Into the Assault: Famous Dive-bomber Aces of the Second World War

As documented in this book, World War II's deadliest pilots did not fly P-51s or Bf 109s or Lancs or B-29s. Rather they flew often slow but always deadly dive-bombers such as Dauntlesses, Vals, Stukas and Pe-2s. Peter C. Smith examines the wartime exploits of seven of the best dive-bomber 'aces' in this 1985 University of Washington Press volume. INTO THE ASSAULT chronicles Takashige Egusa, Gerald Mesny, Giuseppe Cenni, Dick Partridge, Elmer Glidden, Walter Enneccerus and Ivan Polbin. Some were notable mainly for the number of missions they flew such as 'Iron Man' Glidden with 104 strikes in SBDs. Others like Egusa and Polbin were tacticians who developed and refined effective tactics for the aircraft they flew; though Polbin was killed on his 157th mission! Smith does an excellent job of summarizing each of these noteworthy airmen. The book includes 16 pages of photos along with illustrations of dive-bomber attack tactics, diagrams of hits scored on enemy ships, etc. In short, INTO THE ASSAULT is an excellent, very readable introduction to the talented dive-bomber aces of World War II. Recommended.