Before the Korean War, the primary mission of Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer's Far East Air Forces was air defense of the Japanese homeland. Most of the aircraft constituting Stratemeyer's inventory were interceptors, not designed for the type of combat that would be required now that the United States was joining in the UN effort to end the war in Korea. The Joint Army/USAAF doctrine of 1946, known as Field Manual 31-35, Air Ground Operations, was also considered outdated in the present circumstance. A new approach to warfighting had to be developed in response to the strong influence of General Douglas MacArthur and other of his air officers in the Army-dominated General Headquarters Far East Command. Close air support of the ground forces as provided by Fifth Air Force came at some cost, and tempers flared in the process, but the air commanders in Korea never deprived the ground commanders of close air support if it was needed. Indeed, without the close air support provided to the airmen, the ground campaign would have been a much more bloody and difficult affair than it was.

The fight for air superiority began the day the Korean War started and only ended with the armistice three years later. Once the shock of the North Koreans' invasion wore off, it did not take long for the United States Air Force, assisted by other United Nations air forces, to destroy the North Korean Air Force. The arrival of the MiG-15 in November 1950, often flown by Soviet pilots, changed things considerably however. For the remainder of the war, bitterly contested air battles were fought almost daily. Yet despite a decided numerical superiority in jet fighters, the Communists were never able to gain air superiority, testament to the skill and training of the UN fighter pilots, primarily those U.S. Air Force airmen flying the magnificent F-86 Sabre.

From June 25, 1950, to May 20, 1951, Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer, the Far East Air Forces commander, kept a diary of his activities during the Korean War. A number of general officers kept such diaries during World War II, although the practice was generally frowned upon by higher headquarters and, in the Navy at least, was against regulations. In the Korean War, the writing of such works became less wide-spread. Surprisingly, however, three diaries written by senior Air Force officers (Stratemeyer, Maj. Gen. Earle E. Partridge, Commander, Fifth Air Force, and Maj. Gen. Edward J. Timberlake, Vice Commander, Fifth Air Force) exist from the Korean War. These three diaries view the war from different perspectives: Stratemeyer's from a high-level planning, strategy, and political viewpoint; Partridge's from a mid-level planning and operational plane; Timberlake's from a slightly lower operational level. This book, however, deals only with General Stratemeyer's diary. It is a valuable document because his position as Far East Air Forces commander allowed him to observe the war and its personalities from a unique perspective. General Stratemeyer had his secretary type his diary entries onto 6 by 9 1/2-inch loose-leaf lined pages. Totalling some 750 pages, these were then placed into three large binders covering the periods June 25 - September 15, 1950, September 16 - December 16, 1950, and December 17, 1950 - May 20, 1951. The editor has changed this time division somewhat to conform to certain significant events and to make each section more or less equal in length. September 14 now ends the first section; the second section begins the following day with the Inch'on landings and concludes on November 25 with the opening of the massive Chinese Communist offensive; the final section covers the period November 26, 1950, to May 20, 1951, the date of Stratemeyer's heart attack. The reader should be aware that, although it was the intent of the editor to keep this diary as published as close as possible to the original, it is not the "raw" diary as Stratemeyer had it transcribed. By remaining close to the original, all messages have been retained even though some were word-for-word repeats of messages entered earlier, perhaps just a paragraph before. However, to prevent an overload of "sics," brackets or other such emendations, certain editorial changes have been made. This has been done primarily to make the text more readable. As General Stratemeyer wrote the diary and his secretary typed it, punctuation tended to wander or be non-existent at times. Commas and other such punctuation were often omitted, resulting in words which ran together or created occasional odd sentences. Also, Stratemeyer (or his secretary) often used quotation marks randomly for no particular reason. He (or they) also tended to capitalize everything that had an "official" ring to it, regardless of whether it was necessary or not (e.g., "Ground Force," "Border," etc.). In the case of place names, at times he capitalized the entire name but in the next sentence capitalized only the first letter of the name. Therefore, proper punctuation and capitalization has been inserted throughout the text. United State Air Force, Air Force History and Museums Program.

Before the Korean War, the primary mission of Lt. Gen. George E. Stratemeyer's Far East Air Forces was air defense of the Japanese homeland. Most of the aircraft constituting Stratemeyer's inventory were interceptors, not designed for the type of combat that would be required now that the United States was joining in the UN effort to end the war in Korea. The Joint Army/USAAF doctrine of 1946, known as Field Manual 31-35, Air Ground Operations, was also considered outdated in the present circumstance. A new approach to warfighting had to be developed in response to the strong influence of General Douglas MacArthur and other of his air officers in the Army-dominated General Headquarters Far East Command. Close air support of the ground forces as provided by Fifth Air Force came at some cost, and tempers flared in the process, but the air commanders in Korea never deprived the ground commanders of close air support if it was needed. Indeed, without the close air support provided to the airmen, the ground campaign would have been a much more bloody and difficult affair than it was.

Many regard this work as the definitive account of a controversial conflict of the war in the Pacific, the June 1944 battle known as the ""Great Marianas Turkey Shoot."" Drawing on ten years of research and told from the viewpoint of the fliers and sailors who were on the firing line, William T. Y'Blood leads the reader through every stage of the battle, from the dogfights to the persistent attacks on the Japanese carriers to the frantic efforts of the returning fliers to land on friendly carriers. He takes the battle from the initial planning through the invasion of the Marianas and the recriminations that followed, describing Admiral Spruance's decision to allow U.S. forces to remain on the defensive and giving blow-by-blow details of the action. This intensive study of what many believe to be a major turning point in the Pacific War has remained an important reference since it was first published in 1981.

The pursuit of German U-boats in the Battle of the Atlantic has long been considered one of the most exciting stories of World War II. This definitive study takes readers into the cockpits and onto the flight decks of the versatile and hardy U.S. escort carriers (CVEs) to tell of their vital, yet little-known contribution to the anti-U-boat campaign. Sailing apart from the Allied convoys, the CVE captains had complete freedom of action and frequently took their ships on “hunt and kill” missions against the enemy. The German submarines were allowed no respite and no place to relax without the fear of discovery. In the eighteen months between the spring of 1943, when the escort carriers began to prowl the Atlantic to November of 1944, the average number of U-boats in daily operation was reduced from 108 to a mere 31. Written by World War II historian William Y’Blood, the book includes a discussion on the CVE’s development and construction as well as an examination of the ship’s tactical and strategic uses. Though land-based aircraft, various support groups, and the convoy system itself helped win the Battle of the Atlantic, the author shows beyond a doubt that the escort carriers groups’influence was profound and notable. William T. Y’Blood, a former USAF B-47 pilot and historian for the Office of Air Force History in Washington, D.C., is the author of Red Sun Setting and The Little Giants.