Flight Line: The Adventures of a Vietnam-Era Ac-130 Crew Chief PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Flight Line: The Adventures of a Vietnam-Era Ac-130 Crew Chief PDF full book. Access full book title Flight Line: The Adventures of a Vietnam-Era Ac-130 Crew Chief by Thomas R. Combs. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Thomas R. Combs
Publisher: Hellgate Press
ISBN: 9781555719104
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 238
Get Book Here
Book Description
The year is 1969. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. Upstate New York hosts an outdoor concert called Woodstock. The Vietnam war rages on. Tom Combs, a young man from Seattle, faces certain draft induction. He decides upon the United States Air Force as the best choice of service. Then it's Basic Training, technical school for jet mechanics, assistant crew chief on a C-130 at Dyess AFB, Texas, a stint in the Middle East and eventually, he's assigned to the most prestigious squadron of aircraft in S.E. Asia: The 16th Special Operations Squadron of AC-130s. Call sign: SPECTRE. FLIGHTLINE offers a unique "behind-the-scenes" look at how maintenance crews keep their airplanes flying-and fighting-all from the point of view of a seasoned Air Force Crew Chief.
Author: Thomas R. Combs
Publisher: Hellgate Press
ISBN: 9781555719104
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 238
Get Book Here
Book Description
The year is 1969. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. Upstate New York hosts an outdoor concert called Woodstock. The Vietnam war rages on. Tom Combs, a young man from Seattle, faces certain draft induction. He decides upon the United States Air Force as the best choice of service. Then it's Basic Training, technical school for jet mechanics, assistant crew chief on a C-130 at Dyess AFB, Texas, a stint in the Middle East and eventually, he's assigned to the most prestigious squadron of aircraft in S.E. Asia: The 16th Special Operations Squadron of AC-130s. Call sign: SPECTRE. FLIGHTLINE offers a unique "behind-the-scenes" look at how maintenance crews keep their airplanes flying-and fighting-all from the point of view of a seasoned Air Force Crew Chief.
Author: David Kirk Vaughan
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476652716
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 219
Get Book Here
Book Description
From February 1967 to April 1968, David Vaughan flew the Lockheed C-130 Hercules in Southeast Asia. Initially a co-pilot, he moved up to aircraft commander and then instructor pilot as he mastered the challenges of landing on very short, unimproved airstrips in difficult terrain and bad weather. He describes his progression from inexperienced novice to veteran flyer as he learned his trade under combat conditions. Vaughan's airlift missions took him to more than 50 fields in South Vietnam, from the Delta in the south to the DMZ in the north, carrying supplies, mail, food, ammunition, and soldiers alive, wounded, and dead. Among his most harrowing flights were resupply missions into the U.S. Marine base at Khe Sanh during the most intensive days of the 1968 Tet offensive. This expanded and revised edition of his memoir details several additional episodes and features more than twice as many photographs as appeared in the original edition.
Author: Thomas R Combs
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781954163140
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Get Book Here
Book Description
The year is 1969. Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. Upstate New York hosts an outdoor concert called Woodstock. The Vietnam war rages on. Tom Combs, a young man from Seattle, faces certain draft induction. He decides upon the United States Air Force as the best choice of service. Then it's Basic Training, technical school for jet mechanics, assistant crew chief on a C-130 at Dyess AFB, Texas, a stint in the Middle East and eventually, he's assigned to the most prestigious squadron of aircraft in S.E. Asia: The 16th Special Operations Squadron of AC-130s. Call sign: spectre. FLIGHT LINE offers a unique "behind-the-scenes" look at how maintenance crews keep their airplanes flying-and fighting-all from the point of view of a seasoned Air Force Crew Chief.
Author: Msgt. David M. Burns
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1475969732
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 158
Get Book Here
Book Description
This is the true story of Master Sergeant David M. Burns, an aerial gunner assigned to the deadliest squadron in air force history. Aboard the AC-130 Spectre gunship, he flew a total of 287 combat missions over Laos, South Vietnam, and Cambodia, in pursuit of the truck traffic coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. His squadron destroyed more than fifteen thousand trucks loaded with war munitions destined for South Vietnam and Cambodia. Despite heavy and constant anti-aircraft and missile fire, the loss of six aircraft and the lives of fifty-two men, the crew never wavered in its dedication to the mission. Master Sergeant Burns has a distinguished military career that began in 1951 at the age of fifteen. He served one tour of duty in Phan Rang, South Vietnam, in 1967, and four tours of duty in the 16th Special Operations Squadron in Southeast Asia as an aerial gunner, lead gunner, and instructor gunner. He served in both the United States Navy and Air Force, earning three Distinguished Flying Crosses for heroism, twenty-seven Air Medals, as well as a Bronze Star, Purple Heart, Presidential Unit Citation, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Vietnam Service Medal with nine battle stars, and other decorations from the Korean War. He was wounded twice and is credited with saving the lives of fourteen crewmembers. This is his story.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990437
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 507
Get Book Here
Book Description
Jerry Thigpen's study on the history of the Combat Talon is the first effort to tell the story of this wonderfully capable machine. This weapons system has performed virtually every imaginable tactical event in the spectrum of conflict and by any measure is the most versatile C-130 derivative ever produced. First modified and sent to Southeast Asia (SEA) in 1966 to replace theater unconventional warfare (UW) assets that were limited in both lift capability and speed the Talon I quickly adapted to theater UW tasking including infiltration and resupply and psychological warfare operations into North Vietnam. After spending four years in SEA and maturing into a highly respected UW weapons system the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) chose the Combat Talon to lead the night low-level raid on the North Vietnamese prison camp at Son Tay. Despite the outcome of the operation the Talon I cemented its reputation as the weapons system of choice for long-range clandestine operations. In the period following the Vietnam War United States Air Force (USAF) special operations gradually lost its political and financial support which was graphically demonstrated in the failed Desert One mission into Iran. Thanks to congressional supporters like Earl Hutto of Florida and Dan Daniel of Virginia funds for aircraft upgrades and military construction projects materialized to meet the ever-increasing threat to our nation. Under the leadership of such committed hard-driven officers as Brenci Uttaro Ferkes Meller and Thigpen the crew force became the most disciplined in our Air Force. It was capable of penetrating hostile airspace at night in a low-level mountainous environment covertly to execute any number of unconventional warfare missions.
Author: Bill Hendon
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1429922907
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1272
Get Book Here
Book Description
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER An Enormous Crime is nothing less than shocking. Based on thousands of pages of public and previously classified documents, it makes an utterly convincing case that when the American government withdrew its forces from Vietnam, it knowingly abandoned hundreds of POWs to their fate. The product of twenty-five years of research by former Congressman Bill Hendon and attorney Elizabeth A. Stewart, this book brilliantly reveals the reasons why these American soldiers and airmen were held back by the North Vietnamese at Operation Homecoming in 1973, what these brave men have endured, and how administration after administration of their own government has turned its back on them. This authoritative exposé is based on open-source documents and reports, and thousands of declassified intelligence reports and satellite imagery, as well as author interviews and personal experience. An Enormous Crime is a singular work, telling a story unlike any other in our history: ugly, harrowing, and true.
Author: Michael E. Haas
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 9780788149832
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388
Get Book Here
Book Description
Presenting a fascinating insider's view of U.S.A.F. special operations, this volume brings to life the critical contributions these forces have made to the exercise of air & space power. Focusing in particular on the period between the Korean War & the Indochina wars of 1950-1979, the accounts of numerous missions are profusely illustrated with photos & maps. Includes a discussion of AF operations in Europe during WWII, as well as profiles of Air Commandos who performed above & beyond the call of duty. Reflects on the need for financial & political support for restoration of the forces. Bibliography. Extensive photos & maps. Charts & tables.
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990488
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Get Book Here
Book Description
In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C.R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions.
Author: Phil M. Haun
Publisher: www.Militarybookshop.CompanyUK
ISBN: 9781780392769
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 368
Get Book Here
Book Description
First published in 2003. The NATO-led Operation Allied Force was fought in 1999 to stop Serb atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. This war, as noted by the distinguished military historian John Keegan, "marked a real turning point . . . and proved that a war can be won by airpower alone." Colonels Haave and Haun have organized firsthand accounts of some of the people who provided that airpower-the members of the 40th Expeditionary Operations Group. Their descriptions-a new wingman's first combat sortie, a support officer's view of a fighter squadron relocation during combat, and a Sandy's leadership in finding and rescuing a downed F-117 pilot-provide the reader with a legitimate insight into an air war at the tactical level and the airpower that helped convince the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, to capitulate.
Author: James E. Tomayko
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Get Book Here
Book Description
