Baa Baa Black Sheep

Rating:
Summary: The exploits of the original bad boy
Review: "Baa Baa Black Sheep" is a far cry from the "Hollywood" version of Pappy's exploits. Pappy holds nothing back in this tell-it-like-it-is autobiography, which covers his days as a novice flyer going into combat with the Flying Tigers, his days as C.O. of VMF-214, the infamous "Black Sheep", his ordeal as a guest of the Emperor, and his postwar downfall and resurrection. Remember, Pappy was a Marine first, aviator second, which means you'll find plenty of alcohol induced hell raising antics, as well as up close and personal aerial combat. SEMPER FI PAPPY!!

Rating:
Summary: Not like the movie or TV show
Review: Boyington was a childhood hero of mine from the TV show. However, this narrative he writes is its best when it describes the background of his men with the squadron, and his own training days. It could benefit from a little more detail about the day-to-day operations and lightheartedness tat occasionally surfaced during the war; also, it could have described in more detail Boyington's time as a POW.
This book was written several years ago, and thus could not take advantage of the WW2 fascination of late that has seen so many good books with historical support. However, given that it is the story of an American ace and hero, it can provide a useful amount of information on the real story of the Black Sheep, not as it was on screen.

Rating:
Summary: Not like the movie or TV show
Review: Boyington was a childhood hero of mine from the TV show. However, this narrative he writes is its best when it describes the background of his men with the squadron, and his own training days. It could benefit from a little more detail about the day-to-day operations and lightheartedness tat occasionally surfaced during the war; also, it could have described in more detail Boyington's time as a POW.
This book was written several years ago, and thus could not take advantage of the WW2 fascination of late that has seen so many good books with historical support. However, given that it is the story of an American ace and hero, it can provide a useful amount of information on the real story of the Black Sheep, not as it was on screen.

Rating:
Summary: a womens point of view..
Review: Boyington was also one of my childhood heroes for two reasons -- one from the show, which I still watch on re-runs. The other was because my father served in the First Marine Division on Guadal Canal and once met Boyington and the Black Sheep. I'm a late-comer from a third marriage and, growing up, most kids in my class had fathers who fought in Viet Nam. I was one of two who had fathers who faught in WW II. My dad didn't talk about his war-time experiences much and since he died when I was 12 years old, I have always read everything I could on WW II. This book is wonderful. I first read it when I was in grade school. And, it is still one of the best books around today!

Rating:
Summary: Excellence at its best
Review: Boyington was also one of my childhood heroes for two reasons -- one from the show, which I still watch on re-runs. The other was because my father served in the First Marine Division on Guadal Canal and once met Boyington and the Black Sheep. I'm a late-comer from a third marriage and, growing up, most kids in my class had fathers who fought in Viet Nam. I was one of two who had fathers who faught in WW II. My dad didn't talk about his war-time experiences much and since he died when I was 12 years old, I have always read everything I could on WW II. This book is wonderful. I first read it when I was in grade school. And, it is still one of the best books around today!

Rating:
Summary: A gripping first person account of those desperate times
Review: Boyington was definitely not your Tom Cruz type of pilot, he was an unorthodox risk taking, erm, a Black Sheep, which goes a long way to describe his style. In a time when so many people played it by the book, he took men destined for hard jail time and turned them into one of the most feared squadrons of the South Pacific.

The book is a description of the days with his squadron, as recounted by him so expect this not a dry and exacting account written by someone in USMC public relations.

This is among my favorite books of all time, and a recomended read for anyone interested in aviation, WWII, or just a great (and true) action story.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST WWII Fighter Pilolt Autobiography
Review: Boyington's autobiography "Baa Baa Black Sheep" is, in my opinion, the best WWII fighter pilot autobiography available -- and I'll tell you why.

Calling this book the 'best' is not something I say haphazardly or without reason. I've read a number of other WWII fighter pilot autobiographies including: Yeager, Forever Flying, Thunderbolt!, First and Last, and View from the Cockpit. Boyington's book is as good as these books on their terms, and offers a good deal more.

First, Boyington projects an openness and humility not found in the other books. But even more importantly, Boyington's character exhibits incredible growth.

The book starts with his joining the American Volunteer Group, knows by the acronym AVG, and even better known as the Flying Tigers. At this point, Boyington is essentially a mercenary. And the appeal of this section is the insight on Chennault, China, and the P40 Warhawks.

The next section of the book is his time with VMF 214 flying F4U Corsairs in "The Slot" near Guadacanal. This section of the book is interesting in it's comparison to the TV show. This is the section of the book that most people know Boyington for, and buy the book for. And if this is you, then you will not be disappointed. For this section has all the air combat, pranks, and drunken revelry that you expect. But it is also interesting that Boyington's character begins to change....in ways that I'll leave for you to interpret.

The next section of the book is his time as a POW in Japan. This section is interesting in it's content. But I was completely amazed at Boyington's growth, maturity, and lack of hatred or generalizations of the Japanse people. It is also the section where he is not drinking, and he attains an almost spiritual maturity that took me by suprise.

The final section deals again with his drinking problems, and recovery. By this time, his drinking antics have any frat-house appeal, and he realizes his drinking for what it is.

Like I said, I've read a number of WWII fighter-pilot autobiographies, and I think this is the best of the genre.

Rating:
Summary: the bad boy's own story
Review: Greg Boyington is likely the most likeable and most irritating of WWII heroes. He was a Flying Tiger before he was a Black Sheep, and he was a drunkard and a braggart throughout. His autobiography is a delight to read, but you can't take it at face value--he had a ghost writer, he had some axes to grind, and he himself admitted that booze affected his memory. Still, you haven't read them all if you haven't read this one.

Rating:
Summary: Pappy knew
Review: he was no hero. As he said himself, he was a "daredevil" and a "drunk." But he lived long enough to realize it & suffered greatly in the process. He doesn't hit the brutality he encountered too hard. He didn't hate the Japanese, despite the POW camps he was in; he hated careerists and martinets more, and says so. Discipline wasn't his forte, but he knew the difference between wartime and peacetime leadership, when many didn't. He valued friendship above all and found friends everywhere. He manged to alienate those he worked for and earn the admiration of those who worked for him. He was the man Hemingway wanted to be--hard-drinking, two fisted, a fighter, a man's man. But his values changed as he left youth behind. His introspection about the growth of spirit is limited, but he's clear about balance being the only road to happiness, and he sets out on that road with the determination he exhibited in his flying career. He says he was never brave and that the line between being brave and being a bum is a fine one. It was in his case, as he admits. This is a man who did what he had to when he had to and had no illusions about the patriotic gore he heard or read. He reveals his humanity by what he notices and reports, sometimes grudgingly. But the effect is one of a confessional by the unrepentant, as if some of the twelve steps in his cure were still missing. Overall, an unpretentious book by an Ace pilot who lived through the worst and lived to tell about it. Worth reading, and more humane and unpretentious than most books by WWII pilots.

Rating:
Summary: Where Is The Rest of The Story?
Review: I first met Pappy at the Oshkosh Airshow in 1983. He came across as he does in the book; somewhat of a braggard but also self depreciating. While the book is certainly worth reading, I am disappointed that no one (including Pappy) attempted to expand on his biography in the years since it was written. I would like to know more about how he chose the Marines, his early training and flying experiences before the war and the period of time after he wrote the book until his death.

To more fully understand the period that is described in the book, one should read Daniel Ford's "Flying Tigers" and Walton's "Once They Were Eagles". The TV serial, while it occasionally borrowed ideas from the book, must be supressed (except for the great aerial sequences).