The other day, when opening my mail, I was pleasantly surprised by this new book from Carl Molesworth. This may sound a bit premature, but upon reading the title page, I knew that I would like it. It combines two of my particular interests; the P-40 Warhawk and the China, Burma, India (CBI) theater of operations. That liking for the book increased with each page that unfolded and it was with some sadness that I had to come to the end of the book. I really cannot get enough of this stuff!

Let me get some of the specifications out of the way. It is #35 in Osprey's popular series on aircraft and aces and in the standard size and format of that series. There are 96 pages, full of information and photos. The nice thing about the photos is that I had seen almost none of them before. There are also a set of line drawings in the book for all the variants of the P-40 that are discussed in the book. For the modeler or just for those that like profiles, there are ten pages of them totally 40 very well done profiles. You can see an example at the head of the page. 

In addition to several pages with descriptions of the various profiles, the appendix includes information on the units involved and those aces who flew the P-40 in the CBI.

Now for a bit about what is in the book. It is divided into four logical chapters. The first one is entitled the 'China Air Task Force'. This section covers, logically enough, the first P-40s into the arena, those of the Flying Tigers. It then segue's into the formation of the 23rd Fighter Group (FG) and it's subsequent development and build up.

'Jungle Fighters' is about those units flying and fighting in the Burma/India part of the world. This involves the 51st FG and the 80th FG. The 80th is the unit that has the skull art on the nose of their Warhawks. These guys trained on P-47s and were hoping to fight in Europe. It was much to their surprise that they ended up in Karachi!  The 51st was involved in the war early, headed for Australia in January of 1942. It was their aircraft that were lost when the USS Langley was sunk near Java. The group ended up in India with only a handful of aircraft with which to rebuild the group. It was up to them to provide early protection for aircraft flying the 'Hump'.

Next section is on the buildup of forces in China itself. Initially just the 23rd FG and a squadron from the 51stt FG, it eventually built up to more than just some P-40 squadrons with the addition of B-24, B-25 and P-38 units. Chennault always wanted more Chinese involvement and helped to form two Chinese fighter groups, the 3rd and 5th FG, each with four P-40 Squadrons. These were manned by both US and Chinese pilots and crewmen. It is little known that there were also Chinese aces who flew the Warhawk.

'The Long Withdrawal' is the final chapter. 1944 was the best year for the Japanese Army in China. It was then that they occupied the most territory, all in efforts to have a solid supply line from Southeast Asia to Japan. The result was the loss of a number of airbases in the area, despite the efforts of the Chinese and Allied forces. It was also about the end of the P-40 in the theater. Though a number of them would soldier on until early 1945, it was obvious that they needed replacement and during this year the P-51 was seen in greater and greater numbers. The last P-40 victory was credited to Lt. Wei Shian-Kow in Febrary of 1945.

Carl Molesworth's book is well worth the cover price. Unlike so many other authors, he uses primary research, digging through reports and talking to surviving pilots for his information. This not only enables accurate historical recording, it also stops the passing on of past erroneous information. There are quite a few mission stories in the book to help give a feeling for what it was like during that time. Makes for some darn good reading as well. If you have a liking for the Warhawk or an interest in the CBI, buy this book!

Review copy courtesy of Carl Molesworth.

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