Welcome
Taurus Literary Works is a literary creation company focused on telling detailed and accurate stories related to American history and life lived within the 1900's. It is our most sincere goal to honestly present American history, to all ages, in it's most authentic truth so that the people and ingenuity can be celebrated, the lessons can be learned and the mistakes and be discussed and prevented in the future.
Meet Our Author
David Leick
David was born and raised in Yuba City, California and is a graduate of Yuba City High School class of 1986. He spent five years in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school and upon completion of Boot Camp, Infantry Training School and Reconnaissance Course, he received orders to the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, Okinawa, Japan. Upon return home, he attended Butte Community College and California State University, earning both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in physical education, which led to employment in education over the last twenty years. He stepped away from teaching in 2005 and spent that year working for DynCorp International conducting close-in personal protection on the US Ambassador’s security detail in Afghanistan. David was then directly hired by the U.S. Department of State in the training manager position conducting oversight on the Worldwide Protective Service program at Diplomatic Security Headquarters from 2007 – 2011. David, his wife Robin, and their daughter Meghan returned to Northern California in 2012 and after a brief return to teaching, he has focused on his writing full time and is celebrating his current deal with Osprey Publishing. USS Princeton: The Life and Loss of ‘Sweet P’ is his first book.
Our Literary Work
Description
An in-depth history of the US Navy's light aircraft carrier the USS Princeton and its operational exploits in the Pacific Theater of World War II.
This new history of the life and loss of USS Princeton tells the story of the new class of aircraft carrier that proved essential to the US Navy's victory over the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War.
USS Princeton (CVL-23) started life as the light cruiser Tallahassee before being converted while still under construction into a light carrier as part of the plan to ramp up the strength of US naval air power. The vessel joined the Pacific Fleet in August 1943 and was immediately put to work as the United States was assembling new ships and crews for the bitter struggle to come. Princeton played a key role in conducting multiple strikes against the Japanese bastion at Rabaul, and then joined Task Force 58/38 – the Fast Carrier Task Force – for the Central Pacific campaign, culminating in the invasion of the Philippines, where the ship was lost.
David R. Leick skillfully uses first-hand accounts to examine the engagements, aircraft, tactics, command decisions and life on board during the Pacific campaign against Japan from early 1943 until Princeton's tragic demise in October 1944. He focuses closely on the ship's crew and embarked Naval Aviators, describing in detail the toll that prolonged combat operations took on the frontline sailor.
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A Brief History of the USS Princeton
Princeton earned 9 Battle Stars during her 14 months of duty in the Pacific and participated in the daring raids on Rabaul in November 1943 along with key operations in the Central Pacific that included the Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana’s invasion and the subsequent ‘Marianas Turkey Shoot’ on 19 June 1944 in which VF-27 became the highest scoring squadron flying off a light carrier.
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Maintaining the initiative, the U.S. Pacific Fleet moved on to the Philippines and conducted raids in and around the Philippine Islands from September through to October when the Princeton was lost 100 miles east of Luzon operating on station as a part of Task Force 38 under Admiral Halsey.
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David's first published book on the subject, USS Princeton: The Life and Loss of 'Sweet P', is an exhilarating deep-dive into the history of the ship and is expected to release October 2024 from Osprey Publishing.
Meet Lt. Richard Stambook
Richard Stambook was born and raised in Lancaster, California, a small community roughly 70 miles northeast of Los Angeles and rather isolated during the early 1900’s. Upon graduation from high school Stambook attended community college at Palmdale where a local barnstormer won a contract to set up a Civilian Pilot Training (CPT) program. After acceptance to the program and logging forty flight hours at Palmdale, Stambook transferred to Bakerfield Junior College for his sophomore year and received training in a Waco biplane, accumulating eighty hours total flight time. After receiving an invitation from the U.S. Navy to attend flight training at Pensacola, Florida, Stambook first attended naval indoctrination at the Long Beach Naval Air Station for two weeks and upon completion, traveled by train to Pensacola to enroll in Class 7A-41 in July 1941.
Stambook graduated as an ensign and naval aviator in January 1942 with orders to Pearl Harbor where he and several other new ensigns joined scout seaplane pilots from the battleships California (BB-44), Utah (BB-31), and Arizona (BB-39), which had all been sunk on December 7. Forming an ad hoc inshore patrol squadron, they flew Vought OS2U Kingfisher observation planes from their wheels from Pearl Harbor where they conducted sector searches for Japanese submarines.
Bored from the routine and feeling trapped in his assignment, his commanding officer finally relented to his constant requests for transfer to fighter training. Stambook then found himself in the right place in the right time, as he was assigned to Lt. ‘Butch’ O’Hare’s VF-3 which was training with Lt. Cmdr. Jimmy Flatley’s VF-10 on Maui. Flying the F4F Wildcat, they ran through a syllabus of flight tactics, gunnery, and field-carrier landings.
After a brief stint onboard Enterprise (CV-6) in the South Pacific, Stambook was then assigned to Lou Bauer’s VF-6 on the Saratoga (CV-3) and operated in the Coral Sea with Enterprise for several quiet months. The monotony was broken when VF-6 flew into Guadalcanal a few times, only to find themselves diving for fighting holes as ‘washing machine Charlie’ flew over and dropped some bombs.
In the fall of 1943, Stambook received orders to report to VF-27 at Alameda Naval Air Station, which was initially flying F4F-4 Wildcats then gradually received a full complement of F6F-3 Hellcats. As fall gradually turned to winter, the air group was now starting to take shape and received their new commander, Lt. Ernest ‘Woodie’ Wood, Jr. who would command the air group and the fighter squadron as well. After training at auxiliary fields at Watsonville and Hollister, the two squadrons reformed at NAS Alameda in March 1944 and shipped out to Hawaii where they were posted to Kahului and Puunene airfields on Maui. In May 1944 the pilots of Air Group 27 boarded the USS Princeton (CVL-23) and conducted a two-day training exercise off Oahu with the carriers Yorktown (CV-10) and Langley (CVL-27).
Sailing for the Marianas as a part of Task Force 58, Fighting 27 would prove themselves quickly.
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After initial sweeps starting on 11 June 1944 and engaging enemy aircraft as a part of Task Group 58.3, Stambook, with one kill to his credit, would shoot down one D4Y ‘Judy’ dive bomber and three A6M Zeros on June 19, 1944, reaching ace status. The squadron, on that day, would down 30 enemy aircraft, becoming the highest scoring squadron flying off a light carrier engaged in the ‘Great Marianas Turkey Shoot’ (Battle of the Philippine Sea).
Stambook wasn’t done, adding to his score on 21 September, he upped his tally to eight after shooting down another Zero and two Imperial Army Ki-61 Tony interceptors in the vicinity of Manila. On 13 October 1944 Stambook would down a Ki-44 ‘Tojo’ over Formosa and 5 days later, he would raise his official score to ten when he hot down a Ki-45 ‘Nick’ twin-engine fighter over Luzon.
Following survivors leave at home after the loss of the Princeton, Lt. Stambook would report to Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in California where he would become an instructor with VBF-101. Richard Stambook left the Navy after the war and spent the next 30 years flying for Trans World Airlines (TWA). He would be awarded the Silver Star for gallantry in action at the Battle of the Philippine Sea and a Distinguished Flying Cross for operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Pacific Ocean Areas.
The Silver Star Medal is awarded for gallantry. The gallantry displayed must have taken place while in action against an enemy of the United States, while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force, or while serving with friendly foreign forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force.
The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. This medal is awarded to any persons who, after April 6, 1917, distinguish themselves by single acts of heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. Both heroism and extraordinary achievement are entirely distinctive, involving operations that are not routine.
Read more about Lt. Stambook in David's book on the USS Princeton, order here.