Vampire Squadron
The Saga of the 44th Fighter Squadron
in the South and Southwest Pacific
by William H. Starke, Lt. Col. USAFR (Ret.)

This comprehensive book was written by a veteran of the 44th Fighter Squadron.

Join the famed Vampire Squadron at Bellows Field, Hawaii, as their P-40s attempt to get air borne while the bombs are dropping on Pearl Harbor, then travel with them "down under" as they join with the Marines in the bitter struggle to take and hold Guadalcanal in those grim early months when the U.S. The was losing the war.

 Next, travel up the slot with them in their P–40s, and later in the P-38s, as they fight their way through the Solomon Islands - Munda, Bougainville, and the costly struggle to knock out the Jap bastion at Rabaul.

Continue their journey to western New Guinea where their P-38s strike Borneo, the East Indies, then the Philippines, Formosa, and the China Coast.

Theirs was a constant battle against not only the Japanese, but the weather, insects, disease, and shortages of planes, pilots, food, and equipment.

Probably no fighter squadron, covered as much of the vast Pacific as the Vampire Squadron. Here is an accurate, almost daily account of their exciting exploits told by one of its pilots.

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products

This page first produced 26 July 2008

This page last updated 23 January 2020