Description
U. S. MARINE CORPS AVIATION UNIT 1941 INSIGNIA 1946. by: Jeff Millstein. Dated: 1995. Pages: 128. See Contents For Complete Description. Cond: 'MINT' Used Condition, No Holes, No Tears, No Mold, No Smell, All Pages In Excellent Condition. Book Comes With Original Dust Cover. Scale of 1 to 10 This Book Is A 10+. Total Of 228 Marine Corps Aviation Unit Insignia's From 1941 to 1946 with Unit VMF, Date Commissioned, Date Deactivated, Nickname of Unit, Name of Artist, Date of Insignia, Authorization, Type of Aircraft Employed. Just To Many Insignia's To List. During World War II, the Marine Corps' air arm expanded rapidly and extensively. They reached their peak number of units with 5 air wings, 31 aircraft groups and 145 flying squadrons. During the war, and for the next fifty years, the Guadalcanal campaign would become a defining point for Marine Aviation. The great takeaways were the debilitating effects of not having air superiority, the vulnerability of targets such as transport shipping, and the vital importance of quickly acquiring expeditionary airfields during amphibious operations. Because of the way the Pacific War unfolded, Marine Aviation was not able to achieve its 1939 mission of supporting the Fleet Marine Force at first. For the first two years of the war, the air arm spent most of its time protecting the fleet and land-based installations from attacks by enemy ships and aircraft. During the course of the war, Marine Aviators were credited with shooting down 2,355 Japanese aircraft while losing 573 of their own aircraft in combat, they had 120 aces and earned 11 Medals of Honor. Immediately following the war, the strength of the Marine Corps flying arm was drastically cut as part of the post war drawdown of forces. Their active strength fell from 116,628 personnel and 103 squadrons on 31 August 1945 to 14,163 personnel and 21 squadrons on 30 June 1948. Excellent Addition To Your WW2 Marine Corps Aviation Unit Insignia Refence Book Collection. Thanks For Looking. 'FREE SHIPPING IN THE U. S. A. ONLY'.