Carl Molesworth – författare

The moving biography of Lt Col William Norman Reed, a World War II fighter ace who fought with the Flying Tigers and died in defence of the two nations he loved.Bill Reed had it all ­– brains, looks, athleticism, courage and a talent for leadership. After a challenging childhood in Depression-era Iowa, Reed joined the US Army Air Corps, but the outbreak of World War II saw him give up his commission. Instead, he travelled to China to fly for the American Volunteer Group – the legendary Flying Tigers. After a brief return to America, he resumed the fight as a senior pilot and later squadron commander in the Chinese-American Composite Wing.Soon afterwards, Reed tragically lost his life in a desperate parachute jump late in the war, by which point he was a fighter ace with nine confirmed aerial victories. His obituary was front-page news throughout the state of Iowa.This book is a biography of his extraordinary life, focusing on his time spent flying with some of the famous aerial groups of World War II. It draws heavily on Reed’s own words, along with the author’s deep knowledge of the China air war and years of research into Reed’s life, to tell his compelling story.

An illustrated study of some of the final and most fierce aerial clashes of the Pacific War, featuring first-hand accounts and combat reports.For four months in 1945, the skies over Tokyo saw USAAF P-51 Mustang pilots clash with Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF) and Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force (IJNAF) fighters in some of the most intense aerial battles of the Pacific War. The Japanese marshalled ten different fighter types to defend the relatively small and well-defined target area, but the already iconic Merlin-engined P-51D Mustang, with its game-changing Very Long-Range (VLR) capabilities, would prove more than a match for their combined forces.In this engaging new study, respected Pacific War historian Carl Molesworth employs combat reports and first-hand accounts to tell the story of how VII Fighter Command’s Mustang pilots went from escorting B-29 bombers to actively seeking out enemy aircraft to attack. Newly commissioned armament, cockpit and battlescene illustrations, as well as a wealth of archive photos, bring the narrative to life, giving a vivid and illuminating sense of what it was like to be a fighter pilot in the air war over Japan in 1945.

This is the first history of the U.S. Army Air Corps unit that incorporated Gen. Claire Chennault's famous "Flying Tigers." During the dark days immediately after Pearl Harbor, most news from the Asian front was bad-with the exception of reports about the Flying Tigers and their successors, the 23rd Fighter Group. Day after day in the deadly skies over China, the 23rd's shark-mouthed P-40s outfought the Japanese. No single American fighter group in World War II performed more varied missions, was more successful, or was more central to the war effort in its theater of operations. By the end of the war, the 23rd had tallied nearly six hundred aerial victories and destroyed nearly four hundred more Japanese aircraft on the ground. Carl Molesworth's Sharks Over China is based on his interviews with the group's survivors and contains numerous rare photographs.

A definitive technical guide to the long-nosed Curtiss P-40 Warhawk variants.The initial version of the Curtiss P-40, designated by the manufacturer as the Hawk H-81, combined the established airframe of the earlier radial-powered H-75 (P-36) fighter with the Allison V-1710 liquid-cooled engine. The year was 1939, and the marriage was one of expediency. With the threat of war in Europe growing by the day, the US Army Air Corps brass wanted a modern fighter that would combine the sterling handling qualities of the P-36 with a boost in performance that would make it competitive with the new types emerging in Germany and England, and the generals wanted the new plane immediately.As this book details, the P-40 delivered admirably, and though it never reached the performance levels of the Bf 109 or Spitfire, the sturdy fighter nevertheless made a place in history for itself as the Army's frontline fighter when the US entered World War II. Long-nosed P-40s initially saw combat in North Africa, flying in Royal Air Force squadrons. They also fought in the skies over Pearl Harbor and the Philippines. But the long-nosed P-40 is best known as the shark-faced fighter flown by the American Volunteer Group – the legendary "Flying Tigers" – over Burma and China during 1941–42.

The second in a pair of books on the Curtiss P-40, a definitive technical guide to the snub-nosed Warhawk variants.An improved version of the Allison V-1710 engine gave rise to the Curtiss H-87, which began life in 1941 as the P-40D and featured a completely redesigned fuselage. The shorter and deeper nose of the new fighter gave it a decidedly snub-nosed appearance compared to the earlier P-40 models. Curtiss continued to tweak the H-87 for the next two years in the search for better performance, but the last major version, the P-40N, was only marginally faster than the first. In the process, Curtiss even tried an engine change to the Packard Merlin in the P-40F and L but to no avail.What the late model P-40s lacked in speed and service ceiling, they traded for maneuverability, durability and availability. Their niche became fighter-bomber operations, and they fought on fronts as varied as the arctic wastes of the Aleutian Islands and Iceland, the steaming jungles of the South Pacific and the barren deserts of North Africa. P-40s were a common sight in the skies over Burma and China, Sicily and Italy, and western Russia as well.This compact, illustration volume covers the whole history of these variants until production ceased in 1944, by which time Curtiss had produced nearly 14,000 P-40s.

This book details the colourful experiences of the elite pilots of the AAF's Tenth and Fourteenth Air Forces in the 'forgotten' China-Burma-India theatre during WW2.Inheriting the legacy of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), units such as the 23rd FG 'held the line' against overwhelming Japanese forces until the arrival of the first P-38s and P-51s in 1944. The Warhawk became synonymous with the efforts of the AAF in the CBI, being used by some 40 aces to claim five or more kills between 1942-45.This volume is the first of four covering the exploits with the P-40 during World War 2.

Thrown into action following the Torch landings of late 1942, the ‘green’ American pilots flying the obsolescent P-40F suffered cruelly at the hands of seasoned German fighter pilots flying superior machines.Those that survived learnt quickly, and a handful of Warhawk pilots succeeded in making ace by the time the Axis forces surrendered in North Africa. The action then shifted to Sicily and Italy, and the P-40 remained in service until mid-1944.This book charts the careers of the 23 men who succeeded in making ace during that time, despite the advent of much better P-47 and P-51 fighters.

The first USAAF fighters to engage the Japanese in World War 2, a handful of P-40s rose to defend Pearl Harbor from attack on the morning of 7 December 1941.Warhawk units were also heavily involved in the ill-fated fight to stem invading Japanese forces in the Philippines and Java between December 1941 and April 1942 and again in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands between January 1943 and March 1944.This book examines The Warhawk’s wartime exploits and all of its aces including 'aces-in-a-day’ Mel Wheadon and Joe Lesika.

These pilots called themselves the ‘Tokyo Club’. It was a simple task to become a member.All you had to do was strap yourself into a heavily loaded P-51 Mustang, take off from Iwo Jima, fly 650 miles north over the sea – often through monsoon storms – in your single-engined aircraft to Japan, attack a heavily defended target and then turn around and fly home despite a shrinking fuel supply and perhaps battle damage as well. Do it once and you earned membership in the club. Do it 15 times and you earned a trip home. But make one mistake or have one touch of bad luck, and you had a very good chance of ending up dead.Featuring photographs throughout and detailed aircraft profiles, this book tells the little-known story of these brave men and their efforts to defeat the aerial forces defending Japan.

Known for the distinctive 'sharkmouth' decoration on their noses, P-40 fighters first saw combat in China during World War II. Their most common adversary was the Japanese Nakajima Ki-43, nicknamed 'Oscar.' Carl Molesworth describes and explains the design and development of these two foes, the products of two vastly different philosophies of fighter design.The P-40 was heavily armed and sturdy with armour protection and self-sealing fuel tanks, but paid for this with the loss of speed and a sluggish performance at altitude. The Ki-43 was a rapier to the battleaxe P-40 and the Ki-43 was immensely nimble, though with less firepower and durability.This book examines these two different fighters, and the pilots who flew them over China, with an action-packed text, rare photographs and digital artwork.

A fascinating and action-packed look at the highest scoring unit within the CBI theatre telling the story of the colourful characters who fought a difficult guerrilla war against the Japanese.Famous for the fearsome sharksmouths that adorned their planes, the 23rd FG fought a guerrilla war against the Japanese, steadily moving pilots and aircraft from one remote air base in China to another to keep the enemy off balance. Because China could only be supplied by air from India, there were constant shortages of aircraft, fuel and ammunition with which to contend.The 23rd FG met these challenges head-on, and by the end of the war its pilots had compiled a score of 594 aerial victories and nearly 400 ground kills. The human cost was high, however – 126 pilots lost their lives in China while serving in the 23rd.

The complete history of the 57th Fighter Group, the first USAAF fighter unit to go into action in North Africa.Organized in January 1941, just as the United States was building up military forces for its inevitable entry into World War II, the 57th Fighter Group went on to establish a number of other 'firsts' during its illustrious combat history in this theatre. Flying P-40 Warhawks, the pilots of the 57th entered combat in August 1942 and fought throughout the final Allied advance from El Alamein through the Axis surrender in Tunisia, the capture of Sicily and the invasion of Italy. Converting to the P-47D Thunderbolt in late 1943, the 57th continued pounding the retreating Axis forces in Italy until the end of the war in Europe.Featuring photographs throughout, this volume also highlights a number of aces this FG produced during the war, and how it was recognized for its pioneering achievements in the fighter-bomber role.