The Fighting Corsairs
“The Fighting Corsairs is a page turner. I couldn’t put it down. Jeff Dacus tells an exciting and riveting tale of young men in combat in World War II. He brings a marine’s perspective and a writer’s gift in this story about the pilots of VMF-215. Dacus humanizes it through the life stories and experiences of the men who made up the squadron, taking us from its early days of training in Santa Barbara, through its harrowing moments of combat in the Pacific against a skilled and tenacious enemy. The Fighting Corsairs is also the story of men and machines, in which the pilots and ground crews of VMF-215 learned the quirks of the famed, bent-winged F4U Corsair and how to make the most of its powerful engine and armament. Hats off to Jeff Dacus and the 'Fighting Corsairs' of VMF-215—this is a great read.”
From an historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a Marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943 when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the Marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war. It looks at the war through the eyes of some of the greatest fighter pilots of all time, including Bob Hanson, the “Maharajah of Rabaul” and highest-scoring Corsair pilot in history.
Praise