Target Hong Kong A true Story of U.S. Navy Pilots at War

Brought to life by the personal accounts of six Navy pilots and one British POW, this is the history of the U.S. Navy airstrikes on Japanese-held Hong Kong. Commander John Lamade started the war in 1941 a nervous pilot of an antiquated biplane. Just over three years later he was in the cockpit of a cutting-edge Hellcat about to lead a strike force of 80 aircraft through the turbulent skies above the South China Sea. His target: Hong Kong. As a storm of antiaircraft fire darkened the sky, watching from below was POW Ray Jones. For three long years he and his fellow prisoners had endured near starvation conditions in a Japanese internment camp. Did these American aircraft, he wondered, herald freedom? Trawling through historic records, Steven K. Bailey discovered that the story of the U.S. Navy airstrikes on Japanese-held Hong Kong during the final year of World War II had never been told. Operation Gratitude involved nearly 100 U.S. Navy warships and close to a thousand planes. Target Hong Kong brings this massive operation down to a human scale by recounting the air raids through the experiences of seven men whose lives intersected at Hong Kong in January 1945: Commander John D. Lamade, six of his fellow U.S. Navy pilots and the POW Ray Jones. Drawing upon oral histories, diary transcripts, and U.S. Navy documents, this book expertly narrates the intertwined experiences of these servicemen to bring the history to life.>

Product details

• Authors: Steven K. Bailey, Steven K Bailey
• Publisher: Osprey Publishers
• Content: Book
• Product form: Hardback
• Publication date: 01.02.2024
• Subject: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous
• EAN: 9781472860101
• ISBN: 978-1-4728-6010-1
• Pages: 368
• Dimensions (packing): 16 x 24 x 3 cm
• Subjects: USA, Japan, Torpedo, True war & combat stories, Stanley, HISTORY / Military / United States, HISTORY / Asia / China, Hong Kong, Avenger, Military vehicles, Air forces & warfare, Kowloon, United States of America, USA, c 1938 to c 1946 (World War Two period), Prisoners of War, Asian History, Allies, Air forces and warfare, Battles & campaigns, c 1939 to c 1945 (including WW2), True war and combat stories, Military aircraft, Aircraft and aviation, Battles and campaigns, HISTORY / Military / Aviation & Space, Pacific War, Bombing, Third Fleet; Pacific War; F6F; Avenger; Hi 87; Kai Tak; Kowloon; Taikoo; Hung Hom; Stanley; air attacks; bombing; civilians; torpedo; prisoners of war; Allies; first hand, civilians, first hand, F6F, Hi 87, Hung Hom, Kai Tak, Taikoo, air attacks