The shark-faced P-40 fighter planes that patrolled the deadly skies over China during World War II hold a special fascination for aviation and military history enthusiasts. Yet even now, more than fifty years later, little is known about the employment of those extraordinary machines, the courageous men who flew them, and the very different kind of war they fought. And much of what people think they know is wrong. Sharks over China sets the record straight. It is the first history of the U.S. Army Air Corps unit that incorporated Gen. Claire Chennault's famous Flying Tigers - the 23rd Fighter Group. During the dark days immediately after Pearl Harbor, most news from the Asian front was bad - with the exception of reports about the Flying Tigers and their successor, the 23rd. Day after day, the P-40s of this legendary unit out-fought the powerful Japanese air forces despite acute shortages of men and matériel. No single American fighter group in World War II performed more varied missions, was more successful, or was more central to the war effort in its theater of operations. By the end of the war, the 23rd had tallied nearly six hundred aerial victories and destroyed nearly four hundred more Japanese aircraft on the ground. Based on eyewitness interviews with the group's survivors and containing numerous rare photographs, Sharks over China belongs in every World War II and aviation library, right next to another classic about the 23rd Fighter Group, God is my Co-Pilot. -- From the book jacket.

Copy 2 is first paperback edition (1999), with same pagination.

Desperate days -- China Air Task Force -- Hengyang in the crosshairs -- The School Squadron -- Branching out -- Duel in the east -- The first winter -- Fighting on two fronts -- Thrust and parry -- Buildup -- Summer offensive -- Raid on Shinchiku -- Defending the Rice Bowl -- Quiet before the storm -- Ichi-Go -- FIre and fall back -- Guerrilla operations -- The last withdrawal -- Final victory.