Jungle Ace: Col. Gerald R. Johnson, the USAAF's Top Fighter Leader of the Pacific War. . - Net Assessment - book review

Air & Space Power Journal, Winter, 2002 by Garner Johnson

Jungle Ace: Col. Gerald R. Johnson, the USAAF's Top Fighter Leader of the Pacific War by John R. Bruning. Brassey's (http://www.brasseysinc.com/index.htm), 22841 Quicksilver Drive, Dulles, Virginia 20166, 2001, 320 pages, $26.95.

Jungle Ace is an engaging biography of an overlooked pilot in a seldom-covered conflict. Gerald Johnson served in the famous 49th Fighter Group and the 9th "Flying Knights" Fighter Squadron for most of the war; he also served in the 54th Fighter Group in Alaska. Johnson flew 265 combat missions, shot down 24 enemy planes, and became commander of the group after he rose to the rank of colonel. Tragically, he was lost in early October 1945, when his B-25 flew through a typhoon and disappeared without a trace.

These facts, however, fall to convey the full measure of the man whom Bruning depicts with much skill and flair. Jungle Ace differs from the many biographies that stress the combat flights or achievements of their subjects at the expense of their personalities. The author uses a wealth of personal effects, such as the letters between Johnson and his wife, his form-five reports, and the memories of 49th Group pilots and friends of the couple, as well as many unit records and some secondary sources. Unlike oral histories or books based upon wartime journals, Jungle Ace does not use numerous transcriptions or extensive quotations. Instead, the author weaves a narrative tale of Johnson's personality and actions as if he were writing a novel rather than a historical record.

Bruning examines a number of events from Johnson's youth that helped shape the future ace's personality and confidence, including the influence of his father. This background stood him in good stead later on, giving him the endurance to weather many difficult moments yet still function as an effective leader. The author also does an excellent job of depicting the men around Johnson, including his good friends James "Duckbutt" Watkins and Wally Jordan, as well as fellow fighter pilots such as Thomas McGuire Jr. and Dick Bong.

The book's one shortcoming, aside from editing errors of the quite for quiet variety, is the lack of emphasis on Johnson's method of leadership. His concern for his fellow pilots becomes obvious, and his morning pep talks soon become infamous, especially the one before a ground-attack mission against the Ipo Dam area. However, the reader does not get a good sense of Johnson's daily responsibilities, including the ways he dealt with personnel, planned missions, and so forth--in short, the activities that made him an outstanding flight or group commander. Many books cover ground leadership; one that gives us greater insight into what it takes to be an air commander would be very helpful.

Despite its flaws, Jungle Ace is both useful and entertaining, bringing to mind Robert Scott's God Is My Co-Pilot in that both deal with the character of World War II pilots who fought the Japanese, both cover a relatively unknown air campaign (Bruning covers Leyte especially well), and both give good accounts of the principal characters and the men with whom they flew. Gerald Johnson died because he gave up his parachute to a passenger on his plane--a tragic occurrence yet typical of the man the reader comes to know.