Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky

by John R. Bruning, Brian Troxell (Read by)

Overview

"Brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots...Fascinating." — Sara Vladic

"Extraordinary...A must-read." — US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen

"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots." — James M. Scott

"Vivid and gripping...Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air." — Saul David

The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot.

In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" — the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker — offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.

What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now.

Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced.

The pilots — Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson — riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight.

But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades.

Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781549103162
Publisher:	Hachette Book Group
Publication date:	01/14/2020
Edition description:	Unabridged
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 5.60(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

John R. Bruning is the author or coauthor of more than a dozen nonfiction books, including the critically acclaimed Shadow of the Sword and House to House. He lives in Oregon with his wife and two children.

Brian Troxell is an audiobook narrator and Atlanta-based actor and voice talent who can be seen and heard on television, film, radio, podcasts, and the live stage. He is a regular cast member of the Sketchworks sketch comedy troupe and performs regularly with the Atlanta Radio Theatre Company. He can also be heard as a cast member of the Harry Strange Radio Drama.

Table of Contents

Author's Note x

Prologue xi

Part I Warm-ups 1

1 The Country Mouse 3

2 The Buck Rogers Diving Death Ride 10

3 When Trouble Is Your Saving Grace 21

4 General Summons 28

5 The Girl with the Red Umbrella 34

6 The Price of a Moonlight Moment 43

7 Under an Arctic Rainbow 50

8 The Hero's Road 58

9 The Man Without a Place 68

Part II New Guinea 85

10 When Everyone Turned a Screw 87

11 Mission Over Maggot Beach 1 96

12 The Veterans of Nomonhan 102

13 The Man with the Broken Back 112

14 The Hero Makers 122

Part III Contenders 133

15 The Last Bottle of Yellowstone 135

16 Where Everything's Trying to Kill You 146

17 "Rhumba Cardi" 158

18 Duckbutt's Groove 168

19 The Innocent Killers 184

20 Return of the Outcast 200

21 The Jug Driver 209

22 Rebels in Thunderbolts 214

23 The New Guy 225

24 The Original Freelancer 232

25 The Warrior's Path 244

26 Four Days in October 250

27 The Battering of the Pudgys 256

28 The Race over Rabaul 266

29 The Relentless Rogue 283

30 The Ignored One 295

31 Off the Rails 304

32 Whitehead's Flying Circus 316

33 Walking with the Beast 324

34 The Casualties 333

35 Longer-than-Long Legs 343

36 The Two Macs 355

37 The Battlefield Tourist 368

38 The Killing Tourist 384

39 Return to the St. Francis 401

40 Reunion 408

41 "Whatever I Am, I Belong to You." 415

42 Lost Perspective 438

43 Getting Three for Mac 450

44 We Shall Always Return to Each Other 464

Epilogue 476

Acknowledgments 483

Bibliography and Source Notes 489

Index 509

Editorial Reviews

11/11/2019

Military historian Bruning (Indestructible) delivers a wide-angled view of the careers of America’s top WWII fighter pilots in this encyclopedic work. Stemming from Gen. George Kenney’s challenge to his Fifth Air Force fliers to break WWI ace Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker’s record of 26 kills, the race to become “America’s ace of aces” included, among others, Lt. Col. Gerald Johnson, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross; Col. Neel Kearby, the first fighter pilot to win the Medal of Honor; and Maj. Richard Bong, who eventually claimed the title by downing 40 Japanese aircraft. Bruning recounts the drama from the front lines as well as the home front, noting that America’s top fighter pilots were major celebrities of their day; newspapers printed box scores keeping track of their tallies. Their families, however, paid a steep price—of the five fliers profiled, only one lived past 1945. General readers may find Bruning’s descriptions of dogfights too repetitive, and the minutia of wartime record keeping threatens to bury the action under facts and figures. Military aviation buffs, however, will relish the level of detail. Agent: Jim Hornfischer, Hornfischer Literary Management. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

"Bruning is at his best when he delves into the pilots' anguish and obsessions...[his] work is a testament and a memorial not just to a handful of tragic heroes, but to those left bereft by this unique and explosive competition on the other side of the world."—The New York Times

"Race of Aces fascinates because of its attention to detail and strong characterization of these remarkable men."
—The Wall Street Journal

"Race of Aces brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots as they strive to achieve ace-level status...Bruning's unique and intimate look at the struggles of these men to balance honor, duty to country, and their pursuit to be the best makes this account even more fascinating. This is a book you can't put down, and a story you will reflect upon long after turning the last page."—Sara Vladic, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Indianapolis

"[Bruning] crafts vivid profiles of the Army Air Forces fight pilots... their struggles, both personal and military, are movingly told....Exquisitely polished prose alternately describes the dog-fighting above remote jungles and relationships with sweethearts back home. Prodigious digging into mission reports, old newspaper dispatches, diaries and correspondence plus extensive interviews of survivors and family members contribute to a sweeping narrative that is likely to be the definitive history of the Rickenbacker-inspired contest. Highly recommended."—Philip Handleman, Aviation History

"Race of Aces is a superb read, taking us through the high-stakes world of our great Aces and the WWII air war...Extraordinary. Wear your G suit and hang on — this must-read will become a classic."—Dan Pedersen, Founder of the Topgun program and bestselling author of Topgun: An American Story

"The riveting and emotional story of five American fighter pilots caught up in a deadly competition to claim the title of our nation's Ace of Aces, this book is so powerfully written that you can almost smell the engine exhaust and feel the G-forces in those furious dogfights. Race of Aces is quite simply is one of the best books ever written on World War II and cements Bruning's place as one of our generation's best combat historians."—David Bellavia, Medal of Honor Recipient and author of House to House: A Soldier's Memoir

"In Race of Aces, John R. Bruning brilliantly recreates the excitement and terror of one of the greatest untold stories of World War II: the nerve-shredding three-year contest to become America's deadliest fighter pilot. Exhaustively researched and expertly written — with dogfights as vivid and gripping as any I've read — the book confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air."—Saul David, author of The Force and Operation Thunderbolt

"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots during World War II. With a cockpit view of the fight, readers will hear the roar of the engines, feel the surge of adrenaline, and wrestle with the exhaustion that gripped these aviators in the marathon battle to become America's top fighter pilot."—James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Target Tokyo and Rampage

“Enthralling… Part five-sided biography, part adventure tale, part reflection on the price of fame, John Bruning’s story of the fighter jocks who chased glory is a fantastic read. Paced like a novel and filled with characters and exploits straight out of blockbuster movies, Race of Aces could be mistaken for the stuff of fiction. That its cast of Pacific theater Army Air Corps flyers—Bong, McGuire, Kearby, MacDonald, Johnson—may be relatively unknown to navalists more familiar with Vraciu and McCampbell adds to the air of the unbelievable. However, these men and their feats of derring-do were very real, and in Race of Aces they are brought to life by Bruning’s meticulous research and smooth prose….[F]ast-paced, well researched, exciting, engrossing, sobering….The book is a page-turner in the truest sense and captures the relentless pace of aerial combat in the Pacific, while contrasting it with the victors’ surreal return home and the toll of relentless war on the pilots who fought it.”—U.S. Naval Institute

"A fascinating book."—"Constant Wonder," BYURadio

"With deft, grit, and no shying away from the horrifying realities of war, Bruning...brings these heroes back to life, defining the struggles of morality, mortality, and glory that suffused their careers....[R]ich with historical information, Race of Aces reads like a novel and features interactions with figures such as Eddie Rickenbacker and Charles Lindbergh. Bruning's suspenseful storytelling utilizes personal interviews with U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) veterans, oral histories, archives, military history agencies, and letters/diaries written by the aces themselves....Eloquent and finely researched."—Library Journal (starred review)

"Satisfying...Combat aviation buffs will enjoy Bruning's explorations of a little-known history."—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 01/01/2020

Covering the rise of the Fifth Army Air Force, from low morale and unserviceable planes in New Guinea to the invasion of the Philippines and beyond, the race to become the greatest flying ace since World War I shows how every day, small-town Americans were molded into some of the greatest leaders and fighter pilots of the war. With deft, grit, and no shying away from the horrifying realities of war, Bruning (Indestructible) brings these heroes back to life, defining the struggles of morality, mortality, and glory that suffused their careers. On par with James Bradley's Flyboys, and rich with historical information, Race of Aces reads like a novel and features interactions with figures such as Eddie Rickenbacker and Charles Lindbergh. Bruning's suspenseful storytelling utilizes personal interviews with U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) veterans, oral histories, archives, military history agencies, and letters/diaries written by the aces themselves to flesh out life in the Southwest Pacific and the fever pitch to both survive in theatre and become the best of the best. VERDICT Eloquent and finely researched, this book will appeal to amateur historians or anyone interested in the USAAF and World War II maneuvers in the South Pacific.—Elan Marae Birkeland, Okinawa, Japan

Library Journal

2019-09-30
The air war in the Pacific takes a competitive turn in this overstuffed tale.

It was a stroke of genius on the part of George Kenney, a general in the U.S. Army Air Forces, when, in the early days of World War II, he orchestrated a visit from Eddie Rickenbacker, the great ace from the previous global conflict, and set up a contest that would award the first pilot to match Rickenbacker's kill count of 26 enemy planes with a bottle of bourbon. The pilots under Kenney's command, as Bruning (Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII, 2016) writes in an overlong but generally satisfying account, immediately got to work, hopping from island to island under intense enemy fire for the next three years, taking tremendous losses. At the same time, Kenney saw put into service the faster, more maneuverable Lockheed P-38 Lightning combat plane. A raid on a Japanese airfield in the Aleutians proved the worth of the P-38 combined with the earlier P-39 Airacobra fighter and B-24 bomber. In time, several pilots, including Richard Bong and Gerald Johnson, had kill counts in the two dozen range, and the race was really on. This led some to take major risks, as when a pilot named Tom Lynch violated the rule "never to make a second strafing run over the same target" and was blown out of the sky over New Guinea. A surprising moment comes near the end of the war, and the narrative, when Charles Lindbergh travels to the theater and flies with the aces even though, as a civilian, he risks being summarily executed if captured. The war had become so savage that neither side was offering any quarter, but Lindbergh "had little interest in Japanese atrocities" but instead "heaped scorn and moral outrage on his fellow Americans." A sad coda comes when two aces who survived the war died soon after in aviation accidents.

Combat aviation buffs will enjoy Bruning's explorations of a little-known history.

Kirkus Reviews