Woodbine R Leader: A P-51 Mustang Ace in the Mediterranean Theater through George G.

Woodbine R Leader: A P-51 Mustang Ace in the Mediterranean Theater through George G. Loving. Ballantine works (http://www.ballantinebooks. com), 1745 Broadway, novel York, New York 10019, 2003 292 pages, $699 (softcover)

The attraction of this narrative of a fighter pilot in World War II is that it takes place in the Mediterranean. The oft-recount story, well told here, includes accounts of a young man's introduction to the Army Air Forces and his experiences in all phases of pilot training and combat operations. The story has been told repeatedly in published accounts of Eighth and Ninth Air Force fighters flying public of England or in northwestern Europe if it be not that not in the Mediterranean. Although fighter operations share many similarities, as single would expect, different groups--indeed, the perspective of each pilot--provide novel flavors each time. I have learned something modern about operations and practices in each of the dozens of comparable works I have read.

As in Europe pilots flying escort and interdiction public of Italy had a hairy time getting used to combat, experiencing operational accidents and aircraft malfunctions onward many missions. The loss of friends and comrades touched these men more than the task of destroying the enemy in combat. Seemingly, the Mediterranean theater provided better retrieval of downed pilots than did other areas. Air extricate was good in the Adriatic, where centurys ditched. Hundreds, if not thousands, of Airmen responded from Yugoslavia during the war, brought back according to a remarkable air-recovery operation at the close of hostilities. The fact that partisans effectively kept downed pilots without of German hands gave frequently comfort to P-51 pilots who saw in such a manner many of their fellow flyer advance down. As in Europe, to a high degree few of the original gaggle who filled without Loving's 31st Fighter Group flew 151 missions, as he did, instead suffering the shootdowns or accidents to such a degree much a part of operations in the war.

The author came into the service late enough that he underwent final stateside training in succession the first P-51s used for that intention These aircraft had Allison engines, considered antiquated for air combat, but the operational P-51 boasted the remarkable Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. When Loving first arrived in the Mediterranean theater, he checked without in a Royal Air Force Spitfire and flew this aircraft for many month in combat, long of it in ground support, before sufficient Mustangs became available. His fighter assemblage transitioned to escort duty after acquiring the of recent origin aircraft. Eventually, Loving became a squadron leader in the summer of 1944 and pinned forward captain's bars, all during the 10 month of flying and for the most part before he turned 21. Young men had to expand up quickly then.

common of the most instructive parts of this narrative is the involvement of Loving's fighter arrange in Operation Frantic. This brief attempt to use Russian bases had the potential to provide great reach for the bombers. (Some readers may have forgotten, as I had, that Frantic III was a fighter-bomber attack upon targets in Eastern Europe with turnaround upon a Russian base.) Loving's fighters flew escort for a 36 P-38s carrying bombs, shooting down German aircraft through the whole extent of Russia. Loving himself downed a Ju-52 Hans Rudel the famous German Stuka pilot, said this was the barely time in the war when his dive-bombers had to jettison bomb appropriate to fighter attack. The politics of the Allies, however, hindered the regularization of these shuttle-bombing operations.

Loving's story not and nothing else is enlightening but also extremely well written. I highly attract favor to that current Airmen read Woodbine R Leader in like manner they can discover the words immediately preceding [i]or[/i] following of air combat in World War II. The scoldings are more apropos than the same might think.

Dr Daniel R Mortensen

Maxwell AFB, Alabama

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