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The WW2 Podcast

161 - Marine Aces of the South Pacific

The WW2 Podcast

Angus Wallace

Society & Culture, History

4.61.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2022

⏱️ 48 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

We are back in the Pacific, this time looking at the air war primarily over Guadalcanal. US Marine aviators landed on the island shortly after the Marine ground forces. As Japanese troops held out on Guadalcanal, the skies over the island were heavily contested. In this episode, we are focusing on the top-scoring marine pilots over Guadalcanal.
 
Joining me is aviation historian Bill Yenne.
 
Bill Yenne is the author of more than three dozen books on historical topics and has contributed to encyclopedias of both world wars. His latest book is America's Few: Marine Aces of the South Pacific.
 
Patreon:

Transcript

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0:00.0

This country is at war with Germany. We shall go on to the end. I remember the sheets of

0:09.5

plane which came up and almost blinded us for my guns.

0:20.0

Hello and welcome to another episode of the World War II podcast, Amang Swollas. We're back in the

0:25.8

Pacific and primarily on Guadalcanal for this episode of the podcast. We're going to be looking

0:31.5

at the history of the US Marine Corps aviation and focusing on some of the top scoring

0:37.7

essays of a Guadalcanal. I'm joined by Aviation Historian Bill Yena. Bill is the author of more

0:44.7

than three dozen books on historical topics and has contributed to encyclopedias of both world

0:51.5

his letters book is America's Few Marine Aces of the South Pacific Bill. Thanks for joining me.

0:58.9

So we're going to be discussing the Marine Air Force. I've been a Brit. I've kind of always

1:07.1

but it's slightly baffled me how the how the three services sort of work with you've got the

1:11.4

Army, the Navy and the Marine seeming doing a job between the two. So how does the Marine Air Force

1:18.4

work? Was it was it totally separate from from the Navy or even the Army? The Marine Corps is a

1:25.4

wholly owned subsidiary of the Navy. The Marine Corps evolved out of the the naval infantry

1:33.8

that ships used to carry. Well you have the Royal Marines and it's the same same idea. They

1:40.7

function with the Royal Navy just like the Armourines function with the US Navy. Over the years

1:47.5

the Marines evolved from being just infantry troops aboard ships to board other ships and

1:55.7

whatever to an offensive force. Especially in the first world war they actually they actually

2:03.2

functioned as infantry for the first time. The idea of the Marines is that they are the amphibious

2:12.4

landing force that when the Navy projects its power in wartime they're the troops that land

2:21.2

on the islands of the Navy capturing and that was what the whole thrust of Marine activity in

2:30.7

World War II was all about landing and landing on and capturing islands. Marine air power was

2:37.9

originally and is to this day designed as a as a matter of military doctrine as a supporting force

...

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