{"title":"Books by Thomas McKelvey Cleaver","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781472838230","title":"Under the Southern Cross","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA vivid narrative history of the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns of World War II, which represented key turning points in the U.S. Navy's campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom August 7, 1942 until February 24, 1944, the US Navy fought the most difficult campaign in its history. Between the landing of the 1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal and the final withdrawal of the Imperial Japanese Navy from its main South Pacific base at Rabaul, the US Navy suffered such high personnel losses that for years it refused to publicly release total casualty figures. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Solomons campaign saw the US Navy at its lowest point, forced to make use of those ships that had survived the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and other units of the pre-war navy that had been hastily transferred to the Pacific. 140 days after the American victory at Midway, USS \u003ci\u003eEnterprise\u003c\/i\u003e was the only pre-war carrier left in the South Pacific and  the US Navy would have been overwhelmed in the face of Japanese naval power had there been a third major fleet action.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAt the same time, another under-resourced campaign had broken out on the island of New Guinea. The Japanese attempt to reinforce their position there had led to the Battle of the Coral Sea in May and through to the end of the year, American and Australian armed forces were only just able to prevent a Japanese conquest of New Guinea. The end of 1942 saw the Japanese stopped in both the Solomons and New Guinea, but it would take another 18 hard-fought months before Japan was forced to retreat from the South Pacific.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnder the Southern Cross\u003c\/i\u003e draws on extensive first-hand accounts and new analysis to examine the Solomons and New Guinea campaigns which laid the groundwork for Allied victory in the Pacific War.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56300135809397,"sku":"9781472838230","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472838230_240dda36-d72f-4420-a6e3-d33d9435a0d0.jpg?v=1786020706"},{"product_id":"9781472860255","title":"Turning The Tide","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePacked with personal accounts of the action, this is a vivid narrative history of the often-overlooked USAAF campaign in North Africa and Sicily in World War II.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1942, the Western Allies needed to take the offensive against the Axis powers to relieve pressure on the Soviet Union and President Roosevelt ordered his military leaders to support the British in the Mediterranean. This led to the first USAAF units arriving in the Middle East as reinforcements for the British in July and as part of the Operation Torch landings in French Morocco and Algeria in November. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the story of how, in only 11 months, the USAAF grew from these small beginnings in to become the senior partner in North Africa, providing aircraft and crews the other Allies were unable to match. In those 11 months, the Axis forces that had controlled almost the entire southern shore of the Mediterranean had been swept from the African continent and the island of Sicily.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eUsing first-hand accounts from pilots and other aircrew, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver describes how the USAAF units that landed in 1942 faced an intense baptism of fire in combat with veteran Luftwaffe units, and how the experience gained in the skies over North Africa and Sicily was invaluable in developing the air forces that would dominate the skies over Europe in the latter years of the war.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685703295349,"sku":"9781472860262","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56300151013749,"sku":"9781472860255","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472860262.jpg?v=1792598859"},{"product_id":"9781472824882","title":"The Frozen Chosen","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBased on unpublished first-hand accounts of the battle, this is a dramatic retelling of the desperate Battle of the Chosin Reservoir, where the heavily outnumbered US 1st Marine Division held off vastly superior Chinese forces before successfully withdrawing in good order.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn November 1950 The US 1st Marine Division was trapped in the Chosin Reservoir following the intervention of Red China in the Korean War. Fought during the worst blizzard in a century, the ensuing battle is considered by the United States Marine Corps to be 'the Corps' Finest Hour.' The soldiers who fought there would later become known as the ‘Frozen Chosen’.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis incredible story is based on first hand interviews from surviving veterans, telling of heroism and bravery in the face of overwhelming odds, as a handful of Marines fought desperately against wave after wave of Chinese forces. Sometimes forced into desperate hand to hand combat, the fighting retreat from Chosin marked one of the darkest moments for Western forces in Korea, but would go on to resonate with generations of Marines as a symbol of the Marine Corps' dogged determination, fighting skill, and never-say-die attitude on the battlefield.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301009699189,"sku":"9781472824882","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472824882_1257c960-8d8b-4414-9cc6-76bdea3c370a.jpg?v=1786020545"},{"product_id":"9781472836090","title":"MiG Alley","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThomas McKelvey Cleaver expertly threads together US and Russian sources to reveal the complete story of this bitter struggle in the Eastern skies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing the end of the Korean War, the prevailing myth in the West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the 10:1 victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots flying the North American F-86 Sabre against their communist adversaries, among other such fabrications, went unchallenged until the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were finally opened.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePacked with first-hand accounts and covering the full range of US Air Force activities over Korea, \u003ci\u003eMiG Alley\u003c\/i\u003e brings the war vividly to life and the record is finally set straight on a number of popular fabrications\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301014188405,"sku":"9781472836090","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472836090_029fc2cc-f241-4869-8800-144537340c53.jpg?v=1786020679"},{"product_id":"9781472848758","title":"Going Downtown","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis vivid narrative history tells the full story of the US Air Force’s involvement in the wars in the air over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe involvement of the US Air Force in the Southeast Asian Wars began in 1962 with crews sent to train Vietnamese pilots, and with conflict in Laos, and finally ended in 1972 with the B-52 bombing of Hanoi, though there were Air Force pilots unofficially flying combat in Laos up to the end in 1975. The missions flown by USAF aircrews during those years in Southeast Asia differed widely, from attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail at night with modified T-28 trainers, to missions “Downtown,” the name aircrew gave Hanoi, the central target of the war.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis aerial war was dominated by the major air operations against the north: \u003ci\u003eRolling Thunder \u003c\/i\u003efrom 1965 to 1968, and then\u003ci\u003e Linebacker I\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eII \u003c\/i\u003ein 1972, with the latter seeing the deployment of America’s fearsome B-52 bombers against the North Vietnamese capital Hanoi. These operations were carried out in the face of a formidable Soviet-inspired air defence system bristling with anti-aircraft guns and SAM missile sites. Beyond this, the US Air Force was intimately involved in secret air wars against Laos and Cambodia – one cannot speak of a war only in Vietnam regarding US Air Force operations. The war the Air Force fought was a war in Southeast Asia.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFollowing on from the same author’s \u003ci\u003eThe Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club\u003c\/i\u003e, which told the story of the US Navy’s involvement in the Vietnam War, \u003ci\u003eDowntown\u003c\/i\u003e completes the picture. Featuring a wide range of personal accounts and previously untold stories, this fascinating history brings together the full story of the US Air Force’s struggle in the skies over Southeast Asia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301126943093,"sku":"9781472848758","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472848758_8f9a8801-d30b-42cb-9874-138634bb1980.jpg?v=1786020899"},{"product_id":"9781472863454","title":"Mediterranean Sweep","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFilled with personal accounts of the action, this book details the USAAF’s tactical and strategic campaigns in the skies over Italy in World War II.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWith the defeat of the Germans and Italians on Sicily in mid-July 1943, the focus of the war in the air shifted toward the battle for the Italian mainland itself. This campaign took place in the context of the coming invasion of northwest Europe, with many of the best units from the North African and Sicilian campaigns withdrawn to prepare for the new front, while those units that remained had a lower priority for replacements of men and material. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDespite these difficulties, the air war in the Italian campaign is a study in the successful application of tactical air power. \u003ci\u003eMediterranean Sweep\u003c\/i\u003e describes how USAAF forces, alongside Free French, Italian Co-Belligerent, British and Commonwealth units, and even a squadron of the Brazilian Air Force, took the war to the Axis in both the fighter-bomber war and Operation \u003ci\u003eBingo\u003c\/i\u003e, the successful bombing campaign to withhold supplies from the German forces fighting on the Gothic Line. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuilding on the story of the USAAF in North Africa and over Sicily told in his previous work \u003ci\u003eTurning The Tide\u003c\/i\u003e, renowned aviation expert Tom Cleaver uses a wide range of first-hand accounts from American, Allied, German, and Italian pilots and other aircrew to bring to life the bitter struggle in the skies over Italy from mid-1943 through to the end of World War II.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301136839029,"sku":"9781472863454","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472863454_eb956540-6f46-4df6-a0c7-79223c1ec6f2.jpg?v=1786021206"},{"product_id":"9781472845948","title":"The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book tells the full story of the \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eUS Naval \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eair campaign during \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ethe \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eVietnam War between \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e1965 to 1975, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ewhere \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ethe US Seventh Fleet, stationed off the Vietnamese coast, \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003ewas given the tongue-in-cheek nickname 'The \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eTonkin Gulf Yacht Club'.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn August 2, 1964, USS \u003ci\u003eMaddox\u003c\/i\u003e became embroiled in the infamous 'Gulf of Tonkin incident’ that lead directly to America's increased involvement in the Vietnam War. Supporting the \u003ci\u003eMaddox\u003c\/i\u003e that day were four F-8E Crusaders from the USS \u003ci\u003eTiconderoga\u003c\/i\u003e, signalling the start of the US Navy’s commitment to the air war over Vietnam.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club\u003c\/i\u003e was the nickname for the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet, Task Force 77, stationed off the coast of Vietnam which, at various points throughout the war, comprised as many as six carriers with 70–100 aircraft on board. The Seventh Fleet played an essential role in supporting operations over Vietnam, providing vital air support to combat troops on the ground and taking part in major operations such as \u003ci\u003eRolling Thunder \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eLinebacker I\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eII\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eServing with the US Seventh Fleet during this period and involved in the dramatic history of \u003ci\u003eThe Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club\u003c\/i\u003e was author Tom Cleaver, who was a 20-year-old member of Commander Patrol Forces Seventh Fleet which had operational control over \u003ci\u003eMaddox \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eTurner Joy\u003c\/i\u003e. His use of dramatic first-hand experiences from interviews with both American and Vietnamese pilots plus official Vietnamese accounts of the war provides a balanced and personal picture of the conflict from both sides. Detailing the very earliest incident in the Gulf of Tonkin through to the final evacuation of US nationals in 1975, he brings the story of US air intervention into Vietnam vividly to life.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301193068917,"sku":"9781472845948","price":15.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472845948_24082a4d-37d4-4cad-8e0d-cefd5d526226.jpg?v=1786020843"},{"product_id":"9781472855459","title":"Clean Sweep","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA vivid history, packed with first-hand accounts, of the US Eighth Air Force's VIII Fighter Command from its foundation in 1942 through to its victory in the skies over Nazi Germany.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn August 7, 1942, two major events occurred on opposite sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive with the First Marine Division landing on Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of Eighth Air Force bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClean Sweep is the story of the creation, development and operation of the Eighth Air Force Fighter Command and the battle to establish daylight air superiority over the Luftwaffe so that the invasion of Europe could be successful.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThomas McKelvey Cleaver has had a lifelong interest in the history of the fighter force that defeated the Luftwaffe over Germany. He has collected many first-hand accounts from participants over the past 50 years, getting to know pilots such as the legendary “Hub” Zemke, Don Blakeslee and Chuck Yeager, as well as meeting and interviewing leading Luftwaffe pilots Adolf Galland, Gunther Rall and Walter “Count Punski” Krupinski. This story is told through accounts gathered from both sides.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56301198541173,"sku":"9781472855459","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472855459_21e414ea-8928-47b6-b896-4ee3715d5762.jpg?v=1786021039"},{"product_id":"9781472851086","title":"The Cactus Air Force","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eUsing diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its allies in the Pacific War. The three months of air battles between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit arrived on the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt to retake the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important of the Pacific War. “Cactus,” the code name for the island, became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, as they experienced losses that could never be made good. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFor 40 years, the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are still alive. These interviews are the most comprehensive first-person accounts of the battle assembled by any historian. More importantly, they involved the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories were not part of the official history, and thus provide a unique insight. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eThe Cactus Air Force\u003c\/i\u003e, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56312440455541,"sku":"9781472851086","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472851086_17cbadba-a416-40ba-98f4-001eb864d7d9.jpg?v=1786020950"},{"product_id":"9781472865625","title":"Bloody Skies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThis book details the operations of the USAAF’s \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eoverlooked \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eXV Fighter Command that protected the bombers during the campaign against the Romanian oil fields in World War II.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFormed in the fall of 1943, the Fifteenth Air Force was popularly known as the “The Forgotten Fifteenth,” as its achievements were overshadowed by more glamorous exploits of the Eighth Air Force in the air war over Germany. Nevertheless, the Fifteenth’s contribution to Allied victory was crucial, and a vital part of that was the role played by the escorting fighter groups from the XV Fighter Command who protected the B-17s and B-24s from the Luftwaffe in the skies over Romania.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this new history of the campaign, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Fifteenth’s air war through first-person accounts of the fighter pilots of the Fifteenth Fighter Command, including such famous units as the Red Tails – the Tuskegee Airmen – the 82nd Fighter Group and the 325th’s “Checkertail Clan,” and with his ability to place wartime events in their greater context.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56368893755765,"sku":"9781472865625","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472865625_953ccfea-3758-41f7-9ea4-ff244b92257c.jpg?v=1786020407"},{"product_id":"target-schweinfurt","title":"Target Schweinfurt","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eA vivid account of the US Eighth Air Force’s raids on Schweinfurt and  Regensburg in August and October 1943, their most difficult and  costliest missions of World War II.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBased on the first-hand accounts of those who survived, renowned aviation historian Tom Cleaver tells the story of the Eighth Air Force’s darkest days during the bombing campaign against Germany in the Summer and Fall of 1943. These were the raids carried out to destroy the vital ball bearing factories at Schweinfurt and Regensburg on which the German Army depended – Mission 84 on August 17 and Mission 115 on October 14.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the face of an unrelenting German anti-aircraft defence, these missions became bitter fights as the B-17 crews of VIII Bomber Command found themselves under attack from nearly every Luftwaffe fighter unit in Western Europe. During Mission 115 alone, 60 B-17s were lost and 600 men died or became prisoners of war. October 14, 1943, was known forever after as “Black Thursday,” the day the Luftwaffe won.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis dramatic narrative takes us through the build-up to the missions before focussing on the desperate struggle for survival in the skies above Germany. The raids were to have profound implications as the Luftwaffe regained air superiority over Germany and the US Air Force conducted no more missions until long-range fighter escorts were available. A new air war had begun.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57505001472373,"sku":"9781472878427","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781472878427.jpg?v=1786953922"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-thomas-mckelvey-cleaver.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}