Photo de l'auteur
15 oeuvres 481 utilisateurs 6 critiques 1 Favoris

A propos de l'auteur

Comprend les noms: Steve Birdsall, Birdsall Steve

Œuvres de Steve Birdsall

Étiqueté

Partage des connaissances

Date de naissance
1944-10-19
Sexe
male
Nationalité
Australia
Lieu de naissance
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Membres

Critiques

Well written and informative; enriched by its many live conversations with actual participants. For me, a WW2 book can never have enough maps so I needed to supplement from other sources. Also, the many photos of US planes would have benefited from pictures or illustrations from the Japanese side. Definitely, a worthy read for any WW2 buff because of this air combat area received little press attention while "Hap" Arnold extolled the strategic value of big bombers. These air raiders and submarines were instrumental tactically and strategically, in diminishing Japan's resupply and war-fighting capacity.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
jamespurcell | 3 autres critiques | Aug 7, 2018 |
At it's best a collection of gripping vignettes of the brave crews who piloted these amazing behemoths. At it's worst, an amazingly incoherent narrative. Which is a shame as the contributions of the B-24 are so often overlooked. ...poorly written..
A well researched and thoughtfully written book about the B-24. Sadly, the book is designed (according to the author) to be of use to former crew and veterans. At the time it was written, this was a laudible goal. But at this late date (40 years after publication) the proposed audience is waning fast and the extensive detail about aircraft markings, etc. will be lost on new readers. also, the photos are uniformly small and of poor reproduction quality. I'm sure the orignals were great. I've seen similar photos taken and preserved by actual crew members in original format and they are generally outstanding. But the printing process didn't do the book any favors.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
MasseyLibrary | Mar 26, 2018 |
Fascinating blend of history and anecdote, combining official accounts with the reminiscences of the veterans themselves.
A well written and well researched book that moved very quickly and was very interesting. It has many strengths, but two major flaws. As for the strengths, Birdsall published this book in 1977 and was able to interview many veterans of the Fifth Air Force, most of them pilots and commanders. General Kenney himself wrote the introduction to this book. The various squadron veterans’ groups at the time also assisted in compiling material for this book, which included many personal photographs. Birdsall’s writing is also a strength; he is well organized and focused. This is important because the Southwestern Pacific campaign was fast moving. Birdsall does not give us a dry campaign narrative, but writes on what it was like to fly the missions and includes many vignettes about the aces, and told by the air crews themselves. Additionally, Birdsall is able to effectively impart the significance of the Fifth Air Force’s contribution to MacArthur’s campaign. What I consider the two most significant flaws to an otherwise excellent history are first, the lack of maps. Birdsall includes only three maps in the entire book, which are woefully inadequate. The narrative necessarily includes many place names and I used the map book from the Dept. of the Army history of the Pacific War. For the general reader, maps are essential and the lack of maps in this profusely illustrated book will leave the reader somewhat lost. The second major flaw is a lack of an order of battle and table of organization and equipment for both Japanese and Allied forces. Birdsall refers to Japanese planes by their code names, but provides no illustrations, which required me to look them up. The same is somewhat true of allied aircraft. Also, when Birdsall talks about planes damaged or shot down, this has no meaning without knowing how both sides were organized. What could easily be a 5 star book is, in my opinion only 3 stars because of these flaws, which significantly affect the reading experience.… (plus d'informations)
 
Signalé
MasseyLibrary | 3 autres critiques | Mar 21, 2018 |
Excellent for the data and illustrations on the cheek guns. I had thought that they were always offset, one in front of the other. Wrong. Normally they were. The port gun being in the front of the three cheek windows and the starboard in the central one. But some had them reversed. And some had both of them in enlarged center windows.
Dual .50s in the nose. Single .30s in the nose and cheeks.
Over ten pages of color 'profiles'. And several views of the forward fuselage without being blocked by the engine nacelles.
Over six pages of color photographs.
Good text, good captions.
… (plus d'informations)
1 voter
Signalé
TChesney | Nov 25, 2017 |

Vous aimerez peut-être aussi

Auteurs associés

Uwe Feist Illustrator
Don Greer Cover artist
Horst Scheibert Herausgeber

Statistiques

Œuvres
15
Membres
481
Popularité
#51,317
Évaluation
4.0
Critiques
6
ISBN
23
Langues
1
Favoris
1

Tableaux et graphiques