Stroud: Sutton Publishing Limited, 1998. 4to, black cloth with gilt on the spine, signed on the title page by Walker M. Mahurin and Herschel Green, a label signed by Alfred Price is pasted to the title page, the photo on p.106 is signed by Urban Drew, though not noted in the caption, Drew is the pilot of the P-51 nearest the camera coded E2*S, numerous photographs and drawings. The dust jacket has a closed 1/4-inch tear at the head of the spine. Very good in a very good dust jacket.
MPA/kb
The first edition of noted aviation historian Alfred Price's
definitive work on the Fw 190 appeared in 1977. That edition has become
increasingly difficult to find, so this latest revised edition is
certainly welcome. As Adolf Galland notes in the foreword, Price brings a
pilot's perspective to the history of what was arguably Germany's greatest
piston-engined fighter. Numerous photographs and drawings complement a
text which includes many first-person accounts from veteran pilots as well
as Kurt Tank, the brilliant designer of the Fw 190. This latest edition
will no doubt be as sought after as the first.
Walker M. Mahurin flew P-47s with the 63rd Fighter Squadron of the
legendary 56th Fighter Group and scored 19.75 victories (some sources
credit Mahurin with 21). Mahurin was well acquainted with the Fw 190. He
scored his first victories on 17 August 1943 when he shot down two Fw
190s. On 25 November Mahurin gained the distinction of becoming the first
pilot in the Eighth Air Force to score in double figures. His war nearly
ended on 27 March 1944 when he was shot down by the dorsal gunner of a Do
217. Mahurin helped bring the Dornier down, but he was forced to bail
out. However, he managed to evade capture and returned to his unit in
May. Mahurin went on to serve in Korea and flew F-86s. He flew the jet
fighter with the 5th Fighter Interceptor Wing before going on to command
the 4th Fighter Interceptor Group. Mahurin was credited with 3.5
victories over the formidable MiG-15 before being shot down and captured
on 13 May 1952. He was released after the war.
Herschel "Herky" Green scored 18 victories in 100 missions and was
the top ace of the 325th Fighter Group. On 19 January 1943 Green and the
rest of the 325th FG took off in their P-40s from the carrier USS Ranger
and landed in North Africa. The 325th was the second American fighter
unit, following the 33rd FG, to land and commence combat operations in
North Africa. Green shot down three aircraft in his P-40, ten in a P-47,
and five in a P-51. He also destroyed ten aircraft on the ground. He
ended the war as the commanding officer of the 317th Fighter Squadron
stationed in Italy.
Urban Drew flew P-51s with the 375th Fighter Squadron, 361st Fighter
Group in the Eighth Air Force. He shot down his first aircraft, a Bf 109,
on just his sixth mission on 25 June 1944, and he later added two more Bf
109s to his total. On 11 September 1944 he shot down a He 111, and he and
two others strafed and sank the enormous six-engined Bv 238V-1 flying boat
on Lake Schaal. Drew is best known for his accomplishment on 7 October
1944. Flying at 15,000 feet, he managed to spot two Me 262s of Kommando
Nowotny taking off from Achmer. Drew dove on them and surprised the
second jet to take off. It exploded in mid-air after taking hits, and
Leutnant Gerhard Kobert was killed. The other jet banked to come around
at Drew, but the latter crippled it with a difficult deflection shot.
Oberleutnant Paul Bley was able to bail out before the jet crashed. Bley
was killed two weeks later when his jet suffered engine failure on
take-off. Drew was the first Allied pilot to shoot down two Me 262s on
one mission. He finished the war with six victories.
This book was a part of the amazing collection assembled by Greg
Dortch over the course of about thirty years. He is a member of the
American Fighter Aces Association, British and Canadian Fighter Pilots
Associations, Gemeinschaft der Jagdflieger, Battle of Britain Association,
and various unit associations. He personally met many of the veterans,
and he sent labels to those he could not meet in order to obtain their
signatures. David Armstrong, Powells.com
