"At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese struck without warning and won an overwhelming victory. Their Zeros and torpedo bombers could outfly almost anything America put in the air." "Despite what looked like long odds, American flyers responded to the challenge." "From 1941 to 1945 the skies over the Pacific Ocean afforded the broadest arena for battle and the fiercest action of air combat during World War II. It was in these skies that air power launched from carriers became a new form of engagement and where the war ultimately ended with kamikaze attacks and with atomic bombs dropped over Japan." "Throughout the conflict American flyers felt a call to supplement official news and military reports. In accounts written soon after combat and in reflective memoirs recorded years after peace came, both pilots and crew members detailed their stories. Their first-person testimonies describe a style of warfare invented at the moment of need and at a time when the outcome was anything but certain." "Gathering more than a hundred personal narratives from American and Japanese flyers, Pacific Skies recounts a history of this tremendous struggle. Included are the words of such famous aces and bomber pilots as Joe Foss, Pappy Boyington, Dick Bong, and Curtis Lemay, as well as the words of many rank-and-file airmen. Together their stories express fierce individualism and resourcefulness and convey the vast panorama of war that included the skies over Pearl Harbor, Wake, and Guadalcanal and missions from Saipan and Tinian." "As Pacific Skies recounts the perilous lives of pilots in their own words, Jerome Klinkowitz weaves the individual stories into a historical narrative that exposes the shades of truth and fiction that can become blurred over time. A book about experiencing and remembering, Pacific Skies also is a story of unforgettable perspectives on the war."--BOOK JACKET.