World Famous Comics: Japanese Army Air Force Units and Their Aces: 1931-1945
Japanese Army Air Force Units and Their Aces: 1931-1945
By: Ikuhiko Hata Publisher: Grub Street Average Rating: Binding: Hardcover Label: Grub Street Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 400 Publication Date: June 30, 2002
Product Description: Hitherto only available in Japanese text, this unique work is now published in English language format and provides an in-depth review of the fighter units of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and their pilots.
This long-awaited translation is a companion volume to other Grub Street titles such as Aces High and Stars and Bars. Indispensable reference for the serious research student and historian.
Ikuhiko Hata is a past Fellow of the Woodrow Wilson Center and presently Professor of History at Nihon University. His previous works include A History of the Japanese-Chinese War, 1931-1941. Yasuho Izawa is an Opthalmic Optician whose past works include Japanese Naval Aces and Fighter Units (with Professor Hata) and Bloody Shambles Vols 1 and 2 (with Christopher Shores).
You'll be sorry! The careful translation of the original text into a more nicely-flowing English; the influence of the master historian, Chris Shores; the decision to publish by the renowned Grub Street Press: this should be a much better book than the volume detailing the naval fighter units of Japan by the same authors.
But it's not.
If you spend the better part of forty dollars hoping for a book that is more like Mr. Shores' "Bloody Shambles", Mr. Ford's "Flying Tigers", or even Mr. Bergerud's "Fire in the Sky", then you'll be sorry.
60 years overdue! This handsome, detailed book lifts the curtain on the Japanese army units that fought in China, Southeast Asia, and the home islands during World War II. It's based on a Japanese-language text by a noted historian and an aviation buff, and rendered into workable English by the British historian Christopher Shores. The result is a much more accessible book than the earlier one by the same Japanese authors about the larger Japanese navy air force. There are many photos, side-views of JAAF fighters, accounts of the major campaigns, biographies of the aces (happily arranged in alphabetical order so you can quickly look them up), and an appendix listing every major air combat and every JAAF pilot lost in 15 years of war. A solid book that belongs in the library of every serious student of the Pacific War. -- Dan Ford
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