Doomed at the Start: American Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941–1942 (Volume 24)

Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series #24

by William H. Bartsch, Herbert Ellis (Foreword)

During the first three days of the Japanese assault on American Pacific bases in December of 1941, the 24th Pursuit Group, the only unit of interceptor aircraft in the Philippine Islands, was almost destroyed as an effective force. Yet the group’s pilots, doomed from the start by their limited training, an inadequate air warning system, and lack of familiarity with the few flyable pursuit aircraft they had left, fought on against immensely superior number of Japanese army and navy fighters. “. . . bold drama, with almost novel-like narration. This is good history. . . .” –Daniel R. Mortensen, Office of Air Force History “. . . an engrossing and minutely detailed account based on a variety of US and Japanese government and military records and on personal interviews with the surviving pilots.” – Choice “. . . an admirably detailed history . . . the work will [be of] interest to both aviation buffs and students of WWII.” – Publisher’s Weekly “Ignoring the point of view of the top brass, Bartsch’s book becomes a triumph of human interest rather than another statistical account. . . . A winning account of a losing campaign defended by courage and honor.” – Journal of Military History “. . . as much a compelling human drama as an objective and detailed unit history. . . . a prodigious achievement in unit history research that does overdue justice to the memory of a tragic group of airmen who did the best they could with what they had under extraordinary circumstances and against thoroughly daunting adversity.” – Military History

Genres: History

528 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1992

About the author

William H. Bartsch, a former United Nations development economist and independent consultant, now works exclusively researching and writing on the Pacific War. He is the author of three books published by Texas A&M University Press: "Doomed at the Start: American Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941-1942," "December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor," and "Everyday a Nightmare: American Pursuit Pilots in the Defense of Java, 1941-1942."

Reviews

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bartsch's Doomed at the Start is a thrilling story of the men of the 24th PG, piloting outmatched P-40s and P-35s against modern aircraft of the IJNAF and IJAAF in a lopsided battle in favor of the Japanese. The author does a great job of giving you a "fly on the wall" perspective of the officers, enlisted men, and the brass, who Bartsch is quite critical of, and rightly so. If you are interested in early Pacific war aviation history, this book is well worth reading.

[Rick Anderson]

Purchased and read/use as a reference for my amateur history research. Best coverage of the 20th Pursuit Squadron during the outbreak of WW2 available.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is common now for people to forget the price America paid for not being prepared for World War II. It should have been. The signs were all there. Germany and Italy were on the move in Europe, swallowing countries whole and Japan had been at war in Asia for several years before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The simple truth is that our leaders were blindly incompetent and our nation made up for this lack of foresight with the lives of our troops. President Franklin D. Roosevelt should have had the country in some kind of shape to defend itself but he didn't. The valor of our fighting people and the huge manufacturing capacity of the country eventually made up for the deficit in presidential leadership and America finally emerged victorious.

After our government had been caught napping on 7 December 1941, General Douglas MacArthur, the U. S. commander in the Philippines, knew that his command would be next and he did nothing. When the Japanese struck the islands shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack, a large number of combat aircraft were destroyed on the ground. Later the Japanese invaded and drove the Philippine and American troops back on the Bataan Peninsula. Roosevelt ordered MacArthur off the island and he departed, leaving the troops to pay for his incompetence. Nearing starvation, the troops he left behind were forced to surrender and were participants in the "Bataan Death March." It has always amazed me that the commanders of Pearl Harbor lost their commands while MacArthur went on to "glory" and never paid for his mistakes, much worse because he knew the Japanese were coming.

"Doomed at the Start" is about the U. S. Air Corps pilots who made up a fraction of the troops defending the Philippines at the start of the war. The author, William H. Bartsch, writes of the pilots of the 3rd, 17th, 20th, 21st and 34th Pursuit Squadrons as they prepared for the Japanese attacks, then follows each man through the fighting until his eventual death, capture or escape. He even goes so far as to detail the fate of each plane. "Doomed" is a monumental research effort and an excellent chronicle of the war in the Philippines from the point of view of the frustrated pilots who were trying to fight a war with no help from back home. Particularly frustrating for me were the first combats of U. S. pilots flying P-40 fighters, the guns of which had not even been tested and many of which would not fire. A pilot would be lucky enough to get off a shot at the combat seasoned Japanese and would find his guns would not fire. Also, there had not been enough ammunition available for the pilots to have even test-fired their weapons before meeting the Japanese.

It is an excellent read. If you like history or even if you don't, I would recommend giving "Doomed from the Start" a try if for no other reason than that the sacrifice of these brave men will soon be forgotten.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has done a great job of compiling extremely detailed information on a portion of World War Two that does not get much coverage today. A lot has been written about the fall of the Philippines but much of that focuses on the plight of the POWs both during the Death March and subsequent time spent in the Japanese POW camps while not giving much detail on operations prior to capture. This book focuses on the operations of the pursuit squadrons and the successes that they were able to achieve against unbelievable odds. The author has gone to great lengths in his research and he details the information in a way that makes the book very readable. In my opinion this is one of the best books that I have read about early Pacific War operations.

[John Wagner · Rating 4 out of 5]

My uncle was a member of the 24th Pursuit Group (enlisted man) and I wanted to see what he went through. This book is good if you're a WWII geek or a WWII warbird geek. Otherwise it may be too much detail for the avg. reader. This book ends with the fall of the Philippines and prior to the Bataan Death March. My uncle was on that March and I'll now look elsewhere for that story.