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Jungle Ace: The Story of One of the USAAF's Great Fighter Leaders, Col. Gerald R. Johnson: The Story of One of the USAAF's Great Fighter Leaders, Col.Gerald R.Johnson (The Warriors) by [John R. Bruning]

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John R. Bruning

Jungle Ace: The Story of One of the USAAF's Great Fighter Leaders, Col. Gerald R. Johnson: The Story of One of the USAAF's Great Fighter Leaders, Col.Gerald R.Johnson (The Warriors) Kindle Edition

by John R. Bruning (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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Part of: The Warriors (2 books)

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The brief but accomplished life of Army Air Forces fighter ace Gerald Johnson (1920–45) is the subject of John Bruning’s latest book. During three years in the Pacific theater, Johnson shot down twenty-four Japanese aircraft in 265 combat missions. At the age of twenty-four, he commanded the highest-scoring fighter group in the Pacific, the 49th. Tragically, though Johnson had survived three combat tours, which included a mid-air collision with a Japanese aircraft and being shot down by friendly fire, he disappeared while flying a courier mission one month after the war’s end. At the time he was one of the USAAF’s youngest full colonels.

Print length

294 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Potomac Books Inc.
Publication date

May 30, 2002
File size

1674 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Compelling . . . Johnson is bound to return to his rightful place of recognition in the top tier of American fighter aces and World War II combat leaders."

“In Jungle Ace, John Bruning tells the long overdue story of Col. Gerald Johnson, one of the Pacific’s top aces and one of the war’s top air commanders. Bruning has a gift for painting high-speed aerial action in swift, accurate strokes that put the reader in the cockpit. Jungle Ace is an action-packed story, filled with the screaming high tension of conflict and the poignant agony of a comrade’s sudden death. This gripping account makes you realize how tough a war it was, and Johnson's letters home are a vivid reminder that ordinary men rose to extraordinary heights to survive it.”

“In Jungle Ace, John Bruning tells the long overdue story of Col. Gerald Johnson, one of the Pacific’s top aces and one of the war’s top air commanders. Bruning has a gift for painting high-speed aerial action in swift, accurate strokes that put the reader in the cockpit. Jungle Ace is an action-packed story, filled with the screaming high tension of conflict and the poignant agony of a comrade’s sudden death. This gripping account makes you realize how tough a war it was, and Johnson's letters home are a vivid reminder that ordinary men rose to extraordinary heights to survive it.”
--This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

From the Publisher

Contains dozens of previously unpublished photographs and compelling details about major aerial combat actions --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005CWJMNW
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Potomac Books Inc. (May 30, 2002)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 30, 2002
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1674 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
Lending ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled

Best Sellers Rank: #540,969 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #172 in Biographies of the Air Force
- #529 in Military Aviation History (Kindle Store)
- #561 in Biographies of World War II

Customer Reviews:
57 ratings

About the author

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John R. Bruning

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John R. Bruning's latest book, "Race of Aces: WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky" will be published by Hachette Book Group this January 14th. It chronicles the extraordinary story of five fighter pilots who competed furiously in the national spotlight to become America's ace of aces during World War II.

John is the collaborating writer or author of twenty-two non-fiction books, including four New York Times best sellers. A graduate of the University of Oregon, John was given a Department of Defense's Thomas Jefferson Award for best article by a photojournalist in 2010 after he wrote about a forced landing in the Hindu Kush region of Afghanistan. He was embedded with 2-162 Infantry, Oregon National Guard during the stability and support operation in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005.

John lives in Independence, Oregon with his two kids, a couch-eating Jordanian dog and a cat who enjoys swimming, hiking in the Cascades, and bossing everyone around.

John can be found at Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/john_r_bruning/

and

https://www.instagram.com/sylvie_the_caninecat/?hl=en

and writes about great Americans here:

https://theamericanwarrior.com/

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BALACOBACO

A good book about an unique character

Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2012

Verified Purchase

This is a very good about air combat in the Pacific in World War II.

Gerald "Jerry" Johnson was part of the backbone of the USAAF top aces of the Pacific War, along with Bong, McGuire and MacDonald.

He had 22 offical kills to his credit.

The book has a lot of, by now, usual tales of the typicial air combat ot the time, that being that living conditions and operational accidents due to weather or other factors were usually more dangerous the the Japanese fighters. When it comes about air combat, the book usually is all about the P38 detroying Japs by the dozen, rarely suffering any losses.

The book has a lot of letters to his wife and sometimes his Dad. Apparently, Jerry Johnson loved to fight and did it without any quarter given or asken. He sprayed Japanese troops on the grounds with gusto, something not all fighter pilots enjoyed.

The writing style of the writer is good. There are some annoying typografic errors, and some sentences that does not make sense. For example, near the ending of the book, the writer says something like "if Jerry had survived the war...". Well, since he died in October 1945, he indeed survived the war, an amazing feat after 262 combat missions flying over the merciless and disease-infected Pacific! Yes, he was an active officer on duty abroad when he died, but he survived the war. Also, the writer attibute the suicide of his twin brother (Harold), in 1975, to Jerry's loss. Is it true? If so, it took 30 years to Harold finally succumb to... what? He was not guilty of Jerry's death in the minimum.

A full Colonel at only 24, Jerry Johnson unfortunately never lived to see his infant son.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Clarence E.

A tale well told, of an American hero of WWII.

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

This is a well told tale of an American hero of the WWII airwar in the Pacific. Most of the literature is from the European theater, so an account of the Pacific theater is welcome. Also the literature favors pilots of bombers, P-47s and P-51s. The P-38 is dismissed as unable to maneuver with the Japanese fighters. True, but the P-38 pilots who survived learned to use the advantages their plane possessed, and defeat the Japanese pilots. The element lacking in this book is the insight only a pilot can provide. Another failing (and this is universal) is the perspective of the maintenance crews. The pilots are mostly quick to commend them, but how they did their job is a story long overdue. That being said, it is worthwhile to compare living conditions for pilots in the different theaters. Perhaps the cotton living conditions made the pilots more eager to go kill somebody.

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Lotte

Eggnog

Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2011

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed the book very much. It was well researched in most areas, but in a few places it appears that a certain amount of distracting, and unnecessary literary license was used. Two examples come immediately to mind. Crewmen bailing out Jerry's doomed B-25 during a typhoon, with no indication of how those who bailed out survived ground contact upon landing with winds meeting the minimal thresold of about 75 mph. 75 mph equates to just over 100 feet per second. It is difficultr to understand how anyone could have survived a parachute landing in those conditions. The same for Jerry's brother flying in the typhoon looking for Jerry. The L-4's (Piper Cub) extremely light wing loading would have made taxiing on the ground impossible in such fierce winds. Please, authors and researchers, think these things through, have the material proof read by qualified persons before publishing.

5 people found this helpful

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Ian A.

Amazingly Detailed Account of Little Known American Hero

Reviewed in the United States on March 2, 2002

Verified Purchase

John's latest, "Jungle Ace," ranks without a doubt as one of the best biographies that I have ever read. John spent several years painstakingly researching for this book, and it shows in the incredible level of detail contained in these pages. Without boring us with this detail, the book highlights John's ability to tell a story with just the right word selection to paint a vivid, movie-like picture in the reader's mind. "Jungle Ace" follows the life of P-38 fighter ace Jerry Johnson from schoolboy to aviation candidate to grisly combat conditions, all in amazing clarity that will immerse you into the story, as if you were standing side by side with Johnson himself. As tense and taughtly written as a best-selling fiction novel, author Bruning has created a story that even non-aviation history buffs will enjoy thoroughly...
For those readers looking to see just how demanding, unforgiving and gruesome air combat in the steaming jungles of the South Pacific islands could be, this is the book for you. "Jungle Ace" is a rich, vivid and thoroughly honest chronicle of a young Oregon man who helped save the world. A rewarding read that goes beyond the military history genre.

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