The Cactus Air Force: Air War over Guadalcanal

[edwest2]

Scheduled for 6 September.


https://www.amazon.com/Cactus-Air-Fo...544298&sr=1-37


Usual disclaimer,
Ed

[Edward]

The Cactus Air Force: Air War over Guadalcanal
(Osprey Publishing - September 6, 2022)
by Eric Hammel and Thomas McKelvey Cleaver - Forward by Richard P. Hallion
336 pages - hardcover
$30.00

"Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.

For 40 years from 1961, the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are still alive. These interviews are the most comprehensive first-person accounts of the battle assembled by any historian. More importantly, they involved the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories were not part of the official history, thus providing a unique insight.

The battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its allies in the Pacific War. "Cactus," the code name for the island, became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, experienced forces whose losses could never be made good. The three months of air battles between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit arrived on the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt to retake the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important of the Pacific War. After November 15, 1942, the US never looked back as its forces moved across the Pacific to the war's inevitable conclusion.

The Cactus Air Force is a joint project between the late Eric Hammel and Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, and is unlike any other of the many histories of this event that have been published over the years."

Editorial Reviews
“Hammel and Cleaver have once more brought Guadalcanal front and center. Theirs is a harrowing tale of unpreparedness, intelligence and leadership failures, of learning hard lessons in the furious crucible of war, of sacrifice and loss, of great courage, and, ultimately, of a great victory secured at a fearsome cost.”
―Richard P. Hallion, former Historian of the US Air Force

“Overstating Eric Hammel's impact as a military historian is impossible. His focus on aviation-and Guadalcanal in particular-has seen few equals. Today, we benefit not only because Hammel had the foresight to capture the first-person accounts of thousands of veterans, but also because he possessed the knowledge to place them in the proper context.”
―Jay A. Stout, author of Jayhawk: Love, Loss, Liberation and Terror Over the Pacific

“Eric Hammel's research, done when no one else was interested in learning these stories, has allowed a story we all think we know well to be told anew, through the words of those whose stories were never told before. The Cactus Air Force is a vital contribution that provides new information about this crucial battle.”
―Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945

“Eric Hammel was outstanding among us in finding participants and conducting interviews. His best work glowed that way, notably in his Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima publications.”
―Richard B. Frank, author of Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle

https://ospreypublishing.com/store/f...ctus-air-force

Eric M. Hammel - Wikipedia
(June 29, 1946 – August 25, 2020)
"Eric Hammel was a military historian, with a focus on the military campaigns of the United States Marine Corps in the Pacific War, and other military action in World War II as well as military conflicts including the Vietnam War and the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Hammel wrote a series of books about World War II Flying Aces but his most influential book was The Root: The Marines in Beirut, August 1982-February 1984 on the subject of the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings.

Hammel worked in several occupations before he settled on writing and publishing. He was formerly a stringer and contributing editor to Leatherneck Magazine. He owned and operated a publishing business under the names Pacifica Press and Pacifica Military History. He died on August 25, 2020, of Parkinson's disease."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_M._Hammel

Eric Hammel Books
https://erichammelbooks.com/