On Wave and Wing

摘要

Behind dictionaries and encyclopedias, Barrett Tillman's latest book, On Wave and Wing (his 53rd), may be one of the most Information-dense tomes of recent times. Even a casual reading of Tillman's chronicling of the first century of the aircraft carrier clearly shows that Its history is much more complicated than simply the development of a funny-shaped boat. This is because the aircraft carrier Is much more than a ship, and Tillman tells us why. Some of the early chapters in On Wave and Wirg read like soap operas, where the politics and old-school attitudes of the battleship-centric naval hierarchy were almost comical In their refusal to accept that a boat carrying rickety kites could be of any consequence. In reading the first-person narratives of those who were there, it's difficult not to look back from this end of history and wonder "how could they not know?" The world of naval warfare was in the act of changing mightily, and Tillman paints a clear portrait of a revolution in naval warfare. In fact, when Royal Navy aircraft pounded the Italian battleship fleet at Taranto, Italy-the first significant aircraft-versus-ship battle-it became obvious that those "rickety kites" had become the main players In naval warfare.