P-38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group

P-38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group cover

Description

When the 82nd Fighter Group was organised in March 1942, most of its initial pilot cadre was comprised of newly graduated staff sergeant pilots of Class 42-C - enlisted men! They learned to fly the P-38 at Muroc, in California's Mojave Desert, and then moved to the Los Angeles area to continue their training and to serve as part of its air defence. In September 1942 the group was transported to the East Coast, from where it shipped out to Ireland on the Queen Mary. By this time all its remaining sergeant pilots had been commissioned. As of VE-Day the 82nd Fighter Group's score of confirmed aerial victories stood at 548 aircraft shot down, plus a huge amount of enemy materiel - including aircraft - destroyed on the ground and the sea. It had been awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The cost of this success was high, however, for around 250 of the group's pilots had either been killed in action or captured.

Table of Contents

Aces in Training
North Africa: Aces' Breeding Ground
Mediterranean Sweep
Strategic Lightnings

Appendices
Ace listings
Aircraft listings
Colour Plates
Commentaries

Product details

Published Jul 24 2012
Format Paperback
Edition 1st
Extent 96
ISBN 9781849087438
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 80 b/w; 36 col
Dimensions 248 x 184 mm
Series Aircraft of the Aces
Short code ACE 108
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Steve Blake

Steve Blake, a retired US civil servant and a free…

Illustrator

Chris Davey

Chris Davey has illustrated more than 70 titles fo…

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