Author(s): Peter E. Davies; Jim Laurier (Illustrator); Gareth Hector (Illustrator)

Overseas Military

The F9F Panther was the US Navy's first genuinely successful jet fighter to see combat. Having initially engaged North Korean fighters, Panthers were modified for ground attack operations with bombs and rockets. This book details the deadly battles between US Navy/US Marine Corps F9F Panther jet fighter-bombers and communist anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) defenses that proliferated in North Korea throughout the Korean War. Peter E. Davies analyses how the F9F became the US Navy's principal fighter-bombers for strikes on rail and road transportation, bridges, dams, and AAA sites. Newly commissioned artwork and archival photographs illustrate the key weapons and wide variety of guns used to counter the threat posed by the F9F. These missions pitted the Panther against North Korean and Chinese heavy AAA weapons, using near-vertical dives to destroy 37mm and 100mm gun sites near targets being attacked by more vulnerable piston-engined aircraft. Packed with technical specifications, first-hand accounts, and technical diagrams, this title explains how Naval Aviators dealt with the threat posed by North Korean AAA. Book jacket.