Honor Roll: Warbirds Unlimited Salutes William "Bill" Wolf
William Wolf: WWII Historian-Author
Bill Wolf of Fountain Hills Arizona has long been a friend of Warbirds Unlimited. We are honored to count him among our supporters deserving recognition in our “Honor Roll”. He is a remarkable man that has contributed so much to preserving WWII history for future generations. Thank you, Mr. Wolf!
Bill Wolf of Fountain Hills Arizona has long been a friend of Warbirds Unlimited. We are honored to count him among our supporters deserving recognition in our “Honor Roll”. He is a remarkable man that has contributed so much to preserving WWII history for future generations. Thank you, Mr. Wolf!
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William Wolf Biography
billwolf@aol.com
Dr. Wolf was a dentist for 22 years in Fort Lauderdale, FL before retiring at the age of 45 to pursue his aviation interests and outdoor pastimes of hiking, mountain climbing, road and mountain biking, and sea kayaking. Wolf’s lifelong hobby has been WW-2 aerial combat and over the past 35 years he has collected over 25,000+ books and magazines; 10,000+ photographs; along with 2,000 reels of rare microfilm from original WW-II sources (equivalent to 2.5 million pages, indexed, and placed on microfiche); over 800 videos and DVDs; 1,000+ CDs of scanned manuals and books that are housed in his enclosed, air conditioned garage (while his wife's car sits in the hot Arizona sun!). He probably has nearly every book written on WW-II aviation and complete collections of every aviation magazine published since 1939. Also included in his collection are many hundreds of aviation unit and pilot’s histories, crew manuals, aircraft technical, structural and maintenance manuals. His microfilm collection includes vintage intelligence reports, USAF, USN and USMC group and squadron histories, complete Japanese Monograph series, US Strategic Bombing Surveys as well as USAF Historical Studies and original combat and Intelligence Reports. Over the years, he has been fortunate to meet many fighter aces, other pilots and fellow aviation buffs who have shared stories, material and photographs with him (he has over 5,000 photos of fighter aces alone). He has made many multi-day expeditions to various military libraries, museums and photo depositories with his copy machine and camera accumulating literally reams and reams of information and 1,000s of photographs. He also had a photo darkroom where he developed 1,000s of rare photos from microfilm negatives and from other sources. He has 500+ signed and numbered lithographs and photos of significant aviators mostly of WW-II but also other combat eras. He has willed his collection to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
His collection is probably the largest private World War Two collection in the world. Walking through the garage cum library and Wolf’s den is like visiting a World War Two museum. On display are hundreds of model aircraft, hundreds of rare signed and numbered lithographs, thousands of aces autographs of all nations (1,000+ of the almost 1,400 US aces signatures). He also had the signatures of the top aces of all combatants of WW-II and models of their aircraft. His memorabilia collection includes a piece of the “Enola Gay” atomic bomber, a piece of a Zero fighter that was shot down during the Pearl Harbor attack and his prize possession, a piece of the Japanese bomber carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the commander of the Japanese military and architect of the Pearl Harbor attack. The bomber was shot down in April 1943, and Yamamoto’s death changed the course of the war for Japan. His collection also includes 100s of model aircraft, tanks, and vehicles.
William Wolf Books
Dr. William Wolf, Fountain Hills, AZ aviation historian and collector, is the author of 20 WWII aviation books. His US Bomber Series includes a definitive work (465 pages and 500+ photos, many color, and drawings) on The North American B-25 Mitchell: The
Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to Flying Arsenal published in early 2008; The Consolidated B-32, The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to Scrapyard (260 pages/400+ photos); The Douglas B-18 Bolo: The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to U-Boat Hunter (225 pages/250 photos); and The Boeing B-29: The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to VJ-Day (360 pages/500+photos). A three-volume set: US Aerial Armament in World War II: Vol. 1 Guns, Ammunition, and Turrets; Volume 2: Bombs, Bombsights, and Bombing, and Volume 3: Air-Dropped, Air-Launched, and Secret Weapons. Vol. 1 (450 pages and 600+ photos and drawings) was released starting in mid-summer 2009, Vol. 2 (285 pages and 400+ photos and drawings) was released in March 2010, and Vol. 3 (385 pages and 400+ photos) released late 2010. He has also published The 13th Fighter Command in World War II: Air Combat over Guadalcanal and the Solomons (316 pages, over 400 photos); USAAF Jabos in the MTO and ETO: American Fighter-Bombers of World War Two (392 pages and 560 photos) that is the companion volume to his previous title; Victory Roll: The American Fighter Pilot and Aircraft in World War Two (456 pages, 670 photos). His first book is Death Rattlers: Marine Squadron VMF-323 over Okinawa (216 pages, 420 photos). These titles were published by Schiffer Publishers (www.schifferooks.com) is the publisher of Wolf’s books, and is America’s largest publisher of World War II and other military titles. He has also authored The Henschel HS 293 and Ruhrstahl SD-1400X, “Fritz X” (50 pages, 50 photos, Merriam Press) and is also the author of dozens of articles for popular and scholarly aviation magazines. He has completed a three-volume history of the 5th Fighter Command in WW-2: (450+ pages/600+ photos each volume). The first volume covers the 5FC from Pearl Harbor to the Reduction of Rabaul. The second volume continues through New Guinea and the Philippines to the end of the war. A companion third volume covers the 5FC vs. Japan: Pilots, Aircraft, Units, and Tactics and was released in Fall 2014. His comprehensive book, the Martin B-26 Marauder: From Drawing Board to Widow Maker Vindicated (640 pages/900 photos and drawings) is the fifth volume in his “Ultimate Look” bomber series was also released in Fall 2014. An extensive volume on the Douglas A-20 Havoc: From Drawing Board to Peerless Allied Light Bomber (520 pages/700+ photos and drawings) was released in Summer 2015. The Douglas XB-19 America’s Want-to-Be Intercontinental Bomber was released in February 2017 and will be followed by Conquerors of the Skies: Seeking Distance, Endurance and the Intercontinental Bomber (due Fall 2017) and Liberator Haulers: B-24 Transport and Special Duties Aircraft in WWII (due Spring 2018). Wolf is currently working on a two-volume set on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Volume I due Spring 2018) and projected books on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (two volumes) and America’s First Guided Missiles (WWII).
http://archive.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/20100329bill-wolf-donates-war-collection.html
http://www.fhtimes.com/features/featured_stories/two-more-wwii-books-from-prolific-author/article_0b14101a-9b67-11e4-96ee-af7b1a128cde.html
billwolf@aol.com
Dr. Wolf was a dentist for 22 years in Fort Lauderdale, FL before retiring at the age of 45 to pursue his aviation interests and outdoor pastimes of hiking, mountain climbing, road and mountain biking, and sea kayaking. Wolf’s lifelong hobby has been WW-2 aerial combat and over the past 35 years he has collected over 25,000+ books and magazines; 10,000+ photographs; along with 2,000 reels of rare microfilm from original WW-II sources (equivalent to 2.5 million pages, indexed, and placed on microfiche); over 800 videos and DVDs; 1,000+ CDs of scanned manuals and books that are housed in his enclosed, air conditioned garage (while his wife's car sits in the hot Arizona sun!). He probably has nearly every book written on WW-II aviation and complete collections of every aviation magazine published since 1939. Also included in his collection are many hundreds of aviation unit and pilot’s histories, crew manuals, aircraft technical, structural and maintenance manuals. His microfilm collection includes vintage intelligence reports, USAF, USN and USMC group and squadron histories, complete Japanese Monograph series, US Strategic Bombing Surveys as well as USAF Historical Studies and original combat and Intelligence Reports. Over the years, he has been fortunate to meet many fighter aces, other pilots and fellow aviation buffs who have shared stories, material and photographs with him (he has over 5,000 photos of fighter aces alone). He has made many multi-day expeditions to various military libraries, museums and photo depositories with his copy machine and camera accumulating literally reams and reams of information and 1,000s of photographs. He also had a photo darkroom where he developed 1,000s of rare photos from microfilm negatives and from other sources. He has 500+ signed and numbered lithographs and photos of significant aviators mostly of WW-II but also other combat eras. He has willed his collection to the National WWII Museum in New Orleans.
His collection is probably the largest private World War Two collection in the world. Walking through the garage cum library and Wolf’s den is like visiting a World War Two museum. On display are hundreds of model aircraft, hundreds of rare signed and numbered lithographs, thousands of aces autographs of all nations (1,000+ of the almost 1,400 US aces signatures). He also had the signatures of the top aces of all combatants of WW-II and models of their aircraft. His memorabilia collection includes a piece of the “Enola Gay” atomic bomber, a piece of a Zero fighter that was shot down during the Pearl Harbor attack and his prize possession, a piece of the Japanese bomber carrying Admiral Yamamoto, the commander of the Japanese military and architect of the Pearl Harbor attack. The bomber was shot down in April 1943, and Yamamoto’s death changed the course of the war for Japan. His collection also includes 100s of model aircraft, tanks, and vehicles.
William Wolf Books
Dr. William Wolf, Fountain Hills, AZ aviation historian and collector, is the author of 20 WWII aviation books. His US Bomber Series includes a definitive work (465 pages and 500+ photos, many color, and drawings) on The North American B-25 Mitchell: The
Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to Flying Arsenal published in early 2008; The Consolidated B-32, The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to Scrapyard (260 pages/400+ photos); The Douglas B-18 Bolo: The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to U-Boat Hunter (225 pages/250 photos); and The Boeing B-29: The Ultimate Look from Drawing Board to VJ-Day (360 pages/500+photos). A three-volume set: US Aerial Armament in World War II: Vol. 1 Guns, Ammunition, and Turrets; Volume 2: Bombs, Bombsights, and Bombing, and Volume 3: Air-Dropped, Air-Launched, and Secret Weapons. Vol. 1 (450 pages and 600+ photos and drawings) was released starting in mid-summer 2009, Vol. 2 (285 pages and 400+ photos and drawings) was released in March 2010, and Vol. 3 (385 pages and 400+ photos) released late 2010. He has also published The 13th Fighter Command in World War II: Air Combat over Guadalcanal and the Solomons (316 pages, over 400 photos); USAAF Jabos in the MTO and ETO: American Fighter-Bombers of World War Two (392 pages and 560 photos) that is the companion volume to his previous title; Victory Roll: The American Fighter Pilot and Aircraft in World War Two (456 pages, 670 photos). His first book is Death Rattlers: Marine Squadron VMF-323 over Okinawa (216 pages, 420 photos). These titles were published by Schiffer Publishers (www.schifferooks.com) is the publisher of Wolf’s books, and is America’s largest publisher of World War II and other military titles. He has also authored The Henschel HS 293 and Ruhrstahl SD-1400X, “Fritz X” (50 pages, 50 photos, Merriam Press) and is also the author of dozens of articles for popular and scholarly aviation magazines. He has completed a three-volume history of the 5th Fighter Command in WW-2: (450+ pages/600+ photos each volume). The first volume covers the 5FC from Pearl Harbor to the Reduction of Rabaul. The second volume continues through New Guinea and the Philippines to the end of the war. A companion third volume covers the 5FC vs. Japan: Pilots, Aircraft, Units, and Tactics and was released in Fall 2014. His comprehensive book, the Martin B-26 Marauder: From Drawing Board to Widow Maker Vindicated (640 pages/900 photos and drawings) is the fifth volume in his “Ultimate Look” bomber series was also released in Fall 2014. An extensive volume on the Douglas A-20 Havoc: From Drawing Board to Peerless Allied Light Bomber (520 pages/700+ photos and drawings) was released in Summer 2015. The Douglas XB-19 America’s Want-to-Be Intercontinental Bomber was released in February 2017 and will be followed by Conquerors of the Skies: Seeking Distance, Endurance and the Intercontinental Bomber (due Fall 2017) and Liberator Haulers: B-24 Transport and Special Duties Aircraft in WWII (due Spring 2018). Wolf is currently working on a two-volume set on the Consolidated B-24 Liberator (Volume I due Spring 2018) and projected books on Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress (two volumes) and America’s First Guided Missiles (WWII).
http://archive.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/20100329bill-wolf-donates-war-collection.html
http://www.fhtimes.com/features/featured_stories/two-more-wwii-books-from-prolific-author/article_0b14101a-9b67-11e4-96ee-af7b1a128cde.html
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