Running up the Score!

Bruning, John R.  Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master 

        of the Sky.  New York: Hachette Books, 2020.  ISBN: 9780316508629

An Ace!  For airmen and the public, an ace is someone to look up to and admire.  They had mastered simultaneously flying and fighting and managed to bring down at least 5 enemy aircraft.  The Red Baron was a famous German ace of World War I who is best known now for fighting Snoopy.  But being an ace was no easy task since only bout 5% of all World War II fighter pilots managed to get 5 confirmed "kills."  However, in the Southwest Pacific, General Kenney inspired the Fifth Air Force to chase down WWI ace Eddie Rickenbacker's record of 26 enemy planes as a way to boost morale.  This book tells the story of many who participated in the race for this crown.

John Bruning opens the book with General Kenney checking out the state of the Fifth Air Force based in New Guinea which was getting pounded by Japanese Air Force while the Japanese Army was approaching the few bases still operational.  He needed fighting spirit and better planes than the P-39 Aircobras and P-40 Warhawks he had.  What he got was the Lockheed P-38 Lightening, a twin engine fighter that could out-dive and out-run the current Japanese planes.  Then he started getting pilots such as Richard Bong, Gerald Johnson, and Tommy McGuire.  These pilots and a host of others managed to turn the tide against the Japanese, but at a cost of living in a jungle environment at the end of a very, very long supply chain.  The pilots of the Fifth Air Force strove to match and then beat Rickenbacker's record of 26 enemy planes.  This race cost lives and ended a few careers as pilots became obsessed with being the top ace. In the end, Richard Bong came out on top with 40 enemy planes shot down. Looking back, the race to be the top ace was cursed as only one top contender lived a long life after the war.  

If you have an interest in air combat or the Southwest Pacific Theater in World War II, you will want to read Race of Aces!  John Bruning brings you to the front lines of combat and provides all the thrills you desire.