The 5th Fighter Command in World War II: Vol. 1: Pearl Harbor to the Reduction of Rabaul

Since end of WWII the major role played by the 5th Fighter Command in winning the war in the Pacific has been almost totally neglected. Wolf puts the air campaigns into strategic and tactical context, then breaks down every daily air battle into Fighter Groups and Squadrons using unit Narrative Combat Reports. Daily battles are then described by flights, elements, and individual pilots using over 9,000 newly released documents. Vol.1 describes the 5FC precursors in the Philippines, Java, and Australia and continues through Papua and New Guinea, and ends with the reduction of Rabaul in Nov.1943.

Dr. William Wolf is a retired dentist whose passion is WWII air combat. He has over 22,000 books and three miles of microfilm on WWII in his library, and is the author of many books and numerous articles on WWII aviation history.