For awhile now, I've watched as this series has grown and grown, and then as Claringbould created various parallel series dealing with the air war in the Southwest Pacific, I've been wondering what one was getting for the price. I then learned that Claringbould was a former diplomat who was fluent in Japanese, in the process of reading some very cogent essays of why there were issues with the history that has been handed down to us about this campaign. At that point I resolved to do something about the matter.

Claringbould and his collaborators are going very granular with this history, as this history simply deals with the first two months of the war in New Guinea, and climaxes with the destruction of the Australian "Lark Force" defenders of Rabual, and the Japanese being handed a hard slap in their attempt to attack USS "Lexington." Basically though, if it involves aviation it gets in this book. In addition, Claringbould is something of a "local" when it comes to New Guinea, and has a lot to say about the social situation on the ground before the arrival of the Japanese. I really have no complaints about this book except to note that the color profiles and the digital recreations are nice as far as they go, but they probably do jack up the price. Eventually, a separate series of color-profile books were established. I read this book as an inter-library loan, but, if you're interested in this part of World War II you'll get a lot of value of these books if you go forward and make the purchase. ( )

The South Pacific Air War series comprises 5 volumes to date by Michael Claringbould and Peter Ingman.

South Pacific Air War Volume 1: The Fall of Rabaul December 1941-March 1942
South Pacific Air War Volume 2: The Struggle for Moresby March-April 1942
South Pacific Air War Volume 3: Coral Sea and Aftermath May-June 1942
South Pacific Air War Volume 4: Buna and Milne Bay June-September 1942
South Pacific Air War Volume 5: Crisis in Papua September-December 1942

This series of books started out as a trilogy, that has expanded out to five volumes so far for a total of over 1,000 pages covering the first 13 months of the air war over New Guinea and surrounds. Given we are only at the end of 1942 by the end of Volume 5 there is still potentially a long way to go, however it is noted the Solomon Islands campaign appears to have been spun off into a separate series. The books are a highly readable narrative history written from Australian, Japanese and US primary and secondary sources which are all referenced in the bibliography. The books are also indexed. They are liberally illustrated with black and white photos from the period which are most interesting, and most of which I had never seen before. The first three volumes contain colour profile sections of aircraft of all combatants, and these are really good. I was less thrilled with the maps, which are basic but at least included (I’m rarely satisfied with provided maps!). Also scattered among the pages is digital artwork, some quite good, some less so.

So… recommended? Yes, if you have a specific interest in this period. What I really valued was the all encompassing nature of the work covering all sides of the conflict, especially the realistic emphasis on American and Japanese forces and operational experiences as the campaign progresses. (I have plenty of books on the RAAF in the SWPA and don't need any more!). And it is all interesting and readable. I would strongly recommend you visit the publishers website for more information on which to form your own opinion. I ordered 4 of the 5 volumes direct from the Publisher and would recommend that route if you are in Australia, as dispatch was prompt and well wrapped. The publisher has been pretty liberal in making available samples of text, photos and artwork from each volume, and I would encourage you to check it out if you are interested:

avonmorebooks.com.au