Fighting Falcons

Peter Owen served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps for over twenty years. His first book, To the Limit of Endurance: A Battalion of Marines in the First World War, received the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s prestigious General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award. Dr. Owen majored in history at the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his PhD in war studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. He and his wife live in Fairport, NY.

"Lieutenant Colonel Owen provides a thoroughly professional account of Marine Fighter Squadron 221's career from establishment in 1941 to the end of World War II, both ashore and afloat.  His depth of research is exceptional, with an impressive blending of primary and secondary sources.  Squadron histories seldom match the standard of Fighting Falcons."—Barrett Tillman, author of On Yankee Station and Dragon's Jaw“A masterful blend of unit history and operational analysis. Peter F. Owen brings the reader on a journey from Midway to Tokyo, highlighting the growing pains, contributions, and contexts of Marine Corps aviation during some of the most critical moments in the Pacific War.”  — Mike Fink, author of Intrepid’s Fighting Squadron 18"In Fighting Falcons: The Campaigns of VMF-221 in the Pacific, Peter F. Owen does it all: the good, the bad, the successes and hardships of a Marine Combat unit in the Second World War. While demonstrating the accomplishments and struggles of VMF-221's pilots, Owen does not forget the oft-overlooked subjects of maintenance and logistics functions of aerial units.  From strategic setbacks to tactical victories, Owen deftly weaves the complicated war in the Pacific into a damn fine read that informs and sheds new light on our understanding of the Second World War. This is Marine and aerial combat history at its finest!" — Brian D. Laslie, author of The Sundowners, Pegasus, and Little Butch: Carrier Air Group 11 and the War in the Pacific, 1943-1945“Fighting Falcons offers more than a simple history of one particular USMC fighter squadron; the author uses his intimate knowledge of the Corps together with extensive research to produce a work that combines operational analysis with the progress made by a specific unit.” — Australian Naval Institute