Dead Reckoning: The Story of How Johnny Mitchell and His Fighter Pilots Took on Admiral Yamamoto and Avenged Pearl Harbor Hardcover – June 9, 2020

Well written and detailed account of the mission to kill Admiral Yamamoto in WWII. Exacting and sympathetic portrait of Yamamoto as a reluctant warrior. The main character of course was Johnny Mitchell the leader of the 16 P-38’s that intercepted and shot the plane transporting Yamamoto out of the sky 450 miles from their base. It was a legendary feat of navigation and leadership. I rarely say this about a work of history but I could barely put it down. Lots of detail about flying out of Guadalcanal in 1942-43 when the Japanese still held sway over the Pacific islands. Thoroughly enjoyable read of ordinary men doing extraordinary things.

Fantastic and an outstanding read, well written and precise plus very clear. I have tried to give it 5 stars but the 5th won’t take or stay blue like the other 4.

There is so much more to learn about the shoot down of Admiral Yamamoto and the Army Aviators who completed the 800 mile, 50 feet off the water strike with only a wrist watch, a compass and "Dead Reckoning " The author goes back to the child hood and earlier generations of the strike leader and the Admiral. Deeply researched a page turner!

I liked the way the book was written, going back and forth between two men from two countries and they came to know of each other. It's about the battles in the Pacific Theater. Just a well written, good paced book.

The author does an excellent job humanizing both protagonists: John W. Mitchell and Admiral Yamamoto. It is an engaging, easy to read book that will leave you feeling good about this historical moment.

While I was familiar with the basics of the Yamamoto kill, this book gives great insight into the men involved as well as that of the Japanese Admiral. I do wish the author had given information on the effect this event had on Japanese coding. Did they figure out the US had broken their code? Did they make significant changes?

This was a great read, hard to put down as Dick Leir made it easy to understand and follow the story he throughly researched. Well worth a read!

This is a story worth reading about now I need to find thirteen more words in order to post the review. 🤣

It’s been written about, over and over. But this is a most personal and intuitive story, relating the ongoing parallels of two key players in that WWII drama. Wonderful and very insightful.

The dust jacket of 'Dead Reckoning' describes it as "The story of how Johnny Mitchell and his fighter pilots took on Admiral Yamamoto and avenged Pearl Harbor" [sic]. The book does indeed do that but only in the last 90 of its 330 pages. The rest is more or less a love story or, indeed, two love stories - set against the period before and during the Pacific War - describing how Mitchell met and married his wife Annie Lee and how Yamamoto courted the love of his life, the geisha Chiyoko.That said, there is sufficient material to engage the interest of the military historian and the author - Dick Lehr - describes the key events of the first two years of the Pacific War, whilst maintaining a focus on Mitchell's career as a fighter pilot and his rise to command of the 339th Fighter Squadron. The final third of the book then covers the mission to shoot down Yamamoto but only briefly explores the post-event controversy over who should have got the credit, ending with the debunking of Tom Lanphier's widely publicised claim to have been 'the man who killed Yamamoto'.All in all, it is nonetheless an engaging read and an informative addition to any military history library.

Very well written bookIf I close my eyes, I can see Mitch telling the room of Generals & Admirals how the mission was going to be conducted - & Mitscher backing him up - great stuff....