Being there . . . . when blue-eyed General of the Army George C. Marshall, soldier andstatesman, had few illusions about the Army, especially its Air Corps, under his command on 11December 1941 when Italy and Germany declared war on the USA and vice-versa. And noAmerican office, Army or Army Air Corps, either superior or lower in rank, wanted to face hisgaze which drilled a man to his very core. “My Army Air Corps exists as an underappreciated,underutilized force, yet to learn about close support for infantry, fascinated instead withbombers. Logistics, from heavy weapon procurement down to the company supply room, was apaper-choked channel that grudgingly washed-up shoddy clothing and tools. Fourteensignatures are needed to get rations for my men. Intelligence, from General Staff to battalionlevel, I have been awarded a scorned dumping ground for misfits and timeservers”.VIRTUALLY EVERYWHERE GENERAL OF THE ARMY AND ARMY AIR CORPS GEORGE C. MARSHALLLOOKED IN THE FIRST TWO WEEKS OF JANUARY 1942, HE FOUND INADEQUACIES THAT MADETHE COMBINED FORCES A POOR MATCH FOR HITLER’S WEHRMACHT, SS, AND LUFTWAFFE.UNDER MARSHALL, DETERMINED TO BE MASTERLY COMPREHENSIVE IN HIS SUPERVISION,GUIDANCE, AND PROCUREMENT DEMANDS, ALL WHO MET AND DEALT WITH HIM THOUGHTHE WAS THE BEST, NAY, GREATEST, SOLIDER THEY EVER MET – – THIS INCLUDED IKE,ROOSEVELT, CHURCHILL, TRUMAN, STALIN, ACHESON, PATTON, AND BRADLEY. WHO WASBETTER TO BRING THE ARMY AIR FORCE FACE TO FACE WITH THE ELITE PILOTES OF NAZIGERMANY.Reviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi“HAPPY JACK’S GO BUGGY – – A Fighter Pilots Story”, by Jack Ilfrey, with Mark Copeland. ASchiffer Military /Aviation History Book, Atglen, PA: 1998, 125 pages, hardcover, 8 ¾” x 11 ¼ “,$35. E-mail: schifferbk@aol.com; fax (610) 593-2002; telephone:(610) 593-1777.Since their inception between 2003 and 2005 as a first-rate World War II military publishinghouse, Schiffer Publishers (which other press can match such nonpareilness?) have focused,when feasible, on the biographies and autobiographies of America, Allied, and enemy fighterand bomber pilots. “If ever men earned their places in the annals of American military aviationhistory, they were heroes like Francis “Gabby” Gabreski, Herschel H. Green, “Herky” to hisfellow pilots, and Jack “Happy Jack” Ilfrey.In “Happy Jack’s” autobiography originally written in 1946, less than five months afterdischarge, the eight-victory Fighter Ace places us buffs next to him as he flies his P-38 amongthe other fighters of the famed 94 th Fighter Squadron. This heroic group of men were the first tofly from the USA to England where within days the squadron is ordered to North Africa wherethe fun and danger really begin. Almost immediately “Happy Jack” is on his way to becomingour country’s first World War II ace. His life’s stories are about his flying exploits as a member
of the 20 th Fighter Group/ 8 th Air Force. Especially sensationally riveting is flying with “Happy” on
his incredible evasions through German-occupied France, leading readers to conclude that hiscombat stories are the finest of aerial combat ever written.In December 1944, Jack finished his second tour of combat after having combined a total of142 Combat Missions, 528 Combat Hours. Three fourths or more of these were spent in P-38sand the balance in the new P-51. After a 30-day home leave, “Happy Jack” was assigned toMcChord Field in Tacoma, Washington, as a Trooper Commander to not only help plan theinvasion of Japan, but also to assist in the processing of returning troops, especially after V-JDay. What also makes Jack Ilfrey so endearing is his Epilogue, Chapter 12, in which he describeshis postwar activities in detail. Sadly, in the early 1950s, Jack’s 20-20 vision began to fade whileglaucoma set in. His flying career was over. In this gem of a pleasurable read, the “ColorGallery” of the fighters he flew is worth the price in itself.Next in this column’s Seven Part SCHIFFER PUBLISHERS’ Aviation Series will be an Introductionand review of “WARPATH – A Story Of the 345 th Bombardment Group (M), ‘The Air Apaches’ in
World War II”, certainly one of the best facsimile “war book” reprints of World War II.
