Golden Wings 1941-1945: (USN/USMC Aircraft of World War II) [Repost]

As a result of the massive surprise Japanese bombing attack at Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7 December 1941. the United States of America entered the Second World War. Although the distant rumblings of war had been heard months earlier, the U.S. military was not fully prepared for combat on a worldwide scale. Our military aircraft were relatively few in numbers and consisted of trainers, transports, scouts, fighters and bombers. Many of these were obsolete when compared to the performance ot the Mitsubishi Zero that formed the backbone of the Japanese Empire's aerial assault.
Fortunately for the United States, the few aircraft carriers we had in the Pacific at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack were at sea and sustained no damage as a result of the Japanese aerial assault. The USS ENTERPRISE was enroutcback to Pearl and its air group suf­fered limited losses of SDBs and F4Fs as ihey arrived in the midst of the enemy air raid. This fact alone allowed the U. S. to preserve enough Naval air power to rebuild and reorganize. Starting the day after Pearl I larbor. a rapidly accelerated buildup of men and material began, which did not let up or level off until near the war's end in September of 1945. This book pictorially depicts this rapid develop­ment and the scope of aircraft utilized by the United States Navy and Marine Corps from 1941 thru 1W.
The Second World War saw many aircraft types used, including the star performers, the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair These fighters, however, were just two of the types used by the Navy and Marines Other aircraft, although lesser known, provided vital service that was essential to the ultimate result of the war effort Victory was attained by the combined resultsof all aircraft types such as trainers.