Finally, after many years of waiting, we have a new 'Units of the Korean War' by Warren Thompson. Not quite the same as the other half dozen books that were done in the past, as those were considerably more image intensive and not, of course, in the same series or format, but a book I'm quite pleased to see, nonetheless.

The Corsair was one of the few WWII aircraft types that was kept in production after the war. While most other extant prop driven types were scrapped or transferred to the Reserves or National Guard, the Corsair was deemed to be handy enough to keep around. It was even improved upon with the advent of the F4U-5 and the ground attack optimized AU-1. The -5 only saw limited use in Korea and then only as a night fighter, while the AU-1 was particularly effective, though only around a hundred or so were ever produced.

The book starts with the first ship on the scene carrying Corsairs, the relatively new USS Valley Forge and her air wing, CVG-5. It is interesting to note, the air wing 5 is the one that was forward deployed with the USS Midway back in the mid 1970s and is still in Japan at this time. Thus began a series of deployments by a number of aircraft carriers including the Philippine Sea, Boxer, Essex, Princeton, Leyte and others with some making multiple deployments. Each carried at least one squadron of Corsairs and many had more. These aircraft were primarily used in the ground attack role and almost always operated from the ships. When it came to land based Corsair operations, that was when the Marines were called into action, with several units assisting the troops and in many cases, turning away intense enemy attacks. The Night fighters are not forgotten and it was here that the Navy had its only Korean War ace. Sadly, his plane was wrecked when a USAF Reserve pilot decided to try to fly it near the end of the war.

You would expect to have a lot of 'There I was' stories in the book and you'll find them here. These add a great deal of interest and allow the reader to see what combat was like during the conflict. The images chosen are superb and as color photography was coming into more widespread use, many of the images are in full color. There is also the usual profiles section that we've come to expect in Osprey aviation books.

Overall, it is an excellent addition to the series and a book that no Corsair or Korean War enthusiast should miss.

April 2009

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