Wildcat: The F4F in World War II, 2nd Edition

When introduced in 1940, the F4F Wildcat represented a great technological advance in aviation. By 1942, however, faster, tighter turning, better climbing opponents forced Wildcat pilots to devise new tactics to beat the odds. Exploiting the Wildcat's strengths and the enemy's weaknesses, they won crucial battles at Coral Sea, Midway, Guadalcanal, and elsewhere in the Pacific. In this dramatic World War II study of the U.S. Navy's famous fighter plane, award-winning aviation historian Barrett Tillman takes the F4F from factory floor into action against the Axis powers. Like his other successful warplane biographies, the book, now available in paperback, is filled with lively descriptions of combat, enhanced by the personal recollections of Wildcat pilots. While the focus is on the operational rather than the technical aspects of the fighter, design and development details are also included. Appendixes offer fascinating facts about aces, survivors, squadron designations, and more.