Gray, Jennie. Fire by Night: The Dramatic Story of One Pathfinder Crew and Black Thursday, 16/17 December 1943. London: Grub Street, 2000. Distributed in the US by Seven Hills.

ISBN 1-902304-63-2
182 pages

Acknowledgements; photos; maps; Bibliography; Index

Appendix: The Evidence Concerning K-King

   On the night of 16/17 December 1943, Bomber Commander suffered a major loss when hundreds of bombers returning from a raid on Berlin found their airfields in England completely obscured by dense fog. According to the author, forty aircraft crashed as a result of weather conditions. (Other sources put the toll at thirty or thirty-four; bad enough either way.) Written by the daughter of a sole survivor of an RAF Lancaster bomber crew, Fire by Night focuses for the most part on the events that befell her father's aircraft but also tracks the fortunes of other aircraft and crews. Includes comments from a number of veteran flyers and concludes with the author discovering conclusive proof of the location of her father's crash in a field in England.

Tullis, Thomas A. Eagles Illustrated: Allies in the Pacific. Hamilton, MT: Eagle Editions Ltd, 2000

ISBN 0-9660706-6-6
40 pages

Author's Note; Acknowledgments; illustrations

   The latest in the Eagle Editions series of gorgeous aviation art by Tom Tullis. His first volume covered American, German, and British fighters. This volume looks at fighters in the Pacific: mostly American, but also a trio of New Zealanders. Accompanying text includes information on colors, notes, and references to books, original photos, and interviews used to research each image. Absolutely beautiful.

McWhorter III, Cdr Hamilton with Jay A. Stout. The First Hellcat Ace. Pacifica, CA: Pacifica Military History, 2000

ISBN 0-935553-49-5
213 pages

Introduction; Glossary; maps; photos; Epilogue

   "One Slug" McWhorter initially saw combat duty flying from the USS Ranger with VF-9 in support of the American landings in French North Africa in November 1942. After returning to the United States, VF-9 converted to the Grumman F6F Hellcat and McWhorter headed to the Pacific. Flying from the Essex and then the Randolph, McWhorter became the first ace to accomplish that feat while flying Hellcats, then went on to shoot down seven more enemy planes. In the process, he saw action at Marcus Island, Wake Island, Rabaul, Tarawa, Kwajalein, Truk, Saipan, Yap, and Okinawa—giving him quite the story to tell!

Dillon, Neal B. A Dying Breed: The Courage of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. Grants Pass, OR: Hellgate Press, 2000

ISBN 1 903223 00 8
320 pages

Photos; maps; documents; diagrams; tables; color plates; Glossary; Index

   Neal Dillon promised his brother-in-law—a flyer who was shot down and held prisoner—he would write this book about the flyer's B-17 and its crew. A Dying Breed opens by introducing the crewmen and describing their training and duties, then begins describing their tour of duty in England. The first mission was against Emden on 2 October 1943 and the last—the seventeenth—on 4 January 1944. The book then describes how, hit by fighters and flak and losing altitude fast, Mad Money II attempts to escape to Sweden but crash-lands in Denmark. The crew is soon captured and their sojourn in German POW camps occupies the second half of the book.

Smith, J. Richard and Eddie J. Creek. Me 262, volume four. Crowborough, UK: Classic Publications, 2000

ISBN 1-903223-040
206 pages

Photos; maps; documents; diagrams; tables; color plates; Glossary; Index

   While three of the four books already described here are personal stories—one told entirely in first-person and two with much personal narrative supporting the accounts—the last is of a different sort, being very much a technical and historical document. That will come as no surprise to those who have seen the previous three volumes of the Me 262 series. All four take the same approach: text, photos, color plates, diagrams, line drawings, sidebars, and more. The first three received a great deal of attention in regards to layout and physical appearance, and volume four is no less a handsome conclusion to the series. As far a topics, the last volume covers the final days of the war and then turns its attention to war prizes, Allied testing of captured jets, and Japanese work on an Me 262 derivative. A well-done book and a very strong series. See also our reviews of volume one, volume two, and volume three.

   All of these books are worth a look, and all are available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from the publishers.
   Thanks to the publishers for providing these review copies.