The Kamikaze Hunters: Fighting for the Pacific; 1945

British journalist Iredale revisits the history of the British Royal Navy's short but violent operations in the Pacific Theater late in WWII. He uses official records, interviews, diaries, and letters to relate how the British Navy deployed to the Pacific, beginning in spring of 1945, in order to support the American fleet as the U.S. waged the final battles of WWII against Japan. The majority of the book's early chapters describe the state of Fleet Air Arm as well as the training and preparation its pilots received as they prepared for combat. British naval aviation was far behind its American Navy allies, and many of the British pilots trained in the U.S. Additionally, by the end of the war most of the aircraft in use were American types. By the time the British aircraft carriers arrived, the worst of the war in the Pacific was over, but the final months were still very dangerous. In one squadron of 18 pilots, only three were still flying as the war ended; another squadron lost four of 10 aircraft in the last 10 days of the war. Iredale's enjoyable work depicts an important and oft-overlooked moment in the histories of both the Pacific Theater and the British Navy. Illus. (June)