The Cactus Air Force

Guadalcanal was the first offensive action in the Pacific Theatre against the Japanese and was accompanied by three months of air combat. The late Eric Hammel conducted over 150 interviews with American aviators and those testimonies have been skilfully developed into this story by Pacific expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver.

The issue with this is that there aren’t as many quotes as you might expect and those that are there tend to be very similar. So what you’re left with is a fairly dry account of the overall campaign. It’s good, rather than thrilling.

• Osprey Publishing
• ISBN 978-1-4728-5107-9
• 340 pages. Hardback. £25

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