Ken’s Men Against the Empire Volume 1

[Del Davis]

http://irandpcorp.com/products/43bg1/

The Illustrated History of the 43rd Bombardment Group During World War II
Volume I: Prewar to October 1943 The B-17 Era

[Alfred.MONZAT]

I am glad this serie continue

[Larry Hickey]

Del,

Thanx for posting this. Yes, Volume I of the 43rd history will be available in about a month. It is a magnificent book, as can be seen from the website previews. This covers the B-17 era from the formation, training and deployment of the unit, through the unit's early operations in the Southwest Pacific theater after it replaced the the 19th B.G. (which retuned to the States in late 1942), through mid-October, 1943, when the conversion of the 43rd B.G. to the B-24 was completed. Thereafter the few remaining B-17s left in the theater were used as armed transports or VIP aircraft, and late-in the war, a very small number of new aircraft were brought to the theater for highly specialized air-sea rescue work.

Volume II covers the 43rd's history from late-October, 1943 through the end of the war. During November, 1943, one squadron, the 63rd, converted to low altitude bombers, which conducted night, radar assisted search and destroy missions agains enemy shipping all across the Pacific, eventually to the shores of China and Japan itself. The other three squadrons remained standard daylight heavy bombers. Combined, the two volumes will contain well over 1000 photos, massive color profiles and artwork, maps, cut-away drawings, color photos etc. Like all "Eagles over the Pacific" series books, this work was compiled from all known official records, and with the assistance of hundreds of veterans of the unit, whose stories and experiences are woven throughout the text.

We hope to have Vol II to press within a few months. It is now undergoing an extensive final editing process.

The plan is to follow this immediately with Vol I of the 38th B.G. (medium B-25 bombers, which arrived in the Southwest Pacific theater in mid-1942, and soon converted to low level strafers after the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. This two volume history will carry the story of the unit from pre-war through September, 1943 (Vol I), including the initial part of the Wewak campaign. Vol II, which will follow soon after (already written), will continue the story to the end of the war.

As can be seen from the IHRA website, Vol I of the 3rd Bomb Group history (A-20s, A-24s and B-25s) is also in an advance state of preparation, and Vol II will follow soon after that, including the conversion of the unit from A-20s to the A-26 very late in the war.

All volumes are extensively illustrated by the spectacular combat paintings and color aircraft profiles of Jack Fellows. Especially the volumes covering the low-level strafers are illustrated with many of the most spectacular photos even taken in air combat.

I hope that you enjoy these long-awaited volumes.

Larry Hickey

[edwest2]

Larry,


Congratulations. The preview pages and art look great. I can't imagine the time and effort that goes into books like these.

On another note. Any news about the EoE project?




Best,

Ed West

[Del Davis]

Larry
Given the protracted development of the Eagles over the Pacific series do anticipate we will see an Eagles over Europe publication before you finish EOP?

[Larry Hickey]

Del,

We are working on both simultaneously. The EoE books are going to be much shorter volumes in a day-by-day format, and we're trying to the the first volume of the Polish Campaign put together this year as a format for the series. There are teams working on various parts of the books for at least three first three campaign series.

[edwest2]

Originally Posted by Larry Hickey

Del,

We are working on both simultaneously. The EoE books are going to be much shorter volumes in a day-by-day format, and we're trying to the the first volume of the Polish Campaign put together this year as a format for the series. There are teams working on various parts of the books for at least three first three campaign series.

Larry,


My best to you and your teams.



Ed

[James S.]

Mr. Hickey, I have been on cloud nine since I first saw that Ken's Men Volume 1 - The B-17 Era was coming out in March. It will be very nice to see some great coverage of the B-17 in the Pacific. Thank you so much fr doing these as the Pacific seems to be neglected, so to speak, compared to Europe.

Thanks again,
James Sontag

[Larry Hickey]

Hello,

Although we are struggling with the results of a major Colorado blizzard that hit yesterday and closed everything down, Vol I of the 43rd History (the B-17 era) has been released and we are shipping pre-ordered copies and initial wholesale orders, plus publication review copies. Please let me hear how you like the book. It should be a masterpiece and fills a much-needed gap in the history of WW II aviation history. Initial reactions have been that the book is spectacular.