{"title":"John R. Bruning","description":"John R. Bruning is the author or collaborating writer of the national bestseller, Indestructible, as well as Outlaw Platoon written with Sean Parnell, Shadow of the Sword with Jeremiah Workman, How to Break a Terrorist with Matthew Alexander, House to House with David Bellavia, The Devil's Sandbox, and Ghost: Confessions of a Counterterrorism Agent with Fred Burton.","products":[{"product_id":"indestructible-one-mans-rescue-mission-that-changed-the-course-of-wwii-paperback","title":"Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn this remarkable WWII story by \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family -- imprisoned by the Japanese--and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving \"Pappy\" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur whose homespun engineering brilliance helped launch one of the first airlines in Asia. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Pappy was drafted into MacArthur's air force when war came to the Philippines; and while he carried out a top-secret mission to Australia, the Japanese seized his family. Separated from his beloved wife, Polly, and their four children, Pappy reverted to his lawless ways. He carried out rescue missions with an almost suicidal desperation. Even after he was shot down twice and forced to withdraw to Australia, he waged a one-man war against his many enemies -- including the American high command and the Japanese--and fought to return to the Philippines to find his family. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Without adequate planes, supplies, or tactics, the U.S. Army Air Force suffered crushing defeats by the Japanese in the Pacific. Over the course of his three-year quest to find his family, Pappy became the renegade who changed all that. With a brace of pistols and small band of loyal fol, lowers, he robbed supply dumps, stole aircraft, invented new weapons, and modified bombers to hit harder, fly farther, and deliver more destruction than anything yet seen in the air. When Pappy's modified planes were finally unleashed during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea, the United States scored one of the most decisive victories of World War II. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Taking readers from the blistering skies of the Pacific to the jungles of New Guinea and the Philippines to one of the the war's most notorious prison camps, \u003ci\u003eIndestructible \u003c\/i\u003etraces one man's bare-knuckle journey to free the people he loved and the aerial revolution he sparked that continues to resonate across America's modern battlefields.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51365901500639,"sku":"9780316339414","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/nobu8FGfza9780316339414.webp?v=1789073685"},{"product_id":"race-of-aces-wwiis-elite-airmen-and-the-epic-battle-to-become-the-master-of-the-sky-paperback","title":"Race of Aces: Wwii's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or ace of aces -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the race of aces as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.\u003cbr\u003eWhat developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now.\u003cbr\u003eBased on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced.\u003cbr\u003eThe pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson -- riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight.\u003cbr\u003eBut as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades.\u003cbr\u003eTeeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, \u003ci\u003eRace of Aces\u003c\/i\u003e is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart.\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots . . . Fascinating. -- Sara Vladic\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eExtraordinary . . . a must-read. -- US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eA heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots. -- James M. Scott\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eVivid and gripping . . . Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air. -- Saul David\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51367986790623,"sku":"9780316508636","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/WE3cTIymgo9780316508636.webp?v=1789117017"},{"product_id":"fifty-three-days-on-starvation-island-the-world-war-ii-battle-that-saved-marine-corps-aviation-hardcover","title":"Fifty-Three Days on Starvation Island: The World War II Battle That Saved Marine Corps Aviation - Hardcover","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe pivotal true story of the first fifty-three days of the standoff between Imperial Japanese and a handful of Marine aviators defending the Americans dug in at Guadalcanal, from the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eIndestructible\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eRace of Aces\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e On August 20, 1942, twelve Marine dive-bombers and nineteen Marine fighters landed at Guadalcanal. Their mission: defeat the Japanese navy and prevent it from sending more men and supplies to \"Starvation Island,\" as Guadalcanal was nicknamed. The Japanese were turning the remote, jungle-covered mountain in the south Solomon Islands into an air base from which they could attack the supply lines between the U.S. and Australia. The night after the Marines landed and captured the partially completed airfield, the Imperial Navy launched a surprise night attack on the Allied fleet offshore, resulting in the worst defeat the U.S. Navy suffered in the 20th century, which prompted the abandonment of the Marines on Guadalcanal. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The Marines dug in, and waited for help, as those thirty-one pilots and twelve gunners flew against the Japanese, shooting down eighty-three planes in less than two months, while the dive bombers, carried out over thirty attacks on the Japanese fleet. \u003ci\u003eFifty-Three Days on Starvation Island\u003c\/i\u003e follows Major John L. Smith, a magnetic leader who became America's top fighter ace for the time; Captain Marion Carl, the Marine Corps' first ace, and one of the few survivors of his squadron at the Battle of Midway. He would be shot down and forced to make his way back to base through twenty-five miles of Japanese-held jungle. And Major Richard Mangrum, the lawyer-turned-dive-bomber commander whose inexperienced men wrought havoc on the Japanese Navy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author John R. Bruning depicts the desperate effort to stop the Japanese long enough for America to muster reinforcements and turn the tide at Guadalcanal. Not just the story of an incredible stand on a distant jungle island, \u003ci\u003eFifty-Three Days on Starvation Island\u003c\/i\u003e also explores the consequences of victory to the men who secured it at a time when America had been at war for less than a year and its public had yet to fully understand what that meant. The home front they returned to after their jungle ordeal was a surreal montage of football games, nightclubs, fine dining with America's elites, and inside looks at dysfunctional defense industries more interested in fleecing the government than properly equipping the military. Bruning tells the story of how one battle reshaped the Marine Corps and propelled its veterans into the highest positions of power just in time to lead the service into a new war in Southeast Asia.","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51368289403103,"sku":"9780316508650","price":34.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0813\/8958\/4607\/files\/5MGT8N0j0O9780316508650.webp?v=1789125200"}],"url":"https:\/\/blackandbarhe.com\/collections\/john-r-bruning.oembed","provider":"Black \u0026 Barhe Bookstore","version":"1.0","type":"link"}