Author: Jerry W. Cook
Publisher: McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN: 0071630619
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 238
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Book Description
* The true adventure tales of a U.S. Air Force fighter who flew more than 400 combat hours while on duty in Vietnam * Provides a rare insider's glimpse into the world of the flying elite, detailing their education, training, emotions, and day to day experiences * Poignant, sometimes funny, brutally honest, always exciting, and an eye-opening look at one of the most tumultuous eras in U.S. history.
Author: Joseph F. Moser
Publisher: All Clear Publishing
ISBN: 9780615221113
Category : Fighter pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
On August 13, 1944, during his 44th combat mission, Joe Moser's P-38 Lightning was shot down. Captured by Nazi forces, he and his fellow group of Allied fliers were scheduled for execution as terrorfliegers and shipped in overcrowded cattle cars to Buchenwaldthe infamous work camp where tens of thousands died of cruelty, medical experiments, and starvation. Once a simple farm boy focused on sports and his dream to fly the fastest, meanest fighter plane, Moser now faced some of the worst of Hitler s ghastly system. From the harrowing and sometimes hilarious experiences of flight training to the dehumanization at the hands of Hitler s SS, this is a story of quiet, steady courage sustained by faith, family, and the commitment to freedom and liberty in even the most desperate of circumstances."
Author: Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 1524563420
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 576
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Book Description
Bud Anderson is a flyers flyer. The Californians enduring love of flying began in the 1920s with the planes that flew over his fathers farm. In January 1942, he entered the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. Later after he received his wings and flew P-39s, he was chosen as one of the original flight leaders of the new 357th Fighter Group. Equipped with the new and deadly P-51 Mustang, the group shot down five enemy aircraft for each one it lost while escorting bombers to targets deep inside Germany. But the price was high. Half of its pilots were killed or imprisoned, including some of Buds closest friends. In February 1944, Bud Anderson, entered the uncertain, exhilarating, and deadly world of aerial combat. He flew two tours of combat against the Luftwaffe in less than a year. In battles sometimes involving hundreds of airplanes, he ranked among the groups leading aces with 16 aerial victories. He flew 116 missions in his old crow without ever being hit by enemy aircraft or turning back for any reason, despite one life or death confrontation after another. His friend Chuck Yeager, who flew with Anderson in the 357th, says, In an airplane, the guy was a mongoosethe best fighter pilot I ever saw. Buds years as a test pilot were at least as risky. In one bizarre experiment, he repeatedly linked up in midair with a B-29 bomber, wingtip to wingtip. In other tests, he flew a jet fighter that was launched and retrieved from a giant B-36 bomber. As in combat, he lost many friends flying tests such as these. Bud commanded a squadron of F-86 jet fighters in postwar Korea, and a wing of F-105s on Okinawa during the mid-1960s. In 1970 at age 48, he flew combat strikes as a wing commander against communist supply lines. To Fly and Fight is about flying, plain and simple: the joys and dangers and the very special skills it demands. Touching, thoughtful, and dead honest, it is the story of a boy who grew up living his dream.
Author: Melvyn R. Paisley
Publisher: Branden Books
ISBN: 9780828319430
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316
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Book Description
Mel Paisley returned to the States from Europe on his 21st birthday having claimed nine air victories and received 21 decorations, including the Distinguished Service Cross. This is his story--from the joys and tears of a young cadet earning his silver wings to air combat over France, where survival from day-to-day was an uncertain consequence of both skill and luck. (Branden Publishing)
Author: Christina Olds
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 142992909X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
Fighter Pilot is the memoir of legendary ace American fighter pilot and general officer in the U.S. Air Force, Robin Olds. Robin Olds was a larger-than-life hero with a towering personality. A graduate of West Point and an inductee in the National College Football Hall of Fame for his All-American performance for Army, Olds was one of the toughest college football players at the time. In WWII, Olds quickly became a top fighter pilot and squadron commander by the age of 22—and an ace with 12 aerial victories. But it was in Vietnam where the man became a legend. He arrived in 1966 to find a dejected group of pilots and motivated them by placing himself on the flight schedule under officers junior to himself, then challenging them to train him properly because he would soon be leading them. Proving he wasn't a WWII retread, he led the wing with aggressiveness, scoring another four confirmed kills, becoming a rare triple ace. Olds, who retired a brigadier general and died in 2007, was a unique individual whose personal story presents one of the most eagerly anticipated military books in recent memory. Please note: This ebook edition does not include the photo insert from the print edition.
Author: Val Ross Johnson
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780595416769
Category : Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This is a true story about 100 day and night missions over North Vietnam from Ubon, Thailand, during March 6, to August 28, 1966. We were the main Air Force fighter squadron flying night missions over North Vietnam. I related my personal feelings about every mission with the exact dates and mission results from my daily notes. I explained how we operated from a small airfield and described the physical appearance of the base. I read the current magazines from the States and then compared those comments to our actual mission results. I also provided my personal background about growing up in Northern Idaho and attending the University of Idaho. I explained the training required to become a fighter pilot and selecting my first assignment to fly the F-102 fighter interceptor. Our fighter squadron was later ordered from Torrejon, AB, Spain, to become part of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing at George, AFB, California. We received new F-4C Phantom II fighters in 1965 and became one of the first fighter units sent to the Vietnam war. I detailed all the training that we received and how I later discovered that it did not prepare us for war.
Author: Ray E. Boomhower
Publisher: Indiana Historical Society
ISBN: 9780871952820
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
"On the morning of June 19, 1944, as U.S. troops were battling Japanese forces on Saipan in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, American pilots based on aircraft carriers offshore rushed to their planes to protect their fleet from an enemy attack from the air. Calling the mission a once-in-a-lifetime fighter pilot's dream when he spotted a large mass of enemy planes bearing down on the U.S. ships, one navy pilot from Indiana, Alex Vraciu, flying a Hellcat fighter from the USS Lexington, pounced on the Japanese and shot down six dive bombers in just eight minutes. Written by award-winning biographer Ray E. Boomhower, Fighter Pilot: The World War II Career of Alex Vraciu, the sixth volume in the Indiana Historical Society Press's youth biography series, examines the daring exploits of the Hoosier flier during his wartime career. A graduate of DePauw University, Vraciu learned to fly during his college years through a government program and joined the navy before America was thrust into the war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Possessed with keen eyesight, quick reflexes, excellent shooting instincts, and a knack for finding his opponent's weak spot, Vraciu became skilled in the deadly game of destroying the enemy in the skies over the Pacific Ocean. For a period of four months in 1944, Vraciu stood as the leading ace in the U.S. Navy. He shot down nineteen enemy airplanes in the air, destroyed an additional twenty-one on the ground, and sank a large Japanese merchant ship with a well-placed bomb hit. Vraciu's luck, however, finally ran out on December 14, 1944, during a strafing run against a Japanese airfield before the American invasion to retake the Philippines. Luckily he was almost immediately rushed to safety by a small group of U.S. Army in the Far East guerrillas, who had been battling the Japanese in the area for the past few years. The navy pilot spent the next five weeks with the guerrillas, receiving the honorary rank of brevet major while with them. Vraci finally marched into an American camp carrying with him a captured Japanese Luger pistol and sword."--Amazon.com
Author: Mary Lawlor
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1442222018
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 338
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Book Description
Fighter Pilot's Daughter: Growing Up in the Sixties and the Cold War details author and Professor Mary Lawlor’s unconventional upbringing in Cold War America. Memories of her early life—as the daughter of a Marine Corps and then Army father—reveal the personal costs of tensions that once gripped the entire world, and illustrate the ways in which bold foreign policy decisions shaped an entire generation of Americans, defining not just the ways they were raised, but who they would ultimately become. As a kid on the move she was constantly in search of something to hold on to, a longing that led her toward rebellion, to college in Paris, and to the kind of self-discovery only possible in the late 1960s. A personal narrative braided with scholarly, retrospective reflections as to what that narrative means, My Cold War zooms in on a little girl with a childhood full of instability, frustration and unanswered questions such that her struggles in growth, her struggles, her yearnings and eventual successes exemplify those of her entire generation. From California to Georgia to Germany, Lawlor’s family was stationed in parts of the world that few are able to experience at so young an age, but being a child of military parents has never been easy. She neatly outlines the unique challenges an upbringing without roots presents someone struggling to come to terms with a world at war, and a home in constant turnover and turmoil. This book is for anyone seeking a finer awareness of the tolls that war takes not just on a nation, but on that nation’s sons and daughters, in whose hearts and minds deeper battles continue to rage long after the soldiers have come home.
Author: John R Bruning
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316508640
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 555
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Book Description
The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot. In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command. What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now. Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced. The pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson -- riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight. But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades. Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart. "Brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots . . . Fascinating." -- Sara Vladic"Extraordinary . . . a must-read." -- US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots." -- James M. Scott"Vivid and gripping . . . Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air." -- Saul David
Author: Jerry W. Cook
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
Beginning back in 1942 when, at age 5, he was mesmerized by a shiny Lockheed P-38 doing loops over his backyard, Jerry Cook dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot. Against tough odds, he pursued his ambition with single-minded zeal, becoming one of the best and brightest candidates in the Air Force Aviation Cadet Program in the mid-1950s. Even after his inauspicious first night solo flight - when his equipment failed but he somehow managed to land safely - Cook never wavered from his goal. Eventually, he attained Nirvana (or so he thought) when he was assigned to duty in Vietnam. Finally, he would be able to use all of his training and skills. By the time his one-year hitch was up, he had flown more than 400 combat hours. During those days, he survived more near-misses than he cares to remember - somehow maintaining his wry sense of humor in spite of everything. With rare wit, candor, and insight, Cook shares his personal experiences as one of flying's most elite group, recounting the days leading up to his distinguished military career, as well as his tour of duty in Vietnam. A compelling slice of history as well as a revealing insider's account of the rarefied world of fighter pilots, this is also a coming-of-age story of desire, determination, and dedication played out against a background of political unrest and moral uncertainty.
