Long Campaign

The 15th Fighter Group was activated in December 1940 as part of the old Hawaiian Air Force. It served its baptism of fire a year later when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and Oahu’s airfields. Utilizing personal interviews with veterans as well as official records, the author creates a wartime chronicle of combat operations across the Central Pacific. The 15th fought on the first day of the war and was still in combat on the last day, flying seven- to eight-hour missions from Iwo Jima to Honshu. This history won an award from the Aviation Writers Association.