I was surprised to see three books about the mission to shoot down Yamamoto published this year: surprised because so much has been written about it already and I did not anticipate new information coming to light about this single, over-studied mission. In that regard, I was pleasantly surprised. Dick Lehr\u2019s Dead Reckoning goes beyond the usual controversy between Tom Lanphier and Rex Barber and instead looks at John Mitchell, the leader of the improbable interception. In my opinion, focus on the controversy has robbed Mitchell of much of the credit he deserves for leading such a daring raid. Lehr constructs his work as dueling biographies of Mitchell and Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. Much of the new information about Mitchell is based on correspondence between him and his wife. The intimate portrayal of a man previously only discussed in passing is well done and fascinating. However, Lehr should have consulted someone with knowledge of aircraft or air combat. He gives awkward, sometimes inaccurate descriptions of maneuvers, cockpit setup, and instrumentation. He also paints an idealized portrait of Yamamoto as the \u201creluctant warrior\u201d and implies America\u2019s targeted killing of the admiral set a precedent. In fact, the US has long targeted the leadership of its adversaries, such as killing Datu Ali during the Moro War and capturing Geronimo in the Apache Wars. The killing of Yamamoto fit into a long-established pattern, rather than setting a new one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dan Hampton\u2019s Operation Vengeance does not suffer from Lehr\u2019s issues describing aircraft and air combat. Hampton was a fighter pilot himself and goes into excruciating detail. At times, the book reads more like the expanded checklist for the P-38 rather than a narrative history. Hampton struggles to decide what his book is about, though, usually beginning each chapter with a lengthy description of about two minutes\u2019 worth of conjecture about what Rex Barber was doing or thinking in his cockpit on the fateful mission and then pivoting to a stock explanation of the war\u2019s background and the Guadalcanal campaign. The forward by Barber\u2019s son and grandson made me hope Hampton would provide an intimate portrait of the man in the same manner as Lehr did with Mitchell. Unfortunately, we only ever really read about what Barber did, not who he was. The best way I can describe Operation Vengeance is \u201cfuses existing research with an exhaustive reading of the P-38 operating manual\u201d or \u201chow a modern fighter pilot imagines he would have flown the Yamamoto mission.\u201d The book ends advocating for Barber to receive the Medal of Honor, claiming the mission to shoot down Yamamoto was \u201cno less dangerous or difficult\u201d than the Doolittle Raid. Bold statement, Mr. Hampton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, Si Sheppard\u2019s We Killed Yamamoto is a very quick read, but does a good job presenting the essential information and background about the mission. Sheppard brings in US and Japanese primary sources and runs through the differing perspectives and discusses the controversy without getting bogged down. Like Lehr, Sheppard\u2019s lack of technical expertise (or consulting someone with technical expertise) leads to some awkward inaccuracies. The caption to one photo talks about P-38 fighters arriving at Guadalcanal, but shows an F-5 reconnaissance aircraft. He gets confused about the P-38\u2019s armament and also describes one of the pilots throttling \u201cback to 170mph, just enough power to keep his fighter from stalling.\u201d In fact, according to the manual, the stall speed of a P-38 with power on is something like 74mph and with power off is 99mph. Sheppard also erroneously states that \u201cRex Barber served in China as commander of the 449th Fighter Squadron.\u201d In fact, he was the operations officer\u2014second in command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, I wish Hampton had forgone writing his own book and instead helped Lehr and Sheppard with theirs. He brings in no new information\u2014only an understanding of aircraft and air combat which he leans on too heavily. Lehr\u2019s book is worth reading for the correspondence he highlights between Mitchell and his wife. And while Sheppard\u2019s book is a good, quick overview, I would still recommend Attack on Yamamoto by Carroll V. Glines as the best single book on the mission and Islands of Destiny by John Prados as the best book on the Solomon Islands campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I was surprised to see three books about the mission to shoot down Yamamoto published this year: surprised because so much has been written about it already and I did not anticipate new information coming to light about this single, over-studied mission. In that regard, I was pleasantly surprised. Dick Lehr\u2019s Dead Reckoning goes beyond…<\/p>\n