Okinawa 1945

The Fleet Air Arm's job at Okinawa was to suppress and destroy the Japanese airfields on the Sakashima Islands, which were used as bases for kamikazes as well as to route aircraft from Japan to Okinawa. In this book, naval expert Angus Konstam offers a newly researched account of the Fleet Air Arm's air campaign in the Sakashimas. By 1945, the carriers and their aircrews were well worked up, and ready to tackle challenging and important targets. He explains the capabilities of the late-war Fleet Air Arm at Okinawa, and analyses their effectiveness against Japan's still-dangerous airpower. Famously, at Okinawa the Royal Navy's armoured carriers proved much more resilient to kamikaze strikes than the wooden-topped carriers of the Americans. Packed with spectacular original artwork, photographs, diagrams and maps, this book is a superbly illustrated history of the Royal Navy's most extensive carrier campaign.