Kangaroo Squadron

American Courage in the Darkest Days of World War II

By: Bruce Gamble

Narrated by: Mark Boyett

Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

In early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single US Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America's new enemy.

Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron's pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful, conducting long-range bombing raids, carrying out armed reconnaissance missions, and rescuing General MacArthur and his staff from the Philippines.

Before now, the story of their courage and determination in the face of overwhelming odds has largely been untold. Using eyewitness accounts from diaries, letters, interviews, and memoirs, as well as Japanese sources, historian Bruce Gamble brings to vivid life this dramatic true account.

But the Kangaroo Squadron's story doesn't end in World War II. One of the squadron's B-17 bombers, which crash-landed on its first mission, was recovered from New Guinea after almost 70 years in a jungle swamp. The intertwined stories of the Kangaroo Squadron and the "Swamp Ghost" are filled with thrilling accounts of aerial combat, an epic survival story, and the powerful mystique of an invaluable war relic.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 Bruce Gamble (P)2018 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"With his exquisite eye for detail and spellbinding talent as a stroyteller, Bruce Gamble takes readers on an unforgettable journey through the perilous early months of World War II in the Southwest Pacific." (Colonel Walter Boyne, author and former director of the National Air and Space Museum)

"Bruce Gamble has beautifully captured the dark early days of World War II - and the brave American airmen willing to take the fight to the enemy. With a novelist's gift for storytelling, Gamble takes readers into cockpits over Japanese bases, drops them waist-deep in malarial swamps, and lets them unwind in dusty outback bars. Kangaroo Squadron is a soaring story and a triumph of the American spirit." (James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Rampage and Target Tokyo)

"Bruce Gamble demonstrates again why he is one of the best aviation historians in the business. In Kangaroo Squadron he has crafted a fascinating account of men and machines, painting a compelling picture of what it was like to fight as an American aviator during the very darkest days of the Pacific War. Outstanding!" (Jonathan Parshall, coauthor of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway)

Informative and interesting

A great story about a part of WW2 less covered by most media. Highly recommend!

Well told piece of little known aviation history

Really enjoyed this book. It did a great job of detailing early WW2 in the South Pacific, the role US aviation played in it, and how important the geography was to what the aviators had to accomplish. Mr Gamble does a magnificent job describing not only the big picture but also providing first-person details about individual missions that read like great historical fiction. I was captivated by the individual stories in this book but also felt like I learned a ton about the fighting in areas that I frequently hear about but never really understood how they fit into the bigger picture of the war in the South Pacific.

I read a lot of aviation history and this book is one of the few in which the author combines a love of history with a love of aviation and great writing abilities.

The one thing I would change about this book is that the stories of pilots and crews became less detailed as the book progressed. So, it was a touch less exciting at the end than at the beginning. But, overall, a really worthwhile listen!

Excellent story

Excellent story and well read in the audio version. Very informative as to the vulnerability of the US foray into the South Pacific at the beginning of the US involvement during WW2.

5 star History!

Wonderful book! More details than most! Felt like I was a member of the unit. Absolutely loved it. The story alone is pure American, and no one can take that away.Reccomend highly for anyone that loves history.

Great Book! Highly Recommended!

This is a riveting story about a B 17 group (Kangaroo Squadron) that I was not aware of. It’s non fiction that reads like a novel. Kudos to Bruce Gamble and the narrator Mark Boyett.

Great Story!

Great story about this theater of operations from the early USArmy Air Corps squadrons involved.
On another note it, explains the B-17 Swamp Ghost story on display at Hickim AFB.

Another Bruce Gamble hit

Another hit by Bruce Gamble. The story of the Kangaroo Squadron and the early days of World War 2 in the Pacific has received little attention other than a few lines in many studies of the Pacific War. Me. Gamble gives a very compelling look at the early days of World War 2 at Pearl Harbor, Australia and New Guinea. The narration is excellent and told at a good pace. Definitely worth your time to listen to this book.

Excellent History

Great detail and history but I kept waiting for Colnel Kyle Riggs to pull out beam weapons and end the war in about 15 mins…..

Amazing story, well written!!

This story is incredible and is well told. I highly recommend this book, Boyett nailed it!

Filled in gaps of my father’s service

My father was reticent to speak of his WWII service saying only that he was a crew chief on bombers to hit Rabaul early in the war. Photos of him in uniform show E-6 stripes and two rows of “fruit salad”. He had a bullet wound that went completely through his body. That’s the sum of my knowledge. His records burned in the 1975 fire. I don’t know which of the different bomber types he was on. Bruce Gamble’s excellent description of the issues involved in flying out of northern Australia, however, provide insight into what these bomber crews faced and endured. Audible should commit to recording the remainder of Gamble’s Rabaul trilogy to reveal the whole pattern of that portion of the war. I am grateful to learn something of the forces that shaped my dad in his early manhood. Thank you Mr. Gamble.