Additional information
by Peter Owen (Author)
Fighting Falcons offers a compelling account of Marine Fighting Squadron 221 (VMF-221), a unit that played a key role in the Pacific during World War II. Formed in 1941, VMF-221 flew in some of the most significant campaigns of the war, from the Battle of Midway and the long fight for the Solomon Islands to carrier operations over Japan in 1945.
Author Peter F. Owen examines the operational realities behind the squadron's missions, analyzing the Marine Corps' performance in the Pacific air war. He explores how missteps at higher levels of command shaped outcomes in the air, and he sheds light on the complex logistics and maintenance challenges crucial to success.
Based on extensive research, Fighting Falcons provides new insight into how Marine aviation functioned at the squadron level. The book delivers a valuable perspective on one of the Marine Corps' notable fighter squadrons and the larger story of how the United States fought--and learned--its way to victory in the Pacific.
Author Biography
Peter Owen served as an infantry officer in the Marine Corps for over twenty years. His first book, To the Limit of Endurance: A Battalion of Marines in the First World War, received the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's prestigious General Wallace M. Greene Jr. Award. Dr. Owen majored in history at the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his PhD in war studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. He and his wife live in Fairport, NY.
