Phaetn, thanx for posting this heads up!
FWIW, I earlier purchased a copy of Bill Starke's squadron history of the 44th. It's a good quality reproduction done last year. The link for Mr. Starke's e-mail is on the page (as the fine print says, the book cover is the link). Cost for me was $39 + 3.50 S&H.
"Vampire Squadron" is a squadron history of the 44th flying the P-40 and P-38 in the South and Southwest Pacific. If you enjoy squadron histories or are a P-38 enthusiast, I recommend you pick up a copy while you can. The reprint quality is good (not great, since I expect some of the photos were of better quality in the original edition). But, well worth the money, and I'm glad he went to the trouble to have it reproduced so I could acquire a copy. Has some interesting stuff, such as the photo of a P-38 air ambulance, with patients carried in modified drop tanks! I like histories with maps, so I appreciate the good job he did in including maps, especially copies of the strip maps used on the missions.
Another nifty feature is the inclusion at the back of the book of a copy of the brochure Lt. Col. Westbrook wrote for the 347th Fighter Group. It's a six page treatise on combat flying, with diagrams.
