It’s great to know DeBlanc is still with us to share his experiences..
Gunther Rall is the highest scoring WWII ace still surviving, he published a book of his aviation career in 2004.
The also is a very good older series from the 90’s called “Hunters in the Sky”, noteworthy because it contains some candid interviews with some of the great fighter pilots of WWII, most who have since passed on; Saburo Sakai, Adolph Galland, Joseph Gabreski, and many others.
With the development of the “Thatch Weave” tactic, the F4Fs became very competitive against the A6M Zeros.
Anyone interested in the most thoroughly researched and detailed accounts of the air battles these Wildcats took part in during the first years of the war should read “First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942”
A superb book..
Thanks for your mention of the reference materials.
After seeing how the WWII “Dogfights” went down, I’ll definitely
get some extra reading in (when time permits!).
I’m a total sucker for WWII warbirds. Fortunately I get a mainline-fix
once a year with the local “Salute To Veterans” airshow.
http://www.salute.org
It’s even gotten more exciting in the past couple of years with the
appearance of well-meaning but snarky anti-war activists.
It is a hoot to just take the “informational” papers they offer to
airshow attendees...and after a walk of maybe 10 paces, turn the papers
over to “Operation Simply Shred”.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=simplyshred