THE NEW BOOK

Just got the cover art for the new book. They’re going to have to add in the information that the foreword is by BGEN Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson USAF (Ret) - the last living 8th AF ace.

I really argued with them over the cover. “The Bottisham Four” have been done to death (because it’s a great photo), but the Osprey Marketing team are convinced “this is the one.”

Below is the photo I wanted to use for the cover (primary reason being all that blank space for the graphics, and because it’s a photo of a pilot - the book is more involved with the guys in the cockpits than what they were flying).

You guys can let me know which one would attract you to buy the book in the bookstore. With my unerring commercial sense (!), I’m pretty sure I know the result.

.Actually, in this case, it’s The Bottisham Two, with good cropping. The near Mustang, “Lou IV” is flown by 361st Fighter Group commander Col. Thomas J.J. Christian, while the other is flown by Lt. Col. Joe Kruzel, deputy group commander.

There’s a lot of interesting background about them. Both were in the 17th Pursuit Squadron in the Philippines when the war broke out. They got out of the Philippines by taking the last working P-35, which had a large baggage compartment, an d Christian flew it while Kruzel and two mechanics crammed into the baggage compartment and they flew from Luzon to Mindanao. On Mindanao, they found a shot-up Beech D-18 twin engine airliner that the engines still worked, and they flew it down the islands to Jakarta in Java. Each time they landed they weren’t sure it would start up the next time. They were both in the 17th Provisional Squadron in the defense of Java until the Netherlands East Indies fell the next month at which point they managed to fly out to Australia in the last B-17 to get out before the Japanese arrived.

In Australia, Kruzel got assigned to the newly-arrived 49th Fighter Group, which was assigned the defense of Australia from Darwin. The “Brereton Route” from Brisbane to Darwin, following the coastline, was the equivalent of flying from Boston to Houston around the coastline, with no navigational aids and faulty maps that had “unexplored territory” on half the surface. It was said a pilot couldn’t get lost on the route, all he had to do was follow the line of crashed P-40s.

Kruzel got assigned as a flight leader, of what became “The Green Dragon Flight” for their nose art. His two wingmen were a pair of shavetail 2nd lieutenants - John D. Landers and George Preddy. All three would make their names in the Eighth Air Force. Landers became the only guy to command three different fighter groups in England - all before he turned 25, as well as being the tenth top-scoring American ace of the war, with his first five gained against the Japanese over New Guinea. George Preddy became the top-scoring P-51 pilot of the war before he was shot down on Christmas Day 1944 by “friendly” anti-aircraft fire during the Battle of the Bulge. I had the privilege of meeting Landers in the 80s.

Christian - who was the great-grandson of Stonewall Jackson - went from Australia to command the 67th Fighter Squadron in the Battle of Guadalcanal, where the obsolete P-39s they had were the best ground-support the Marines got.

In 1943, both Christian and Kruzel came back to the States, where they got together when Christian was assigned to create and lead the new 361st Fighter Group, which he took to England in late 1943 with Kruzel as his deputy commander.

This is the full photo of “The Bottisham Four.” It’s primarily famous for being one of the best color photos from World War II.

Two weeks after the photo was taken, Christian was shot down and killed leading a dive bombing mission in the Battle of Normandy. Joe Kruzel took over the group and led them till the end of the war. He was just past his 26th birthday.

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