Ralph Harvey

Great book for a museum store
A lot of books attempt to put into context the complete story of developing an airplane with respect to the technical, political and social events that shape the final outcome. Mr. Harvey achieves the goal,but at the expense of a book that is very weak on the technical aspects of the F4U while meandering into other areas that have little to do with the airplane itself from a contemporary standpoint. (Apollo Program.) Regrettably, for the technically and historically knowledgeable the title falls far short of delivering anything of a technical nature. Perhaps a better title would have been the "The human story of how the Corsair was built". This is a great volume to place in the book store of a historical museum in Connecticut where the F4U was built. It does a great job of catering to a general interest reader who does not have any knowledge of the history of the airplane or the industrial build-up that began in 1938. This is not meant to knock the book. My expectations were were led by the title. I would lend this book without hesitation to a teacher who was preparing a lecture on industrial America from 1938-1943.

I would recommend the book by B. Tillman if you have a singular interest in the combat history of the F4U.… (altro)