Check-Six Forums

Typical Osprey face-off book, which is high praise. Remarkable how many victories on both sides were claimed, but not achieved (according to the existing squadron loss reports). Of course, not all Japanese reports survived, so they could have lost more than this book credits them with (but they note that - once - in the book's opening page).

Great photos (though too many of the often-unidentified pilots and not enough of the planes), and great artwork, classic Osprey.

One thing I found interesting. The P-400 and P-39 did far better in air-to-air with the Zero over New Guinea than did the very same planes did over Guadalcanal (sometimes these were, in fact, the very same airframes, sent from Port Moresby to Guadalcanal to reinforce the Cactus Air Force). Over New Guinea, they fought above 20,000 feet, and the battles were not totally one-sided. Over Guadalcanal, the same planes almost never fought above 15-16,000 feet, and despite a clear and significant speed advantage, the Airacobra did not fair well. Further oddity - with the same engines and a bit less streamlining (so a bit lower top speed), the P-40 continued to successfully fight the Japanese over New Guinea, the Solomons and Rabaul through 1944, where the P-39s were retired with unseemly haste in 1943. Why is not clear, and (also clearly) beyond the scope of this book. But P-39/Zero is worth reading if you like air combat in the Southwest Pacific.

warbird2000 a écrit :
Personnellement couvrant cette période, je ne connais que le Crowood sur le p-39 et le combat aircraft du même éditeur.