The first VF-2 was a prewar unit that had been dubbed the ‘hottest outfit afloat’ due to the skill of their non-commissioned pilots. This first unit only saw combat at the Battle of the Coral Sea, although VF-2 pilots flying Grumman F4F Wildcats were able to rack up 17 claims there during the bitter 48-hour period of fighting. The second ‘Fighting Two’ was armed with the new Grumman F6F-3 Hellcat fighter. Arriving in Hawaii in October 1943, the squadron so impressed Cdr Edward H ‘Butch’ O’Hare, the Medal of Honor-winning first US Navy ace of World War 2, that he requested the squadron replace VF-6 in his CAG-6 aboard USS Enterprise. No unit US Navy unit created more aces than VF-2, whose pilots went into action over the Carolines, Marianas, Guam, Iwo Jima and the Battle of the Philippine Sea. Using exquisite photographs and first-hand accounts from the elite fliers themselves, this volume tells the story of the ace pilots who comprised the original VF-2 and the second.
| ISBN: | 9781472805584 |
| Publication date: | 20th February 2015 |
| Author: | Thomas McKelvey Cleaver |
| Illustrator: | Jim Illustrator Laurier, Mark Co Postlethwaite |
| Publisher: | Osprey Publishing an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 96 pages |
| Series: | Aircraft of the Aces |
| Genres: |
Second World War Modern warfare History of the Americas Air forces and warfare |