Avonmore Books is an Australian publisher specializing in military and aviation history, with a particular interest on the early period of the Pacific War. Avonmore prides itself in being the only mainstream Australian military history publisher producing full colour, illustrated books. While expensive to produce, we strive to produce titles that are a pleasure to own and read, and which incorporate first-class profiles, illustrations, and maps. To date, Avonmore Books has published 25 aviation books.

Raised in Port Moresby, pilot Michael Claringbould is a globally recognized expert on the New Guinea air war and Japanese aviation in particular. In 1976 he conducted numerous surveys of crash sites in Papua New Guinea while based at Lae. The following year he continued his survey of crash sites in the Solomon Islands. In 1984 he was a key member of a RAAF salvage team, which recovered an intact Douglas A-20G "Hell'N Pelican II". From 1995 to 2001 he conducted fourteen surveys of crash sites in the Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Michael is an established author in this field as well. His books include Helluva Pelican, The Forgotten Fifth, Forty of the Fifth, and Black Sunday.

Peter Ingman is an author specializing in aviation and WWII Pacific War history. Peter has co-authored five widely acclaimed Australian WWII history books: Zero Hour in Broome, Carrier Attack Darwin 1942 and four volumes of the South Pacific Air War series. Through his publishing business Avonmore Books, Peter has also had extensive input into further military history books by a variety of authors. An award-winning essayist, Peter is the Chairman of the History Group at the South Australian Aviation Museum. He lives in Adelaide with his two young children.

The front cover features a color illustration of Japanese Lieutenant Imajuku Shige’ichiro leading an attack on the USS Enterprise on the morning of the Battle of Santa Cruz Islands. His was one of sixteen Vals launched from Zuikaku at 0845 as part of a second strike group. Shokaku had already launched their second strike group of nineteen Vals at 0810. The rear cover depicts a color illustration of a VF5 Wildcat pilot after a pass on a Chitose Pete commanded by FPO2c Yagi Masaki late on October 8, 1942. Both FPO2c Yagi Masaki and his observer died after being shot down. I counted 20 color side profiles, 16 color illustrations, and five maps by Michael Claringbould. There are also 43 period black and white period photographs, two color photographs, along with eighteen tables.

Michael Claringbould and Peter Ingman continue from Volume 1 with the month of October 1942 in the Guadalcanal and Santa Cruz campaign from the opposing sides. Subsequent volumes will cover the balance of the Solomons campaign. Chapters 1 and 2 review each side’s airpower assets to open the month of October.Chapter 3 opens with October 1, 1942, with the following chapters reviewing the daily action for the rest of October. Much of the text is mission accounts and analysis, but there are first person accounts included. Page 34 shows a map of the Shortland Islands locations that were attacked on October 5, 1942, by the USS Hornet [CV-8] air group. The USS Hornet, a veteran of the Doolittle Raid and the Battle of Midway, was the sole US carrier in the region after the USS Enterprise was damaged from bombs, the USS Saratoga was damaged by torpedoes, and the USS Wasp was sunk in September. Unfortunately, the two air strikes launched from the USS Hornet achieved little as no bombs or torpedoes hit the targeted Japanese ships although minor damage was achieved from near misses.

The ‘Tokyo Express’ runs in the early October saw thousands of Imperial Japanese Army troops and equipment landed on Guadalcanal in preparation for an all-out attack on Henderson Field. Page 61 shows off part of the ‘Cactus Air Force’ with a Bell P-39D Airacobra named “The Southern Belle, Violette II” in color. 2.Lt Barclay Dillon is exiting the cockpit with his parachute on while his 67^th FS compatriots, Lt Zed Fountain and Lt Bob Ferguson are sitting and leaning on the wing. The lower half of the page features a color profile of a Kawanishi E7K2 Alf floatplane from the IJN Yura, that was involved in the battleship bombardment of Henderson Field. I found it interesting that the IJN floatplanes were quite a challenge for the United States as they were unexpectedly quite maneuverable in combat.October 25, 1942, saw the IJN Yura attacked by VS-71 SBD dive bombers, Bell P-39 Airacobras, Grumman F4F Wildcats, and finally by B-17 bombers from Espiritu Santo that finally finish off IJN Yura. The IJN destroyers Harusame and Yudachi removed her crew that evening and fired torpedoes into her. The Yura would break in two with the bow sinking. The Yudachi would then fire its guns into the stern until it finally disappeared below the waves.

Michael Claringbould’s color painting on Page 94 leads off Chapter 7 that covers October 20-24. This painting features a Grumman F4F Wildcat diving after a Tainan Ku Mitsubishi A6M Zero after the October 14 battleship bombardment of Henderson Field. This naval bombardment came from the IJN Kongo and the IJN Haruna that hurled 973 14”-Shells at the airfield. The Cactus Air Force barely survived with only five Douglas SBDs surviving and all of the Grumman TBF Avengers were destroyed.

The Battle of Santa Cruz Islands is described in Chapters 8, 9, and 10. Page 121 features a black and white photograph of the crew of the Martin B-26 “Arkansas Traveller II” in New Caldonia on the eve of the battle. The Martin B-26s were put on alert to deploy to Espiritu Santo on short notice as it was feared the Japanese would bed attacking Espiritu Sano along with Guadalcanal.Page 157 depicts Michael Claringbould’s color profile of a Boeing B-17E, 41-2437, of the 11^th Bomb Group.Note the rudder was replaced at Espiritu Santo due to battle damage. The rest of the aircraft is in what is commonly referred to as Hawaiian Air Depot (HAD) camouflage. This aircraft is actually a ‘movie star’ having been in John Ford’s Battle of Midway [1942] where it appeared landing on Midway Island. She was officially written off on June 15, 1944 for a currently unknown reason.

The Chapters include:

• About the Authors
• Glossary & Abbreviations
• Explanatory Notes
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Allied Air Power Overview
  • Allied Air Strength, South Pacific, 1 October 1942 [Table]
• Chapter 2 Japanese Air Power Overview
  • Strengths of Zeros and Bettys Available at Rabaul [Table]
• Chapter 3 1-7 October: Hornet’s Hit and Run [Page 034]
• Chapter 4 8-13 October: Battling the Tokyo Express [Page 061]
• Chapter 5 14-15 October: Cactus on the Brink I
• Chapter 6 16-19 October: Cactus on the Brink II
• Chapter 7 20-24 October: Prelude to the Japanese Offensive [Page 094]
  • Cactus Air Force – Serviceable Aircraft [Table]
• Chapter 8 25 October: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands I [Page 121]
  • Japanese Naval Force [Table]
  • US Naval Force [Table]
  • USN Carrier Aircraft Strength, Dawn 26 October [Table]
  • IJN Carrier Aircraft Strength, Dawn 26 October [Table]
• Chapter 9 26 October: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands II
  • Japanese First Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • Japanese Second Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • American First Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • Japanese Second Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
• Chapter 10 26 October: Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands III [Page 157]
  • Junyo First Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • Junyo Second Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • Zuikaku Third Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
  • Junyo Third Attack Group – 26 October [Table]
• Chapter 11 26-31 October: Aftermath
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1 Allied Aircraft Losses & Fatalities [Table]
• Appendix 2 Japanese Aircraft Losses & Fatalities [Table]
• Appendix 3 Cumulative Aircraft Losses & Fatalities [Table]
• Sources & Acknowledgements
• Index

What I liked about this book was the research on both the US and Japanese sides, especially in claims. Five aerial victories on one side compared to the other side of no losses easily opens your eyes. The same type of claims on bombing or torpedoing ships but the other side has no losses really brings out the fog of war. Much of the narrative is in third person, but there are still some first-person accounts. One involved Stanley Winfield "Swede" Vejtasa of VF10. Swede Vejtasa had already made a name for himself when he was awarded the Navy Cross for action on March 10, 1942 where he attacked a Japanese transport, scoring a direct hit. He captured a second Navy Cross for his actions in the Battle of Coral Sea with VS-5 off of the USS Yorktown.Swede Vejtasa later switched from flying Douglas SBDs to flying Grumman Wildcats with VF-10 off of the USS Enterprise and gained his third Navy Cross for claiming 7 aerial victories [2 Vals and 5 Kates] on October 26, 1942 during the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands.

I followed very close behind a three-plane section and blew the number two man up with two short bursts. I then fired at the leader and shot the rudder off before the plane caught fire.The third plane started a shallow turn and caught on fire after I had fired a rather long burst into it.

Swede Vejtasa was celebrated for achieving ‘ace in a day’ status. Postwar analysis only confirmed his count to four aerial victories on October 26, 1942.

Michael Claringbould’s color illustrations and color side profiles add a lot to the period black and white photographs to this tale. This was an easy read over five nights that was hard to put down. I am looking forward to subsequent volumes in this series.

My thanks to Casemate, Avonmore Books,and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great book.

Highly recommended!