They were called the deadliest fighter squadron in action in the South Pacific; U.S. Navy Fighting Squadron Seventeen, famous with their Skull and Crossbones insignia, became one of the most successful squadrons of WWII. Flying the F4U Corsair, VF-17 shot down 152 Japanese aircraft in aerial combat in only 76 days. At the end of the war VF-17 had the top four Navy Corsair aces: Kepford, Hedrick, Blackburn, and Smith. After seventeen years of meticulous research, Lee Cook presents this new book, which is also greatly enhanced by considerable VF-17 family involvement who have supplied original material and photographs not previously appeared in previous works. The Aces of Fighting 17 has a detailed biography of each VF-17 ace and has a host of hitherto unpublished photographs. 224 pp | over 200 color/bw images