The Forgotten Few
The Indian Air Force in World War II
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The Forgotten Few
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Narrated by:
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Manish Dongardive
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By:
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K.S. Nair
About this listen
The Forgotten Few is the first contemporary attempt to produce a historical narrative of the nation's contribution, specifically to the air force component, of World War II, which was an important part of our journey to Independence and national identity. Close to three million Indians served in uniform during the war. And yet, the Indian chapter of this globe-straddling story, reverberations of which still echo today, are barely known - a symptom of which was the recent controversy over the absence of Indians in the Christopher Nolan film Dunkirk.
This book brings to light some of the lost stories of Indian aviators who built the very foundations of human and physical infrastructure for what is now the world's fourth largest air force. It benefits from several first-person interviews with some of the last Indian survivors of World War II, enabling a level of fidelity that is quite rare among Indian histories.
©2019 K.S. Nair (P)2020 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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5 out of 5 stars
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“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4 out of 5 stars 83
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2 out of 5 stars
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 545
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 481
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Story5 out of 5 stars 481
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5 out of 5 stars
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 415
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
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5 out of 5 stars
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By: BGen R. G. Head
-
MiG Alley
- The US Air Force in Korea, 1950-53
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 14 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 314
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 251
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 250
Of the many myths that emerged following the end of the Korean War, the prevailing one in the West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the 10:1 victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots flying the North American F-86 Sabre against their communist adversaries, amongst other such fabrications, went unchallenged until the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were finally opened. From that point onwards, a very different story began to emerge.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Excellent
- By Lorne on 11-27-19
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Wade McClusky and the Battle of Midway
- By: David Rigby
- Narrated by: David Stifel
- Length: 11 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 96
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 83
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Story4 out of 5 stars 83
The story of the man who won the battle of Midway and avenged Pearl Harbor for the United States. During the Battle of Midway in June 1942, US Navy dive bomber pilot Wade McClusky proved himself to be one of the greatest pilots and combat leaders in American history, but his story has never been told - until now.
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2 out of 5 stars
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This biographer is obsessed
- By J. S. Harbour on 05-17-20
By: David Rigby
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Unsung Eagles
- True Stories of America’s Citizen Airmen in the Skies of World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 545
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 481
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Story5 out of 5 stars 481
The nearly half-million American air crewmen who served during World War II have almost disappeared. And so have their stories. Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who - in the aggregate - actually won it.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A great look into what so many gave for & to us.
- By Duane on 08-02-21
By: Jay A. Stout
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Fighter Group
- The 352nd “Blue-Nosed Bastards” in World War II
- By: Lt. Col. Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Donald Corren
- Length: 17 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 458
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 415
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 413
Jay A. Stout breaks new ground in World War II history with this gripping account of one of the war’s most highly decorated American fighter groups. Stout combines the storytelling gifts and careful research for a seasoned historian with the combat experience of a former fighter pilot to tell the remarkable story of the 352nd Fighter Group. This isn’t just the story of a single fighter group; it’s the story of how the United States won the air war over Europe.
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5 out of 5 stars
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This is a fantastic, through, in depth, and personal history of the 352nd fighter group.
- By S. H. Moore on 02-23-21
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Hawkeye
- The Enthralling Autobiography of the Top-Scoring Israel Air Force Ace of Aces
- By: Brigadier General Giora Even-Epstein
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 71
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 62
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 62
For more than 30 years, Giora Even-Epstein flew fighters for the Israel Air Force, achieving recognition as a highly skilled military aviator and the highest-scoring jet-mounted ace with the most number of confirmed victories in the French Mirage. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators' tally in the entire world. This fast-moving autobiography details his experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of 1967, the Six Day War, and 1973, the Yom Kippur War.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Not a writer
- By Checco on 11-26-21
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I Will Run Wild
- The Pacific War from Pearl Harbor to Midway
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
- Narrated by: Lance C Fuller
- Length: 12 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 91
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 80
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 80
In many popular histories of the Pacific War, the period from the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor to the US victory at Midway is often passed over because it is seen as a period of darkness. Indeed, it is easy to see the period as one of unmitigated disaster for the Allies, with the fall of the Philippines, Malaya, Burma and the Dutch East Indies and the wholesale retreat and humiliation at the hands of Japan throughout Southeast Asia.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Very informative
- By dexter on 09-20-20
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Forgotten Fifteenth
- The Daring Airmen Who Crippled Hitler's War Machine
- By: Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 440
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 391
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 386
November 1943 to May 1945. The US Army Air Forces waged an unprecedentedly dogged and violent campaign against Hitler's vital oil production and industrial plants on theThird Reich's southern flank. Flying from southern Italy, far from the limelight enjoyed by the Eighth Air Force in England, the Fifteenth Air Force engaged in high-risk missions spanning most of the European continent. The story of the Fifteenth Air Force deserves a prideful place in the annals of American gallantry.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Well written ...; felt like I was a door gunner.
- By David C. Miller on 12-08-21
By: Barrett Tillman
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The Fighting Corsairs
- The Men of Marine Fighting Squadron 215 in the Pacific during WWII
- By: Jeff Dacus
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 50
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 50
From historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943, when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war.
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3 out of 5 stars
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The Fighting Corsairs
- By Thomas S. Connelly on 05-10-21
By: Jeff Dacus
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Dead Reckoning
- The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor
- By: Dick Lehr
- Narrated by: Will Damron
- Length: 12 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 269
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 235
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 234
“AIR RAID, PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NOT DRILL.” At 7:58 a.m. on December 7, 1941, an officer at the Ford Island Command Center frantically typed what would become one of the most famous radio dispatches in history as the Japanese navy launched a surprise aerial assault on the American navy stationed in Hawaii. In a little over two hours, the Japanese killed more than 2,400 Americans and propelled the US’s entry into World War II. Dead Reckoning is the story of the mission to avenge that devastating strike.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Half Soap Opera, target audience 20 something male
- By Donald L. Hogan on 03-20-21
By: Dick Lehr
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Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot
- By: Starr Smith, Walter Cronkite
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 66
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 65
Of all the celebrities who served their country during World War II - and they were legion - Jimmy Stewart was unique. On December 7, when the attack on Pearl Harbor woke so many others to the reality of war, Stewart was already in uniform - as a private on guard duty south of San Francisco at the Army Air Corps Moffet Field. Seeing war on the horizon, Jimmy Stewart, at the height of his fame after Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and his Oscar-winning turn in The Philadelphia Story in 1940, had enlisted several months earlier.
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3 out of 5 stars
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After-action intelligence report
- By David on 04-20-18
By: Starr Smith, and others
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Operation Chastise
- The RAF's Most Brilliant Attack of World War II
- By: Max Hastings
- Narrated by: Max Hastings, Peter Noble
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 115
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 96
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 96
The attack on Nazi Germany’s dams on May 17, 1943, was one of the most remarkable feats in military history. The absurdly young men of the Royal Air Force’s 617 Squadron set forth in cold blood and darkness, without benefit of electronic aids, to fly lumbering heavy bombers straight and level towards a target at a height above the water less than the length of a bowling alley. Yet this story has never been told in full. Max Hastings takes us back to the May 1943 raid to reveal how the truth of that night is considerably different from the popularized account most people know.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Wish He Had Stuck to the Core Story
- By John on 06-22-20
By: Max Hastings
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The Men Who Killed the Luftwaffe
- The U.S. Army Air Forces Against Germany in World War II
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Paul Woodson
- Length: 15 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 470
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 428
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 421
In this dramatic story of World War II, Jay A. Stout describes how the US built an air force of 2.3 million men after starting with 45,000 and defeated the world's best air force. In order to defeat Germany in World War II, the Allies needed to destroy the Third Reich's industry and invade its territory, but before they could effectively do either, they had to defeat the Luftwaffe, whose state-of-the-art aircraft and experienced pilots protected German industry and would batter any attempted invasion.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A must read for WWII buffs
- By david on 07-27-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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Pacific Crucible: War at Sea in the Pacific, 1941-1942
- By: Ian W. Toll
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 22 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 3,958
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 3,532
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Story5 out of 5 stars 3,517
On the first Sunday in December 1941, an armada of Japanese warplanes appeared suddenly over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and devastated the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Six months later, in a sea fight north of the tiny atoll of Midway, four Japanese aircraft carriers were sent into the abyss. Pacific Crucible tells the epic tale of these first searing months of the Pacific war, when the U.S. Navy shook off the worst defeat in American military history and seized the strategic initiative.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Astonishingly good.
- By Mike From Mesa on 09-01-12
By: Ian W. Toll
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Inferno
- By: Joe Pappalardo
- Narrated by: Matt Godfrey
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 41
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 39
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 39
Joe Pappalardo's Inferno tells the true story of the men who flew the deadliest missions of World War II, and an unlikely hero who received the Medal of Honor in the midst of the bloodiest military campaign in aviation history.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great listen I
- By Amazon Customer on 06-21-21
By: Joe Pappalardo
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Sicily '43
- The First Assault on Fortress Europe
- By: James Holland
- Narrated by: Al Murray
- Length: 19 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 185
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 164
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 163
On July 10, 1943, the largest amphibious invasion ever mounted took place, larger even than the Normandy invasion 11 months later: 160,000 American, British, and Canadian troops came ashore or were parachuted onto Sicily, signaling the start of the campaign to defeat Nazi Germany on European soil. Operation HUSKY, as it was known, was enormously complex, involving dramatic battles on land, in the air, and at sea. Yet, despite its paramount importance to ultimate Allied victory, and its drama, very little has been written about the 38-day Battle for Sicily.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great writing, great narration, interesting topic
- By ItalCali on 08-02-21
By: James Holland
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The Last Zero Fighter
- By: Dan King
- Narrated by: Drew Bott
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 44
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 40
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Story5 out of 5 stars 40
Firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense and the dropping of the atomic bomb. Includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating and humanizing story
- By courtney mckean on 07-03-23
By: Dan King
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Dragon's Jaw
- An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam
- By: Stephen Coonts, Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 135
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 120
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 120
Every war has its "bridge" - Old North Bridge at Concord, Burnside's Bridge at Antietam, the railway bridge over Burma's River Kwai, the bridge over Germany's Rhine River at Remagen, and the bridges over Korea's Toko Ri. In Vietnam it was the bridge at Thanh Hoa, called Dragon's Jaw. For seven long years hundreds of young US airmen flew sortie after sortie against North Vietnam's formidable and strategically important bridge, dodging a heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire and enemy MiG planes. Many American airmen were shot down, killed, or captured....
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3 out of 5 stars
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At some point the political commentary is exhausting
- By Tyler White on 06-07-19
By: Stephen Coonts, and others