Swashbucklers and Black Sheep: A Pictorial History of Marine Fighting Squadron 214
in World War II
Status: In production at Zenith Press
Projected release: Fall 2012
Synopsis: Full color, landscape format hardcover book featuring fine art by John Shaw, Craig Kodera, Jim Laurier, and Bob Rasmussen; sixteen full-color aircraft profiles and approximately 250 photographs; all-new narration of VMF-214 in the Pacific plus a tribute to the squadron's service since World War II.
Ring of Fire: Operation Cartwheel and the Air War Over Rabaul, May 1943 - August 1945
Status: in progress
Projected release: late 2013.
Synopsis: The chronological sequel to Fortress Rabaul (May 2010), Ring of Fire narrates the story of the intense air war over Japan's most notorious stronghold in the Southwest Pacific. It will also provide compelling, sometimes disturbing insights regarding the plight of captured Allied airmen held at Rabaul. Of the more than 100 taken prisoner, only seven men remained alive at the end of the war. Ring of Fire will describe their incredible survival against the odds.
Kangaroo Squadron: The True Story of the First Heavy Bombers in the Southwest Pacific
Working title, concept.
Synopsis: Shortly after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Army sent a cobbled-together squadron of B-17s island-hopping across the Pacific to take the fight to the enemy. Rushed into combat with virtually no logistical support, the squadron fought bravely with what it had. Kangaroo Squadron will not only narrate the unit's compelling history, it will include the amazing story of the "Swamp Ghost," a one-of-a-kind B-17 that was returned to the United States 68 years after it crash- landed in a New Guinea swamp.
