Mustang Aces of the Eighth Air Force

The book is pretty much cover-to-cover B&W photos and color artwork of P-51 ace pilots and their mounts assigned to the Mighty Eighth. The book itself is nicely bound and printed. It's a worthy addition to the library of aircraft modelers and WW2 history buffs alike.

Flying the P-47 Thunderbolt against the Germans in `42-43, the only advantage the plane had was in a dive and it's firepower. But when the P-51 came into service many pilots began to add to their scores with the more maneuverable, faster and longer ranged plane. Pilots loved the new plane, being an even match for the Fw-190, and more than a match for the Bf-109. `Mustang aces of the 8th Air Force' is the first book Osprey published of it's long line of `Aircraft of the aces' books. In the beginning it explains about the P-51, then it explains about the aces which flew it. From England to Belgium to Italy, the P-51 fought against the German Luftwaffe and smashed it to dust. Lots of color plates and pictures throughout this book. I was happy to read about Leonard K. Carson, Donald Blakeslee, George Preddy and more. This book has 80 pages of information on the 8th AF aces who flew one of the best American fighters of WWII. This has a spot in my library.

I read / research a fair amount of 8th Air Force History. I have often retrieved this book from the shelf for quick reference. This is a great book for an introduction into the Mustang and the men who flew them and became Aces. There are other books / biographies devoted to much more detail about the Pilots and the P-51 aircraft, but for a high level look and different variations this book gets my vote. If you're a modeler of the P-51 you will find this book useful for the different color schemes of the WWII fighter groups in the ETO.

This series began well with this book by Jerry Scutts. It is really difficult to cover in one short volume all the aces that flew P-51 with the Eight air Force in WW II, and Scutts tried to give the reader a general view of their tasks and accomplishments. THe appendix at the end is very valuable. Good work.

Great book. I only think that, in the appendix (which are fantastic) the author should have shown also the number of ground kills by the aces.

This book is more than a great reference work. It is, first and foremost, an interesting and easy reading history of the P-51 and the men that flew with the Mighty 8th in World War 2 Europe. Black and white photographs combine with the text to tell the story in a breif but thorough manner. In addition, there are (60) color aircraft profile plates, and (6) color plates of airmen in period uniform. Appendices include operational debut dates of all groups in the eighth, and a group-by-group listing of the top aces. Also included are technical drawings of four mustang variants in 1/72nd scale. An excellent modelling and technical reference, well worth reading.