Stanaway, John C. Kearby's Thunderbolts: The 348th Fighter Group in World War II. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Military History/Aviation History, 1997.

ISBN 0-7643-0248-5
220 pages

Introduction; photos; Color Profile; Nose Art; Index.

Appendices: Commanders/Aircraft; 348th Fighter Group Casualties; 348th Fighter Group Aerial Victory List

This new edition of Stanaway's book is a classic example of the air unit history genre with ample photos and firsthand accounts to give it the look and feel of a family scrapbook, but plenty of hard facts, explanations, and context to demonstrate serious historical craftsmanship.

The 348th Fighter Group -- one of the first units equipped with the P-47 -- began forming in the States in September 1942 and sailed to Australia in 1943. The group's squadrons began flying combat missions from fields in New Guinea and it was there that the P-47 was tamed by its pilots and turned into a deadly dogfighting machine. On 11 October 1943 Colonel Neel Kearby and three other pilots tangled with about twenty Japanese fighters. Kearby himself shot down six planes while his companions accounted for three more "without," as the official report stated, "a scratch on a single Thunderbolt."

Kearby went on to tally seventeen confirmed victories before he was killed in action in March 1944. The broken aircraft with his remains was not discovered until 1946, and due to misreading of the tail markings it was not until 1949 that he was finally identified, returned home, and laid to rest.

Kearby's old unit went on to rack up further victories in the air over New Guinea and the Bismarcks and the Philippines and -- re-equipped with P-51 Mustangs -- Hong Kong and Japan.

The book includes some nice color plates of 348th aircraft, a section of nose art photos, and a gallery of aircraft snapshots. Appendices cover group and squadron commanders (with dates), aircraft types and serial numbers in service with the 348th, pilot and ground crew fatalities (with dates and circumstances), and a listing by date of all 348th Group air-to-air combat victories.

Available from online booksellers, local bookshops, or directly from Schiffer.

Thanks to Schiffer for providing this review copy.