Category Archives: Blown Slick Series

Attack and Strike Fighter Evolution and Analysis

1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 15 – Guadalcanal, From the Start, A New and Different Context; Cactus (4/4)

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 15 (4/4)  “…the only place on Earth where you could stand up to your knees in mud and still get dust in your eyes.” Marion Carl First Marine Ace by Roy Grinnell. Capt. Marion Carl over … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 14 – Guadalcanal, From the Start, A New and Different Context; CV Withdrawal (3/4)

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 14 (3/4) “It is true, Marines will take a pounding until their own air gets established (about ten days or so), but they can dig in, hole up, and wait. Extra losses are a localized … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 13 – Guadalcanal, From the Start, A New and Different Context; Problems (2/4)

 Blown Slick Series #13 Part 13 (2/4) It was one thing to defend Midway operating in open ocean; being closely tied to the geography of the island and surrounding waters to provide air support was a whole other thing. With … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 12 – Guadalcanal, From the Start, A New and Different Context; First Day Overview (1/4)

RS Note: With the close of Chapter 2 of the Testimony of Pilot series, this posts continues with the 1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier series picking up with the story of the initial attack on Guadalcanal 7-8 August, 1942. Given the … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; (Part 11+) – “Why Is China’s Navy Studying the Battle of Guadalcanal?”

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 11+ The National Interest magazine recently published Why Is China’s Navy Studying the Battle of Guadalcanal? by Lyle J. Goldstein a research professor in the China Maritime Studies Institute (CMSI) at the United States Naval War College … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 11 – Guadalcanal – Interlude

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 11 Between the lines The haste in putting Operation Watchtower together would prove problematic on many levels not the least of which was that this tasking was completely new – none of the commanders knew … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 10 – Guadalcanal Campaign Major Events Overview

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 10 Watchtower Guadalcanal is no longer merely a name of an island in Japanese military history. It is the name of the graveyard of the Japanese army. —Major General Kiyotake Kawaguchi, IJA Commander, 35th Infantry Brigade … Continue reading

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1942- The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 9 – Guadalcanal

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 9 On Land, on Sea, in the Air – Introduction 9 February, 1943 Major General Alexander Patch, USA, Commander,  Guadalcanal to Vice Admiral William Halsey, Jr., USN, Commander, South Pacific Area, TOTAL AND COMPLETE DEFEAT OF … Continue reading

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1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 8 – Midway Trilogy Epilogue

Blown Slick Series #13 Part 8 Decisive victory? Depends on how you look … a fundamental transformation in naval power had just taken place. Carriers usurped the prime strategic role of battleships in that their principal opponents were their enemy … Continue reading

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1942 – The Year of the Aircraft Carrier; Part 7 – Midway Trilogy (3 of 3)

 Blown Slick Series #13 Part 7  “what did Midway really mean?”   “An aircraft carrier is a noble thing. It lacks almost everything that seems to denote nobility, yet deep nobility is there. A carrier has no poise. It has   no  … Continue reading

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