The really good thing about these books is I have yet to run across one that was badly-written. As a professional writer myself, and a published aviation historian, that counts. A lot. They are engaging, and the writers are all smart enough - in my estimation - to pick the stories that are "naturally dramatic." It used to be that historians did this as a matter of course, which is why histories written prior to about 30 years ago are actually interesting. After that, academic history went haring off in pursuit of the obscure, and the Ph.D. candidate who demonstrated an ability to communicate to the masses (i.e., had a command of the language) was in deep professional doo-doo. To me, it's no wonder kids today hate history; most contemporary historians should be strung up for their "crimes against history."

Barrett Tillman is not one of those. In fact, I would go so far as to say that Barrett is the "gold standard" of popular historians in the field if military aviation history and that all one needs to know in deciding to buy a book is, did Barrett write it? If the answer is yes, so is the decision. His histories of the SBD Dauntless, F6F Hellcat, F4U Corsair, F4F Wildcat and F-8 Crusader - all published in hard-bound editions by the United States Naval Institute Press - should have pride of place in any quality aviation history collection. Barrett is a friend, and he once said to me that, "if you invented a time machine and dropped me in America between 1939 and 1945, I think I could escape undetected." I think he's right, and it shows in his books. Not only does he tell you the story of an airplane, but he puts that story in the context of its times.

The Grumman Hellcat is arguably the most successful carrier fighter ever made. It literally blew away the competition across the Pacific, from Tarawa to Tokyo. Whereas the Corsair, the designated "fleet defense fighter" for the coming war, was so difficult to put aboard a carrier that it was kicked off the flight decks and given to the Marines (the ultimate Navy insult), the Hellcat was exactly right: a wartime-trained naval aviator could launch in one, go out and face pretty much the worst the other side could offer and have an excellent chance of not only suriviving but thriving in that environment, and return with battle damage to a safe landing aboard ship. You pretty much can't ask for more in a carrier fighter. Not only that, but of all the products of the "Grumman Iron Works," it is - to me - the best-looking.

The myth of the Hellcat is that it was designed in response to the Zero, with the specific intent of outflying the Japanese fighter. As Tillman's book makes clear, this isn't true. Grumman was dissatisfied with the F4F; when they were asked to come up with a replacement in the summer of 1941 (before anyone in the Navy had heard of the Zero), they concluded that what a successful fleet defense fighter needed was the ability to outfly any possible competition, coupled with the ability to say on station for a long time, and enough ammunition that a wartime-trained aviator could hose down whatever flew in front of him without having to count bullets. This is what they gave the Navy: the biggest wing of any World War II fighter, which allowed it to outmaneuver (at high speed) what turned out to be its major competiion; the largest ammunition capacity of any World War II fighter, and the ability to fight whatever it ran across without having to drop its long-range fuel tank. Thank God the Navy let them stick an R-2800 in it - the finest radial engine ever made -instead of the ghastly R-2600 originally specified.

Barrett Tillman presents a very good "survey history" of the major combat periods of the Hellcat and the outstanding units that flew it, and the outstanding pilots in those units. As is usual with an Osprey book, I would not recommend that you determine the physical accuracy of your model from the profiles, but as marking guides the excellent artwork is second to none. They have managed to provide information on all the top-scoring Navy aces of the war who flew the Hellcat, and Barrett Tillman has done an excellent job of putting the reader "in that time." Whether you are a tyro aviation historian or an "experte," you will come away from reading the book with a feeling you have digested information you didn't have before.

Highly recommended.