Whip by Martin Caidin

My rating:

4 out of 5

They called him Whip because that was the way he handled a plane. Small, wiry, always ready for action, Captain Whip Russel was a terror in the air...and the pilots of his Brigade of B-25 bombers were the best outfit in the Pacific in 1942.

With the Japanese at the height of their power, Whip and his boys flew into Northern Australia on a special assignment that was to change the drift of the war - and teach them all a thing or two about victory...and defeat...

***** *** *******

Here we have a perfect example of a book from another of my favorite fiction genres; loosely fact-based tales of men and women who fought on our behalf during the times of war that have come along over the years. Whip is a great rollicking yarn that whisks the reader along on missions against the Japanese in the Pacific theatre during World War Two. I've had a copy of the Corgi paperback edition for around thirty years that I picked up in a book exchange somewhere along the way. I've read it four times that I can recall and have enjoyed it immensely each time. First published in 1976 and enjoying a number of reprints over the years, Martin Caidin has delivered an entertaining book that will appeal to lovers of WW2 history, action and aviation. Caidin has written a number of other fiction titles as well as some non-fiction works on military history. Also, a few sci-fi thrillers have come from him as well; in fact, the popular 70's and 80's TV series The Six Million Dollar Man was adapted from his novel Cyborg. Sure, Whip is a bit pulpy and may not find huge acceptance by today's readers, but it's designed for entertainment purposes with a little factual account blended in there and I'd suggest that most people over that age of 40 would really enjoy reading this.

From the opening lines and the moment when Whip Russel's B-25 bomber squadron thunders overhead Garbutt Field in Northern Australia, the action never really stops. Whip's squadron is on the retreat from the vast invading Japanese forces on the northern side of New Guinea and in the Solomon Islands. While regrouping in Aussie, plans are formed to create a forward operating base high in the jungle hills of New Guinea, a secret base from where they can strike out at the Japs more or less unmolested. They also decide to modify their aircraft to be able to deliver extra blows to the enemy, and edge that no other squadrons or aircraft have. Of course, things don't always go exactly to plan but the results are generally quite impressive. Caidin writes with great detail and things do seem very authentic, I guess due to him having had quite a bit to do with these aircraft and the men who flew them.

A B-25 bomber attacks Japanese frigate

The characters are relatively shallow (I guess) but I'd ask who would want them to be any different for this type of yarn? I liked every cast member in this book and think that they fit the whole story perfectly. The writing style is great, very typical of stuff like this from the same era. It's what I grew up reading so it's real comfort reading for me, a return to the tried and true tropes and yarns that kept my younger mind ticking over and learning about various things that interested me. This is the sort of book that people like me can crawl into when life gets a bit much, make a tactical retreat from the real world for a little while and regroup of our resources. Just like Whip Russel's B-25 squadron. A lot of folks around me don't realize how much they've got books like Whip to thank for allowing me the ability to do this.

Basically, Whip is an interesting and yet sometimes grim World War Two yarn, perfect for military and/or aviation fans who want to immerse themselves in what I was most probably like back in those darker days of our history.

3/5 for concept
4/5 for delivery
5/5 for entertainment
= 4 out of 5

Buy the book HERE (Amazon US)
Download the epub file HERE (The Z-Library Project)