The Jolly Rogers. The Story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17.
New York: Orion Books, (1989),
First Edition. octavo, blue boards and cloth in pictorial dust jacket. (xviii); 270pp. Orion Books, Item #34720
Illustrations include black and white photographs of squadron members, aircraft, and a map. Introduction by James Stockdale, Vice Admiral US Navy (Ret.).This is te story of one of the US Navy's foremost fighter squadron, VF-17, and its charismatic commander, fighter ace Tom Blackburn. The VF-17 was in action against the Japanese in the Solomon and Bismarck islands during World War II. It is a litle-known fact that the "Jolly Rogers" exceeded the combat record of pappy Boyington's Black Sheep fighter pilots with 154 downed enemy planes within 76 days. This copy is signed and dated by five members of the Squadron on labels affixed to the front endpaper: Tom Blackburn 7/6/90; Dan Cunningham 7/5/90; Rog Hedrick 7/11/90; Windy (Robert) Hill 7-7-90 and Wm L Landreth 7-4-90. A very fine, clean copy, jacket not price clipped.
Price: $175.00