The prisoners of Rabaul (Was: P-39's, zeros, etc.)

From: Cub Driver lo

ed flying to Australia in one of them. I can
look this up in Bloody Shambles if you like.

I just bought this two-volume set (and damned pricey at 29.95 pounds per
volume) with high hopes. Haven't begun on it yet, but noting your comment
above I turned to the description of the MacArthur evacuation and noted, alas,
errors of no small moment. The authors state that of the 4 B-17s originally
sent for MacA., two turned back with engine trouble, true enough, but then say
that a third crashed off the Australian coast. Very wrong. This was Capt.
Godwin's B-17, which he put down into the sea short of the runway at Del Monte
Field, close enough that the crew could wade ashore and Godwin could receive
some choice words from them complimenting him on his flying skill. It was also
at Del Monte where Godwin met MacArthur and charmed him into making him his
personal pilot for the flight down and then put him on his staff. This is all
pretty well known stuff and for the "Bloody Shambles" trio of author's to not
know this, especially considering how it affected future air operations, is
distressing. Further on the authors' state that 3 "new" B-17s were sent to
fetch McA. At first reading I took this literally and snorted, as there were
no "new" B-17s in the theater at the time, and with the lack of spare parts--or
even any facilities where engine changes could be performed--any "new" B-17s
sent to Australia very quickly would have been well used. But on reflection it
could be interpreted that the authors by writing "new" meant to say
"additional" or "other," so I'll let that go.
But having spotted this blunder among others on first cracking open the cover,
I wonder what other gross errors litter the text. And this is supposed to be
one of the better researched books on WW2 aviation.
Crap.


Chris Mark