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The Cactus Air Force  By  cover art

The Cactus Air Force

By: Eric Hammel, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver
Narrated by: Adam Henderson
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Publisher's summary

Using diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts, this vivid narrative brings to life the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.

The battle of Guadalcanal was the first offensive operation undertaken by the US and its allies in the Pacific War. The three months of air battles between August 20, 1942, when the first Marine air unit arrived on the island, and November 15, when the last enemy attempt to retake the island was defeated, were perhaps the most important of the Pacific War. “Cactus,” the code name for the island, became a sinkhole for Japanese air and naval power, as they experienced losses that could never be made good.

For 40 years, the late Eric Hammel interviewed more than 150 American participants in the air campaign at Guadalcanal, none of whom are still alive. These interviews are the most comprehensive first-person accounts of the battle assembled by any historian. More importantly, they involved the junior officers and enlisted men whose stories and memories were not part of the official history, and thus provide a unique insight.

In The Cactus Air Force, Pacific War expert Thomas McKelvey Cleaver worked closely with Eric to build on his collection of diary entries, interviews and first-hand accounts to create a vivid narrative of the struggle in the air over the island of Guadalcanal between August 20 and November 15, 1942.

©2022 Eric Hammel and Thomas McKelvey Cleaver (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

Critic reviews

"Eric Hammel’s research, done when no one else was interested in learning these stories, has allowed a story we all think we know well to be told anew, through the words of those whose stories were never told before. The Cactus Air Force is a vital contribution that provides new information about this crucial battle." (Barrett Tillman, author of Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942–1945)

"Hammel and Cleaver have once more brought Guadalcanal front and center. Theirs is a harrowing tale of unpreparedness, intelligence and leadership failures, of learning hard lessons in the furious crucible of war, of sacrifice and loss, of great courage, and, ultimately, of a great victory secured at a fearsome cost." (Richard P. Hallion, former Historian of the US Air Force)

"Overstating Eric Hammel’s impact as a military historian is impossible. His focus on aviation—and Guadalcanal in particular—has seen few equals. Today, we benefit not only because Hammel had the foresight to capture the first-person accounts of thousands of veterans, but also because he possessed the knowledge to place them in the proper context." (Jay A. Stout, author of Jayhawk: Love, Loss, Liberation and Terror Over the Pacific)

What listeners say about The Cactus Air Force

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Book!

You would think with so much detail that this, it would read like a textbook but it’s very riveting. At times, it’s painful to read with so much loss of life and suffering. Unfortunately, that’s a common problem when reading history books.

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4 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Another great book by Eric Hammel

Eric Hammel and Thomas Cleaver collaborated on this history of the air, ground and naval war in Guadalcanal in WWII, doing a magnificent history of the happenings.

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3 people found this helpful

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The first book dedicated to the cactus air force on audible

The book was really good. It covered all aspects of the Guadalcanal campaign. It goes a little more in depth in regards to the pilots and the air crew. I loved it but my only complaint is that the day in and day out air battles got a little monotonous (obviously not for the brave men who fought there). The Guadalcanal campaign is my favorite world war 2 campaign. I would recommend hornfischer’s book, Neptune’s inferno. That is the best book on this subject but this is a good one in addition to it. It is a good length as well, you get your moneys worth.

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3 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Awful performance.

Written well. Reader was terrible. He pauses way too long for commas, and often seems to inflect the wrong parts of sentences. He appears to have either not pre-read or didn’t understand what he was reading. His long delays on commas or weird inflections often changed the meanings of many sentences. He was the epitome of putting “the em-FAH-sense on the wrong syl-LAH-bull” except at the sentence level. Very hard to listen to.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great piece on World War Two history

Excellent start to finish and a great account of history. It Was read extremely well

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Very comprehensive book

I really like the details, other books I’ve read just give you overall View of these engagements, this book gives you much more, including all the names of the pilots that survived them or killed.

That seem to make it more personable. Enjoyed very much. 

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

An heroic story, brave men of both sides who were sacrificed for dubious purposes.

I found the insistence of the authors in telling me all the identifying numerals and letters of every unit, group or individual, to be tiresome.)

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Great telling of a very close long long battle

This was a very pitched battle over a long period of time. This is where the US became the dominant strength….barely. Very good balance of staying focused on the air arm yet giving focus on important land and sea battles. Also good balance of telling of battles big picture and delving into personal accounts mostly derived from diaries and the like.

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Extraordinary Effort by Americans

Appreciate and enjoyed the details presented in this book. I have read more than a dozen books about Guadalcanal but none, until this book have focused on the Cactus Air Force. I thought the narration was great. Thank you for writing/moving this book forward to completion. Had to be a challenging task in itself. Five Stars…Cheers.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

extra detailed yet still lacking somehow

Interesting presentation with lots of details that were a distraction from the main story. Several mistakes stood out. For example - The Sullivan brothers were not from Boston, Massachusetts - they were from Waterloo, Iowa, information that is easily checked.

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