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Thomas Wildenberg
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Destined for Glory: Dive Bombing, Midway, and the Evolution of Carrier Airpower Hardcover – January 1, 1998

by Thomas Wildenberg (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings
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On 4 June 1942 three squadrons of U.S. Navy Dauntless dive bombers destroyed Japan's carrier force sent to neutralize Midway and changed the course of the war in the Pacific. As Thomas Wildenberg convincingly demonstrates in this book, the key ingredient to the navy's success at Midway was the planning and training devoted to the tactic of dive bombing over the previous seventeen years. Examining how political, economic, technical, and operational factors influenced the development of carrier airpower between 1925 and 1942, he shows why dive bombing became the navy's weapon of choice--why it was emphasized over all other methods of aerial warfare and finally brought to bear to stop the Japanese advance. He also pays tribute to the select group of naval aviators and senior leaders whose insights and determination drove the evolution of carrier tactics in this formative period.

The title reflects the essence of the story: the development of carrier air power in the U.S. Navy was driven by an unwritten understanding that the years spent on experimentation, training, and innovations were "destined" to bring success in a future battle. As part of this work, the author introduces newly discovered information showing that the outcome at Midway was actually predicted by naval aviators years before the battle took place. The book sheds new light on the navy's preparations for war, demonstrating beyond a shadow of a doubt the effectiveness of U.S. naval planning before Pearl Harbor.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    258 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Naval Inst Pr
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1998
  5. Dimensions
    6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1557509476
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1557509475
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Destined for Glory is the first book to thoroughly document the development of carrier air power in the United States Navy during the interwar years. Aviation enthusiasts and naval historians alike will find a wealth of previously unpublished data on the development of carrier aircraft and their tactical doctrine. Readers will discover new material related to the evolution of the fighters, torpedo bombers, and scout planes that made up the carrier air groups in World War II.

Although several excellent books have been written about the Battle of Midway, none has focused on how the U.S. Navy came to develop the one aerial weapon*dive bombing*which proved to be the decisive instrument of victory. For it was dive bombing, and only dive bombing, that turned the tide of Japanese expansion in the Pacific.

Introduced and developed in the interwar years, dive bombing became the corner stone in the navy's efforts to secure command of the air. Although the development of the dive bomber played an extremely important role in the advance of naval aviation during the interwar period, it is only part of a much broader story that illustrates an important lesson for historians: what comes before the battle is as important as the battle itself. It will become evident from reading the text that the aerial successes of 1942 were unequivocally rooted in the tactics and equipment developed during the previous seventeen years.

From the Back Cover

"A Midway, a handful of Dauntless dive bomber crews changed the course of World War II in the Pacific and the thrust of naval power forever. Destined for Glory tells the story of how a few tenacious visionaries forged the capability that made this possible. It's Never been told better." --Capt. Robert L. Rasmussen, USN (Ret.), director of the National Museum of Aviation

"Thomas Wildenberg has done a superb job of filling in the blanks on the development of tactics and advances in technology that led to the success of the carrier strike forces in World War II." --Capt. E. T. Wooldridge, USN (Ret.), coauthor of Night Fighters over Korea

"This book deals with an extremely important subject little covered in the existing literature. It presents a sound, comprehensive analysis of the development of U.S. carrier aviation." --John B. Lundstrom, author of The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Naval Inst Pr (January 1, 1998)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 258 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1557509476
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1557509475
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.25 x 1 x 9.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 14 ratings

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Thomas Wildenberg

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
14 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Hal Rappaport
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and interesting perspective...well done! Good read!
Reviewed in the United States on October 9, 2012
Verified Purchase
I went into this book with some preconceived notions as to what one the battle of midway. While I didn't loose my original convictions, I have to agree with Wildenberg's take on the technology and effectiveness of dive bombing. It was truly the precursor to missiles, and was a major contributing factor to the victory.

Well researched, and not dry like so many texts can be. I really enjoyed this read and would highly recommend it!
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Laura Ann Scaife
3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Of A Bomb Itself.
Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
Although I enjoyed this book, I have two large issues with it. First, the Douglas SBD Dauntless went on to become the greatest dive-bomber the USN ever employed, but it just seems to pop up at the end of the book with little or no mention of it's design history or evolution. A major oversight. But far and away the largest issue lies in the fact that there are so many grammatical errors in the text that it makes the book very difficult to read. This is the worst edited book I have ever come across. Did no one proof read the text before it went to the printers? The author has been very badly used by whoever passed this to the printers. An interesting book, but highly flawed.
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R. Hollander
4.0 out of 5 stars Detailed and informative
Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2012
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Destined for Glory gives a detailed history of the development of dive bombing by the U.S. Navy in the pre-war period. The writing is somewhat dry, but this book is more a technical history than anything else so that's to be expected. Mr. Wildenberg has obviously done a great deal of research, but one of the other reviewers said there were inaccuracies in the book. I'd like to know what is inaccurate for the sake of historical truth. I appreciate the author's great effort in writing this book. Especially liked the cover illustration, as it evokes images of Midway and other battles.

I would have liked to have seen more pictures of the aircraft covered, how Naval Aviators overcame any aircraft design deficiencies and how their tactics were affected. That's just me, though. The scope of the book was narrowly defined.

What I take away from the book is the vision, to be cliche, that Naval Officers in the 20s and 30s had in forseeing the coming war. Because of their efforts and foresight, the American victory at Midway was made possible. I'll leave it to professional historians to debate what the world would be like without the U.S. Navy winning this crucial battle. Overall, pretty good technical history but the reader may find himself slogging through.
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NavyTim
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Analysis of the American Naval Aviation Technological Development That Was Key to Bringing Victory in the Pacific
Reviewed in the United States on November 7, 2014
Destined for Glory is a must read for those wanting to understand why the Navy had the aircraft and tactics that it had at the beginning of WWII. Wildenberg is a master at writing about the Navy technological development prior to WWII. His book Gray Steel and Black Oil is another must read. It is out of print so you may have to go to your library but worth the effort. He gets at the technology behind the scene and the logistics that made actions of the USN in WWII possible. He is the only author to recognize the strategic value of the oilers. Since there were less protected an argument could be made they were more vulnerable and important than even the carriers.
I do have some differences of opinion with the author in his current book. Wildenberg blames Ernest King for the Navy not having fighters with higher top speeds. If you look at the performance of the A6M I think there is the proof that speed is not the most important factor in a fighter. I believe Japanese ace Sakai said he feared the Hellcat more than the Corsair because of the F6F’s better maneuverability. The P-38 was the epitome of speed over all other characteristics and it was only useful flying top cover in escort missions. It could not come down and engage in ACM with Japanese fighters and win. It was common for Japanese floatplanes armed with a single .30 caliber machine gun and top speeds at about 200 mph to defeat P-38s. The F4F could hold its own fighting defensively against the A6M due to the defensive tactic of the Thach Weave, pilot armor and self-sealing fuel tanks. Despite popular belief neither side understood the advantages of self-sealing fuel tanks and armor prior to the war. The American advantage in engine technology allowed the back fitting of that gear despite the speed reduction. The A6M’s smaller power plant would not have allowed back fitting of those items even had the Japanese so desired. The US advantage in superior engine technology is a topic that has not been addressed in assessing the final victory. The Pratt and Whitney R2800 powered the F6F, F4U and P-47 while the Wright Cyclone R-1820 powered the SBD, B-17 and C-47. Both engines played significant roles in American victory. American engine technology could produce engines with greater horsepower and were a generation ahead of Japanese engines. The Japanese never caught up. The F2A did not have landing gear problems until it had been overloaded. Had the Japanese added defensive equipment to the A6M I think the result would have been much worse than the F2A. Land based A6M pilots took out the radios to make their aircraft perform better.
I would have liked to have gained a better understanding of the ZB homing system. I do not understand how the Japanese could not have used that continuous transmission to triangulate the American carriers’ position. I also think criticism of the TBD by most authors is misplaced. Aircraft technology was changing fast and a revolutionary design that was only a few years old was already obsolete. The author mentions the Midway casualty rates for the new TBF. I think that the flight profile of an opposed torpedo attack was by its nature going to create high casualties among torpedo bombers unless attacking unopposed. The vulnerability was identified prior to WWII. Torpedo bombing was being phased out even prior to the end of WWII because of the risk. I hate to think how the British Swordfish would have fared in the Pacific against the A6M. When the British re-established fleet operations in the Indian Ocean/Pacific in 1944 they used American TBFs. The author mentions incorrectly that the Yorktown CV-5 was in the Pacific on Dec7 instead of Lexington CV-2.
I have read extensively about naval operations in the Pacific up through 1942 but until reading this book I never questioned why Spruance was chose to lead TF 17 and not Fitch at Midway. I understand that Halsey recommended Spruance but Fitch was an aviator and the most experienced TF commander other than Fletcher. Fletcher turned over tactical operations to Fitch at Coral Sea. I would love to read more about this. Maybe somebody could write a biography of Fitch?

Halsey Chief of Staff Miles Browning comes out looking bad for launching the TF17 strike too early and almost running them out of fuel as they burned gas forming up. In the book Pacific Payback that author takes a hatchet to Hornet CAG Stan Ring for reasons that are unknown. It comes across petty and unfair. This book makes it look like Browning was the problem and documents that fact very well as opposed to the author in Pacific Payback.

The Doolittle Raid is uniformly praised as a great master stroke that led to Midway which is inaccurate as the Japanese planned Midway prior to the raid. However, the raid took two carriers away from operations in the Coral Sea when they were needed for the much more important task of defending the SLOC with Australia. Had the Japanese decided to make Coral Sea their maximum effort as they should have due to availability of land based air those missing American CVs might have meant defeat for the US. The Coral Sea is where the Japanese should have made their effort to defeat the American carriers due to land based air advantage.

On page 209 the author says McClusky attacked Akagi when in reality it was Best. Best peeling off to attack Akagi was key to the American win. McClusky not being an experienced dive bomber pilot almost was fatal to the US and documented the fallacy of making American pilots jack of all trades. Leslie and Best performed much better because they were experienced dive bomber pilots. Until recently a fighter pilot, McClusky did not understand the doctrine or proper search technique or targeting protocol when attacking multiple targets. The Yorktown wing made up mainly of Saratoga squadrons was the best trained and performing squadron of the battle. Fletcher performed better than Spruance in that he did not launch too soon. Spruance was very lucky that Best and McClusky pulled their chestnuts out of the fire. Imagine the results of the battle had McClusky not found the carriers and instead ran out of fuel? That was highly likely based on the approach McClusky took to flying the search after he ran to end of his route.

The author also claims SBD a generation ahead of D3A without documenting how so. The SBD did have a bigger engine could carry higher payload but the D3A was a fine plane and sunk more US ships than any other Japanese weapon. The D3A was faster than the SBD and far more agile. The book is an excellent read and cant be more highly recommended to students of the Pacific War.
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Edgar Harrison
4.0 out of 5 stars Good description of development of dive bombers in USN
Reviewed in the United States on January 20, 2014
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First half excellent, gives an understanding of how dive bombing developed and those involved. Second half a rerun of early Pacific War history with nothing new.
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