Well it has been a few weeks since my last review and now that I am back reading real books, I have plenty to get through.. so without further adew
The book today is “The Black Sheep” by Bruce Gamble. This book is a good old Non Fiction. Exactly what I have been wanting for quite some time. But like you would expect with me it’s about one of two things. Planes or Military History. Or in this case, both at the same time.
The book looks into the story behind VMF-214 – The Black Sheep. A famous World War 2 Fighter Squadron (VMF Stands for Marine Fighter Squadron) that had a very “checkered” past. At one point the Squadron was lead by Greg Boyington who was the highest scoring ace in the United States Marine Corp (although this fact is disputed in the book with proof) and follows the history of the unit from its inception through to the end of the war.
The book is a pretty good general look at the lives and times that followed these men as they flew F4U Corsairs in the South Pacific (mainly around the solomons) Campaign. Now for me this book was fantastic as one of my favourite aircraft from this era is the Corsair. It just draws me in with its gull swept wings. I don’t know what about it draws me but I just love it, so reading this book was a dream really. The book covers a lot of history as the squadron had a bit of a past as they had several different versions during their time but to be honest it made it feel all the more real.
At the end of the War, this Squadron became even more famous as during the 70s a TV Show was made about them (Funnily enough called Baa Baa Black Sheep) and their famous CO. Although I have never seen the TV show part of me wants to hunt down a copy of it now because I would just love to see it. The Squadron still exists to this day (albeit with a different title as they are now an Attack or Strike Squadron whatever way you want to look at it) as VMA-214 flying out of Marine Corp Air Station Yuma in Arizona.
If you like this kind of thing, this is a good read. It’s not long (about 300-400 pages) but to be honest it was a good light read and the right size to read while travelling (which is what i did quite a bit of with this book).