THE FORGOTTEN FIFTH
A Classic Photographic Chronology of the
Fifth Air Force in Action in the Pacific in WW2
A B26 Martin Marauder
This photographic work is the
most diverse and encyclopaedic ever published about the Fifth Air Force in WW2 - it
contains a collection of rare photos with detailed captions, each of which tells a
complete story, and concentrates on human interest and historical minutiae. Conducted with
painstaking research, the author has drawn on a lifetime of cataloguing and documenting
the most esoteric parts of this unique air force. The photos guide you through the course
of the Fifth’s rich history - from its retreat to Australia to its occupation of
Japan three and a half years later. This classic relies on two main features – the
first being rare combat and historical photos, the second being the quality and interest
contained in the meticulous captions which support them. All source material is original,
and draws on post-war wreck discoveries, interrogation reports, captured Japanese
documents, intercepts of enemy transmissions, declassified US unit histories, wartime
debriefings, post-war interviews with US and Japanese veterans, and even maintenance
records! Much information derives exclusively from Australian and Japanese archives,
inaccessible to researchers until recently.
The Fifth’s extensive history owes much
to the divergent personalities who forged an indelible mark on the Pacific war - leaders
such as its Commander, General George Churchill Kenney, along with its other leaders,
pilots and groundcrew. Of course also covered are its aces and others, but the
Fifth’s history was also enriched by a diversity of outsiders such as controversial
aviator-hero Charles Lindbergh, entertainers Bob Hope, John Wayne and Carole Landis, and
even future president Lyndon B. Johnson, awarded a Silver Star which would be questioned
after the war.
Also published for the first time is a must for
every aviation historian - an index of more than 1,500 Fifth Air Force aircraft
identities, their units and nicknames, including every type and variant of aircraft flown
by the Fifth.
- text of 48,502 words is fully indexed, individual
aircraft are indexed by type, nickname and serial number;
- laser-printed in 11-point Times-Roman and Frisky
fonts on bond enamel A4 paper with 300 gms binding cover;
- 154 black and white laser-reproduced photos from
private and official collections, including Australian, US and Japanese archives;
Each photo caption reveals
diverse and elaborate detail. Examples include:
- the present whereabouts of aircraft which disappeared into Pacific
jungles, and how their wreckage was located;
- The Steak & Eggs Special, an A-20A which officially didn’t
exist, and forced-landed off a beach near Cooktown;
- the final patrol – the group shot of the Lightning pilots who
escorted the Japanese surrender delegation to Ie Shima;
- why a particular Pacific Lightning carried Swastika kill markings;
- why the fate of the crew of a Liberator named Czechem was kept secret
for forty years;
- details and reasons behind unusual field modifications to the
Fifth’s aircraft;
- how a Flying Fortress captured by the enemy at Clark Field was
ferried to Japan for evaluation;
- how parts of a Liberator forced-landed in northern Australia are
being used to restore a Liberator in Australia;
- dramatic low-level strafing photos of enemy airfields & aircraft
just before their destruction;
- Japanese sailors clinging to the side of a bombed destroyer just
before it capsized and sank;
- groundcrews sweating over gun panels, exposed radial and in-line
engines, as well as damaged airframes;
- the esoteric post-war recovery of Congressional Medal of Honor
awardee Neel Kearby from New Guinea’s jungle;
- the eventual fate of the ten Mitchells which flew the infamous 12th
April 1942 Royce mission to the Philippines.
How to Order
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Michael Claringbould
"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products
