| Revenge of the Red Raiders takes the reader on an unforgettable journey with America's young airmen across the war zones of the Southwest Pacific. This exhaustively researched and definitive account of one of America's premier Army Air Force bombardment units follows the 22nd Bomb Group from its Stateside prewar formation and training through its deployment to Northern Australia during the earliest days of WW II, through the end of the conflict on the island of Okinawa. Initially equipped with the B-26 Marauder, the 22nd BG pioneered the Pacific island-hopping route to Australia, then was one of the first American combat units to strike back at the Japanese in the skies over Rabaul and New Guinea. Later the 22nd partially re-equipped with the B-25 Mitchell, before becoming a B-24 Liberator Heavy Bombardment Unit and fighting its way across the Southwest Pacific to the doorstep of Japan. Revenge of the Red Raiders features over 600 pages of text and is massively illustrated by more than 1000 color and black and white photos, 4 magnificent color paintings by renowned aviation artist Jack Fellows, 48 full-color aircraft profiles, by Steve W. Ferguson and 16 detailed maps, showing all bases, the location of every mission flown, and the site of each aircraft lost. The chronological text is supplemented by definitive appendices of leaders, casualties, every combat aircraft flown, an encyclopedic history of the unit's aircraft and markings and insignias. Compiled from wartime records of the US, Japan and Australia, supplemented by the personal experiences of hundreds of the units veterans, this book stands as a landmark in aviation history. A particularly unique feature is the careful matching of information from both American and Japanese sources, providing for the first time an accurate account of the events portrayed from both sides of the action. |
