Fighting Fifteen: The Navy's Top Ace and the Deadliest Hellcat Squadron of the Pacific War

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Stephen L. Moore

Fighting Fifteen

The Navy's Top Ace and the Deadliest Hellcat Squadron of the Pacific War

Stephen L. Moore

$69.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Dutton / Signet
18 November 2025

History

The inspiring, action-packed tale of VF-15, an aviation unit of the United States Navy that would ultimately destroy more enemy planes than any other Pacific War squadron.

The inspiring, action-packed tale of VF-15, the elite group of U.S. Navy ""top gun"" pilots that destroyed more enemy planes than any other Pacific War squadron.

David McCampbell ended his tour of duty as the navy's ""ace of aces,"" with thirty-four confirmed enemy planes shot down, and received the Medal of Honor. His ""Fighting Fifteen"" played a major part in bringing an end to the Pacific War. But when the squadron was commissioned in 1943, most of its men-some barely out of their teenage years-were completely new to aerial combat. A string of deadly crashes during training in their rugged new F6F-3 Hellcats led the men to be booted off their first carrier. With their commander fired and McCampbell installed in his place, the group's future looked bleak.

But McCampbell transformed this ragged group of talented but disparate individuals into a selfless team of well-trained aviators, and by the time they formally entered the Pacific War with a series of daring island strikes, they were ready. Nicknamed ""Satan's Playmates,"" during six critical months of combat the squadron destroyed a record-setting 660 enemy planes across air and ground. Twenty-six of the men would eventually become aces, ascending to an elite fraternity and immortalizing the ""Fabled Fifteen."" Now, using previously unknown accounts from the aviators themselves, military historian Stephen L. Moore places readers in the heart of the action as McCampbell and his flying band of brothers battle the Japanese navy and its formidable Zero fighters to the death.

By: Stephen L. Moore
Imprint: Dutton / Signet
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 228mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 643g
ISBN: 9780593475867
ISBN 10: 0593475860
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 18 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Stephen L. Moore, a sixth-generation Texan, graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, where he studied advertising, marketing, and journalism. He is the author of two dozen books on World War II, Vietnam, and Texas history, including Patton's Payback and Blood and Fury. Parents of three children, Steve and his wife, Cindy, live north of Dallas in Lantana, Texas.

Reviews for Fighting Fifteen: The Navy's Top Ace and the Deadliest Hellcat Squadron of the Pacific War

""The saga of Fighting Squadron Fifteen is well known in aviation history circles, especially because of Commander David McCampbell's stellar role. But Stephen L. Moore's treatment provides additional depth and insight with material from other VF-15 veterans among broader, prior treatments of Carrier Air Group 15. Aside from his thorough text, Moore provides future researchers with personnel rosters that probably have not been published before. Moore's volume is likely to become a standard reference."" —Barrett Tillman, author of Clash of the Carriers, receipient of the Admiral Arthur Radford Award for Naval Aviation History