Table of Contents
Dedication 7
Foreword 9
Preface 12
Acknowledgments 13
Introduction 17
Part 1 Getting to the War 19
1 The War Begins 21
2 Pilot Training 28
3 The Long Journey to the Pacific 41
Part 2 War in the Pacific 53
4 Into the Fight 55
5 R&R in Australia 90
6 Fighting "Westward 96
7 Wakde 120
8 With the Black Rams 144
9 Leyte 168
10 Into December 198
11 Tanauan 226
12 San Marcelino 249
Part 3 Pacific Aftermath 269
13 Getting Home 271
14 Home from the War 281
15 Flying Again 285
Epilogue 294
Appendix 1 USAAF Pilot's Issue Flying Gear 298
Appendix 2 Pidgin English Phrases used in SWPA 299
Appendix 3 Credit for Destruction of Enemy Aircraft, 25 October 1943 301
Appendix 4 348th Fighter Group Air Combat Intelligence Report, 2 February 1944 302
Appendix 5 341st Fighter Squadron Statistical Data for May 1944 304
Appendix 6 Notes from Charles Lindbergh Lecture on P-47 Operations 306
Appendix 7 460th Fighter Squadron Monthly "A" to "L" Report for November 1944 309
Appendix 8 Unit Narrative Combat Report, 10 December 1944 311
Appendix 9 Press Release by Fifth Air Force to All Correspondents, circa May 1945 313
Appendix 10 Awards and Decorations of fames C. Curran 314
Appendix 11 A Brief History of the 460th Fighter Squadron 317
Appendix 12 460th Fighter Squadron Combat Losses in World War II 323
Glossary 327
Bibliography 328