Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941. (Professional Reading).

Peattie, Mark R. Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941. Naval Institute Press, 291 Wood Rd., Annapolis, MD 21402. 2002. 392 pp. Ill. $36.95.

Undoubtedly one of the most important books on WW II to appear in the last decade, this work fills a large gap in aviation historical literature. For an organization that played such a major part in mid-20th century military history, Japanese naval aviation has received little coverage outside Japan. Previous works usually describe specific aircraft, like the legendary Zero, or the Imperial Japanese Navy's (IJN) participation in major actions, like Midway or Leyte. Although behind in modern warfare in the early 1900s, Japan got in on the ground floor of naval aviation with the help of western countries, especially Great Britain. It was assistance the British and their allies would regret in 25 years.

The narrative is very much a scholarly treatise, not a popular history. The author is a vested academic, with teaching credentials at several colleges and a Ph.D. in Japanese history from Princeton. Thus, his language is often rigid and his subject knowledge obviously less than firsthand, such as having no apparent military or flight experience that would put him at ease in discussing his subject.

The author gives an excellent description of the evolution of naval aviation training in Japan, citing the differences between it and the training received by American Naval Aviators. He even mentions a reserve component, an area I have never seen described. Many of his sources appear to be Japanese-language references, so checking is difficult.

In an interesting note, the first combat involving Japanese naval aircraft occurred soon after the start of WW I in China in September 1914. After the war, Japan quickly began building aircraft carriers; in fact, the world's first ship built as a carrier from the start was the little Hosho, with only 8,000 tons displacement and a 75-foot flight deck, completed in 1922.

There's some truly fascinating information on early tactics and crew training, which formed the nucleus of the Imperial Navy's strike power in the coming war with the West. While Japan's army focused its attention on fighter development, its navy developed a bomber fleet, including a sizable number of land-based bombers that would have great impact in China and throughout the Pacific during WW II.

Under the book's striking cover design, the main text is only 200 pages, while the remaining 200 pages include informative appendices, biographies of important aviators, and endnotes. The photographs often show UN carriers, which are not common in previously published histories of the Pacific war's naval action. Besides aircraft drawings, there are also several unusual elevations of IJN flattops. Detailed maps round out the graphics portion.

As good as the book is overall, there are the inevitable glitches. A layout problem occurs in Appendix 6, which presents important IJN aircraft of the 1930s and 1940s. Using well-done general arrangement drawings and short descriptions and data tables, this section suffers from an occasional mismatch of text and drawings. On page 288, the aircraft is not a Mitsubishi F1M2, but an Aichi E13A1, which can be found elsewhere, also mistakenly placed.

Sunburst has so many aspects that it is impossible to cover them in this column. There are descriptions, never seen in English, of the bloody air war over China in the late 1930s, where the IJN tried out its theories and hardware, not always with success. Flying a vast menagerie of aircraft obtained from England, the Soviet Union, America and France, the Chinese evidently put up a stouter defense than is credited in most works on the subject. It was not until the 1940 arrival of the Zero, in limited numbers and operations, that the Japanese fielded a seemingly unbeatable aircraft.

The author also notes the frustration of the hard-pressed bomber crews beset by flak and interceptors as they watched their escorts charge off to duel with distant Chinese aircraft instead of remaining close to fend off opposing fighters. For a society known for placing the needs of the many ahead of the few, the author indicates that the young fighter pilots of the UN were often more concerned with adding to their individual scores than defending their bombers.

While the United States had by the 1930s been formulating various campaigns against Japan, the Japanese had sketched out similar actions against American carrier forces, taking advantage of growing capabilities of IJN aircraft, particularly in range. The story of the development of the A6M Zero and its partners in carrier aviation-the Aichi D3A dive-bomber (Val) and the Nakajima B5N torpedo bomber (Kate)-is placed in the context of Japan's military operations and of other countries' related aircraft, such as Germany's Ju.87 Stuka and the U.S. SBD Dauntless.

Sunburst is a well-researched book and long-needed reference on an important, overlooked subject.