| Wake Island Pilot: A World War II Memoir (Memories of War) |  | Authors: James M. McCaffrey, John F. Kinney
Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $8.95
Buy New: $4.53
as of 3/18/2010 10:26 EDT details
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Seller: smokymtnbooks
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 987,756
Media: Paperback
Pages: 220
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5 x 0.6
ISBN: 157488736X
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.544973092
EAN: 9781574887365
ASIN: 157488736X
Publication Date: September 30, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Wake Pilot is the story of John F. Kinney - hero, POW escapee, and aviation pioneer. It contains the first full-length account of a successful escape by a Marine captured in one of the great battles of World War II. Within hours of the Pearl Harbor attack, the Japanese struck the small U.S. garrison on Wake Island. As his squadron's engineering officer, young pilot John F. Kinney used all his considerable ingenuity to oversee the cannibalization of crippled planes for spare parts - when he himself was not in the air fighting off the Japanese assault. His gallant efforts helped enable the desperate Marine and Navy defenders to hold out for an incredible two weeks, a truly epic struggle. After the island's inevitable surrender, Kinney was a Japanese prisoner in China for the next three and a half years. During this time, he put his amazingly inventive mechanical skills to work, creating from scratch numerous items to improve his fellow POWs' situation, including a radio. Toward the end of the war, Kinney escaped from a prison train and, with the assistance of both Nationalist and Communist Chinese troops, made his way to an American airfield. He was thus one of the very few Americans to escape from Japanese captivity outside the Philippines. General Kinney's subsequent Marine Corps career was equally distinguished: He flew fighters in the Korean War and helped develop the classic A4-D Skyhawk.
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent! Against all odds he survived, mind over matter! March 11, 1999
10 out of 11 found this review helpful
The first two chapters were a warm up for the real guts and glory! I have never met the author but just reading his book made me proud to be an American. Using the genious approach to cannibalizing parts to fly planes that had no chance of surviving against such great odds is overwhelming. My advise is to buy the book and read, start to finish!
A heroe's story, and an excellent researcher's resource too! October 14, 2006
Ryan Fisher (Santa Maria, CA, USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
In any story one reads about Wake Island, Lt. Kinney is always mentioned as a key player. It is interesting to piece the Wake saga together with the individual stories and anecdotes of the men like Kinney who were there.
The story Kinney tells is a humble one, considering the events he has seen and endured. He is the original "MacGuyver," fixing equipment not only at Wake, but also throughout his career.
Kinney's story is like walking through nearly every chapter of military aviation history. Few can ever say they flew in everything from Curtiss Jennys to early Vietnam era jets.
A great read for Wake Island, WWII, aviation and Korean War enthusiasts alike.
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