IF YOU READ FLIGHT JOURNAL on a regular basis, then you know how I love to throw WW II statistics around. As it happens, Barrett Tillman loves to do the same thing and the "Tailview" he contributed to this issue is his way of using statistics to show that the so-called Greatest Generation wasn't a single generation. And wasn't restricted to those who actually went into combat. It applies to the millions of managers, workers, engineers and designers of all ages who created so many miracles in being able to produce the tools of war, from shoelaces to atom bombs in such a short period of time. Barrett also explains Guadalcanal ("Six Months to Victory"), our first offensive operation of the war where young Marines stormed the shores in the first large-scale amphibious operation in modern times. This form of amphibious warfare was a new concept that required massive amounts of new equipment from aircraft carriers to the aforementioned shoelaces, none of which existed December 7, 1941. Eight months later, almost to the day, millions of tons of material had been moved to the South Pacific where America started the long road back on the shores of a remote island called Guadalcanal.
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