suspect, is probably about 10% of what was available). Indeed, the very last image used, when read with its caption, is once again moving. Too many widows.
The race, while initially a morale booster, became so much more. It pushed pilots to improve their skills, to fly extra missions and, with an eye on the score, to take risks beyond their normal operational duty into the realm of individual glory. Rickenbacker’s score was ultimately irrelevant and the race, somewhat fuelled by the interest from home, for some men at least, consumed them. These American airmen were not the only game in town, however. The Royal Australian Air Force, while not in the race per se, was competition when it came to finding enemy aircraft to destroy. There is a brief tip of the hat to them in that respect, but no mention of their involvement in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The focus, for that particular event, is on the American fighter contribution, so that’s understandable and also brings us to the elephant in the room – the Japanese. Extensive access to Japanese records in recent years has revealed the true extent of their losses, proving both sides habitually overclaimed their aerial victories. While it is very likely a study of Japanese records would reveal, and perhaps has, a discrepancy in losses inflicted by the leaders of the race, such details are irrelevant to the race itself. The race was to be the first to 26 kills. Were the Americans checking the Japanese records to verify such things? Of course not! Claims were made in good faith, with eyewitness proof where possible. It is the effect of the race on these men, and their effect on morale in their units and stateside, that is the story here.
It is a story told in such a way that a stream of superlatives barely wouldn’t come close to expressing its qualities. I’ve tried to get that point across above without detailing a calendar of events and a blow-by-blow account as players appear on, and then exit, the main stage. To do so would mean an even longer review and, let’s face it, these things are long enough. There is so much in 'Race of Aces' and all of it is good. No, exceptional. The narrative is beautifully crafted and was clearly considerably longer (oh, to get to grips with that!). You’d expect relative flat spots in such a long, detailed book, but there are none and that makes it an absolute tragedy when it has to be put down to get on with real life. I would not be surprised if some readers devoured this in one sitting. A masterful work, one of the greatest, befitting the remarkable men, and women, living between its covers.
Besides the men featured in this 520-plus page book, one of the heroes of the tale is the Lockheed P-38 Lightning. Perhaps more than any other Allied aircraft in the South Pacific, the Lightning is the fighter. Its success here overshadows its escort work in Europe and that’s mostly because it is always associated with the USAAF’s top ace, the man who won the race, Richard Bong. Add Tom Lynch, Gerald Johnson, Charles MacDonald and Tommy McGuire, not to mention a good number of other quality fliers, and the Lightning just about deserves the pedestal it has ascended to in modern times. Yet, it had serious issues early on, killing many a new, and some not quite so new, pilot as they worked up in California in 1942. Its complexities proved challenging in theatre too, not helped by a supply line stretching across the Pacific to Australia. That the pilots achieved what they did, upon finding their feet in New Guinea, speaks of the ingenuity, skill and determination that was common across Allied units during the dark days of late 1942.
The one outlier in the race was Neel Kearby, the hard-charging, redoubtable, freelancing P-47 Thunderbolt pilot determined to show the Lightning boys up. Sadly, like two of his colleagues above, he was killed breaking one of the golden rules of aerial combat, rules these men lived by and were the greatest proponents of. In the case of McGuire, the apparently prickly, aggressive and opinionated pilot who came closest to Bong’s score, the rules were broken to save a colleague. That’s the thing, they were just men. They were not invincible and were far from perfect as both aviators and individuals. Every single one of them, at least once, struggled home in a damaged aircraft, sometimes wounded. They were human, they had flaws. They made mistakes, but, for the most part, they had the skill to get away with it. Heroic men, yes, and they were clearly feted as such, but there is no gushing hero worship here. It’s not needed.
The origins of the race came from the challenge, created by General George Kenney, and inspired by the Great War ace Eddie Rickenbacker, to beat the latter’s tally of 26 victories. The Americans, with the Australians, had a foothold in New Guinea, but the Japanese aerial forces, stretched as they proved to be, were mostly free to raid Allied airfields with relative impunity, American and Australian fighters struggling to meet them on even terms, let alone remain in serviceable condition to do so. The idea of the race was what Kenney needed to inject some motivation, some esprit de corps, into his men. It helped highlight the struggles they faced to the people stateside too. The South Pacific conjured up idyllic images – palm trees, sandy beaches and the like – but the reality, while including those, featured mud, heat, humidity, malaria and rotting clothes as a part of everyday life. It was draining, on men and equipment, and made no easier by a logistical nightmare and supply lines still reeling from the retreat from the Philippines and Java.
This is the world into which the reader is placed immediately from the first page. It’s a taste of what’s to come, while the next few chapters concentrate on setting the scene in the US, as young men, soon to be giants, find their feet in the Army and in life. Ultimately, this world, that the author recreates beautifully, is one stretching from hometown America right across the Pacific to Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines (if New Guinea was hell, what on earth was fetid, putrid Tacloban?). It is a world both familiar and unimaginable. The exquisite snapshot of 1942 San Francisco, a particular literary highlight, is of a modern, vibrant and fashionable city (a stark contrast to the Port Moresby area some of the Lightning men found themselves in six months later), and is but a fond memory several hundred pages later when the author casts his eye over the same city after two years of war.
Those years of war, and beyond, in which we follow the fighter units and the grinding Allied advance, see supply issues slowly improve, living conditions slowly improve, and fighter pilots rise and fall. Journalists, ably assisted by Kenney and his staff, scramble to report on the latest victories, introducing men to the American public who quickly became household names, so much so that even events in their private lives become front page news. The reader, too, is equally invested because, as hinted above, their heroics are but the tip of the iceberg. Having followed the author's travelogue on social media as he visited archives across the country, it was clear, even then, he was going far deeper than just recording the combat careers of America’s greatest fighter pilots, far deeper than anyone before. While these men have been a decades’ long fascination for John Bruning (a partial outlet being his early 2000s Jungle Ace biography of Gerald Johnson), there was still much to discover, to learn, in order to bring these flyers back to life. This shows early on with a stunningly candid look at McGuire’s time in Alaska. You know who he is, what he will do, but he is hard to like. Similarly, Bong’s struggle to move on from losing wingmen, resulting in the quiet country boy withdrawing further into himself to the point he is completely misunderstood by many of his squadron-mates, is as painful and heart-wrenching as his love for Marge is joyous to behold. We can’t ever truly know these men now, but, such is the power of this book, you feel like you do.
The women, and families to a lesser extent, in the lives of the pilots figure strongly and it is pleasing to see three of them feature in the glossy photo section (that, I suspect, is probably about 10% of what was available). Indeed, the very last image used, when read with its caption, is once again moving. Too many widows.
The race, while initially a morale booster, became so much more. It pushed pilots to improve their skills, to fly extra missions and, with an eye on the score, to take risks beyond their normal operational duty into the realm of individual glory. Rickenbacker’s score was ultimately irrelevant and the race, somewhat fuelled by the interest from home, for some men at least, consumed them. These American airmen were not the only game in town, however. The Royal Australian Air Force, while not in the race per se, was competition when it came to finding enemy aircraft to destroy. There is a brief tip of the hat to them in that respect, but no mention of their involvement in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. The focus, for that particular event, is on the American fighter contribution, so that’s understandable and also brings us to the elephant in the room – the Japanese. Extensive access to Japanese records in recent years has revealed the true extent of their losses, proving both sides habitually overclaimed their aerial victories. While it is very likely a study of Japanese records would reveal, and perhaps has, a discrepancy in losses inflicted by the leaders of the race, such details are irrelevant to the race itself. The race was to be the first to 26 kills. Were the Americans checking the Japanese records to verify such things? Of course not! Claims were made in good faith, with eyewitness proof where possible. It is the effect of the race on these men, and their effect on morale in their units and stateside, that is the story here.
It is a story told in such a way that a stream of superlatives barely wouldn’t come close to expressing its qualities. I’ve tried to get that point across above without detailing a calendar of events and a blow-by-blow account as players appear on, and then exit, the main stage. To do so would mean an even longer review and, let’s face it, these things are long enough. There is so much in 'Race of Aces' and all of it is good. No, exceptional. The narrative is beautifully crafted and was clearly considerably longer (oh, to get to grips with that!). You’d expect relative flat spots in such a long, detailed book, but there are none and that makes it an absolute tragedy when it has to be put down to get on with real life. I would not be surprised if some readers devoured this in one sitting. A masterful work, one of the greatest, befitting the remarkable men, and women, living between its covers.
June 22, 2022
During WWII, Allied air forces had a very tough time in the southern Pacific since the European Theater received most of the planes, parts, and personnel until well into the war. Even so, the Allies carried on. This book focuses on American pilots and the extreme sacrifices they made to prevail against the enemy.
I was heartbroken reading about the horrible conditions the pilots and mechanics had to deal with: the lack of housing and food, the rampant parasites and diseases, and the constant strafing and bombing by the enemy. Even with all that working against them for the first 1-2 years, they pushed themselves to the limit and helped secure air superiority (eventually) for the Allies.
When I finished the book, I was proud of what they had accomplished, but I was mostly left with a sense of sadness and loss (explained in the SPOILER section below). This tale is a great example of what happens when the self becomes more important than anyone or anything else.
SPOILERS
These men were destroyed by their reaction to the offhand comment of American WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker. He challenged American pilots to beat his record of 26 downed planes in WWI. This had a devastating effect on the top pilots. As the war continued, they lost sight of what was truly important: their duty to the Allies and to their fellow pilots. They took horrendous risks to rack up their scores. This resulted in many deaths. Duty and honor transformed into greed. This combined with the emotionally and physically destructive effects of war itself to create a deadly environment. Were they great pilots? Yes, but the price they paid to become the Ace of Aces was dreadfully high for them and the people who loved them.
I was heartbroken reading about the horrible conditions the pilots and mechanics had to deal with: the lack of housing and food, the rampant parasites and diseases, and the constant strafing and bombing by the enemy. Even with all that working against them for the first 1-2 years, they pushed themselves to the limit and helped secure air superiority (eventually) for the Allies.
When I finished the book, I was proud of what they had accomplished, but I was mostly left with a sense of sadness and loss (explained in the SPOILER section below). This tale is a great example of what happens when the self becomes more important than anyone or anything else.
SPOILERS
These men were destroyed by their reaction to the offhand comment of American WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker. He challenged American pilots to beat his record of 26 downed planes in WWI. This had a devastating effect on the top pilots. As the war continued, they lost sight of what was truly important: their duty to the Allies and to their fellow pilots. They took horrendous risks to rack up their scores. This resulted in many deaths. Duty and honor transformed into greed. This combined with the emotionally and physically destructive effects of war itself to create a deadly environment. Were they great pilots? Yes, but the price they paid to become the Ace of Aces was dreadfully high for them and the people who loved them.
February 21, 2020
I received an advance copy of "Race of Aces", by John R. Bruning, courtesy of the publisher. I am delighted to report that it was a wonderful read. The first thing to note is that the framing literary conceit is the intense competition in the Army Air Forces (AAF) under the command of Douglas MacArthur in the Pacific Theater of War for the title of ace of aces. Eddie Rickenbacker's status as the best known American ace at the end of World War I and his enormous business success since then provided a sort of preview of the possible rewards awaiting the successful pilot. However, rather after the fashion of a recent popular movie, "There can be only One." The interesting thing here is that the framework sets up a prism through which to view the whole Pacific War, particularly the campaigns on New Guinea and building towards the invasion of the Philippines. The gritty and well written narrative gives an unprecedented view of the air war against Imperial Japan as seen through the lens of the AAF. The story is both moving and frightful, with a fascinating cast of charaters and their aircraft. Most notably the Lockheed P-38 Lightning in its various incarnations. Despite the title's rather universal implications, only an occasional casual mention is made to the AAF in Europe or even to the Marine and Naval aces in the rampaging Carrier task forces in the Pacific. Marked by humanity, erudition, and solid research, this book is an invaluable addition to the shelves of anyone with an interest in military aviation during the Second World War.
June 7, 2021
A harrowing and tragic story of fighter pilots in the Pacific theater during World War II. The 'Aces' were fighting it out with the Japanese to see who would break the number of kills by WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker for two cases of booze and glory.
Several Medal of Honors and almost uncountable other medals festooned these aviators. So did death, mental health issues, and life long trauma for those who ever returned. The price of victory and heroism is high.
The book itself that tells the story has some real flaws and a couple of positive attributes. The Japanese soldiers were cannibals is a recurring theme along with a compelling but strange style of narration. These choices by the author along with the focus being solely (almost) on the Army Air Corp) leave much to be desired. That war crimes occurred on both sides is acknowledged but perhaps as an afterthought. The distorted picture drawn of many of these pilots and then the wallowing in the end of the book over the agony of their families is not handled well.
The style of this book flip flops between hero worship and clean historical reportage. Large amounts of information is imparted with a style that is readable in most places. In others it doesn't really hold up. And the Japanese were cannibals. It barely rates 3 stars except for the overall information it includes and the readability.
Several Medal of Honors and almost uncountable other medals festooned these aviators. So did death, mental health issues, and life long trauma for those who ever returned. The price of victory and heroism is high.
The book itself that tells the story has some real flaws and a couple of positive attributes. The Japanese soldiers were cannibals is a recurring theme along with a compelling but strange style of narration. These choices by the author along with the focus being solely (almost) on the Army Air Corp) leave much to be desired. That war crimes occurred on both sides is acknowledged but perhaps as an afterthought. The distorted picture drawn of many of these pilots and then the wallowing in the end of the book over the agony of their families is not handled well.
The style of this book flip flops between hero worship and clean historical reportage. Large amounts of information is imparted with a style that is readable in most places. In others it doesn't really hold up. And the Japanese were cannibals. It barely rates 3 stars except for the overall information it includes and the readability.
July 1, 2023
A Masterpiece ... Vivid descriptions of dogfights in the air over New Guinea and the Philippines in the South Pacific war with Japan will put the reader in the cockpit of these World War II fighters. I commend the author for taking on such a monumental task; he has honored the memory of the young aces and their families as well as constructing a valuable historical reference volume. It is well written, quite readable, and the reader cannot avoid becoming emotionally involved. Highly recommended for aviation and military history buffs. - David B. Crawley, M.D. – Author of “Steep Turn: A Physician's Journey From Clinic to Cockpit” and “A Mile of String: A Boy's Recollection of His Midwest Childhood.”
September 30, 2020
During WWII the Allied Forces went on the offensive by dominant air cover. This is the story of the pilots who lived in slit trenches, ate poorly, but fought courageously. I live in Wisconsin and never before heard the name, Richard Bong from Popular, WI. who downed more Japanese planes than any other pilot in the military. Or Tommy McGuire and Gerald Johnson, two other Pilot aces. This story tells of the lives they lived and the families they left behind.
February 19, 2020
While I understand the reasons for the high ratings that have been doled out to this book due to the detailed reporting and research that obviously went into creating it, this came across to me as a very stylized account of a narrow part of the Pacific theater during WWII that was much more thriller than historical document. I can understand a lot of readers being hooked into this story of brave derring-do, but the writing and framing of the narrative was so heavy with pomp, testosterone & bravado that it came across more as a Michael Bay extravaganza rather than a window into historical importance that these real people played an important part in. It felt as if I was reading a version of WWII-Top-Gun, and if that’s your bag you’ll enjoy this.
December 27, 2021
This book suffered from an omission of citations. There are quite a few sensationalist accounts. Were all Japanese soldiers cannibals? There were 77 Navy and Army nurses in the Phillipines when it fell to the Japanese. None of these nurses disappeared or were unaccounted for. None were forced into sexual slavery, forcibly addicted to narcotics, or murdered. All 77 survived their captivity. Bruning writes of events that took place some 80 years ago. In doing so there are many subjective entries. The actual accounts of aerial combat becomes repetitious and boring rather than exciting.
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