Corsair

Barrett Tillman's fast-paced history of the legendary F4U Corsair presents a riveting picture of the men and machines committed to two major wars and several minor conflicts. From the nerve-wracking test flights of the 1940s to the details of F4Us active nearly forty years later, this book is filled with the stories that gave birth to the legendary exploits of aces such as Boyington, Hanson, and Walsh, along with descriptions of Charles A. Lindbergh's combat missions. With its sleek silhouette and bent wings, this Cadillac of the props doubled as a day and night fighter, flew off carriers or from land, and served both as a dive bomber and reconnaissance plane. During thirty months of combat in World War II with the U.S. Navy and Marines, the Corsair shot down more than two thousand Japanese planes. In the Korean war, the "U-bird," as it was then called, became the beloved "Bent Wing" to thousands of U.S. and allied troops.