Download or read book A Pilot s Insights On The Helicopter War In Vietnam written by King Westre and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-31 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. military first employed combat helicopters in WWII, to extract downed flight crews. The Korean War saw an increased role for helicopters, most notably in medical evacuations. But "choppers" truly came of age as tactical fighting machines during the Vietnam War - in fact, Vietnam is often referred to as "the helicopter war." Army Pilots had to be between the ages of 18 and 28, had to pass advanced physics, and had to have uncorrected 20/20 vision. This is book three of a series that follows a young helicopter pilot during his tour of duty in Vietnam.
Download or read book Answering the Call written by Bob Grandin and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1966, Bob Grandin was a Royal Australian Airforce helicopter pilot stationed in Vietnam. This book is written from the logbook he kept while working in Nui Dat and is a fascinating look at life during war - the dangers, the challenges and the mundaneness. On 18 August he was co-pilot on a 9 Squadron Iroquois 'Huey' helicopter that flew over the enemy to resupply desperate solders engaged in battle at the Long Tan rubber plantation. Enduring extremely poor weather conditions and enemy fire the critical role played by Bob and 9 Squadron in the Battle of Long Tan contributed to the success of this battle. The narrative of his war experiences are interwoven with stories of his life after Vietnam, revealing the difficulties he faced back home, the impact of the war on his psyche and relationships, and his struggles with PTSD. A collection of Australian newspaper articles saved by Bob's father feature throughout, giving further insight into how important helicopters were in Vietnam, and also how the press reported the war to the Australian public. Answering the Call provides the unique perspective of a wartime helicopter pilot and is an important addition to Vietnam War history.
Download or read book Answering the Call written by Bob Grandin and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2019-07-05 with total page 195 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1966, Bob Grandin was a Royal Australian Airforce helicopter pilot stationed in Vietnam. This book is written from the logbook he kept while working in Nui Dat and is a fascinating look at life during war – the dangers, the challenges and the mundaneness. On 18 August he was co-pilot on a 9 Squadron Iroquois ‘Huey’ helicopter that flew over the enemy to resupply desperate solders engaged in battle at the Long Tan rubber plantation. Enduring extremely poor weather conditions and enemy fire the critical role played by Bob and 9 Squadron in the Battle of Long Tan contributed to the success of this battle. The narrative of his war experiences are interwoven with stories of his life after Vietnam, revealing the difficulties he faced back home, the impact of the war on his psyche and relationships, and his struggles with PTSD. A collection of Australian newspaper articles saved by Bob’s father feature throughout, giving further insight into how important helicopters were in Vietnam, and also how the press reported the war to the Australian public. Answering the Call provides the unique perspective of a wartime helicopter pilot and is an important addition to Vietnam War history.
Download or read book Rattler One Seven written by Chuck Gross and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2006-06-13 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. At the age of twenty, Chuck Gross spent his 1970-71 tour with the 71st Assault Helicopter Company flying UH-1 Huey helicopters. He inserted special operations teams into Laos and participated in Lam Son 719, a misbegotten attempt to assault and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail, during which his helicopter was shot down and he was stranded in the field.
Download or read book Black Cat 2 1 written by Bob Ford and published by BrownBooks.ORM. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This moving memoir about the gritty life of a military helicopter pilot fills a gap in the genre of Vietnam literature.”—Foreword Reviews In the Vietnam War, 2,197 helicopter pilots and 2,717 crew members were killed. Black Cat 2-1 is the story of one pilot who made it home and the valiant men he served with who risked their lives for the troops on the ground. Bob Ford invites readers into the Huey helicopters he flew on more than 1,000 missions when he and his men dared to protect and rescue. For those whose voices were silenced in that faraway place or who have never told their stories, he creates a tribute that reads like a thriller, captures the humor of men at war, and resounds with respect for those who served with honor. An Oklahoma Book Award Finalist “Bob Ford’s account of his year in the command seat of his ship of salvation is a priceless contribution to the literary canon of that war.”—David A. Maurer, Special Forces veteran, author of The Dying Place “[Ford] brings to life his story so the reader can experience what it may have been like—and how the troops felt at the time. With moments that feel like they were written for a movie, Black Cat 2-1 will take you in the air over Vietnam and through some of the hardest missions you could expect.”—Week99er “This memoir is hard to beat.”—Air & Space/Smithsonian “Capably written.”—Publishers Weekly “Refreshing . . . evocative descriptions of combat flying.”—The VVA Veteran
Download or read book Once We Flew written by Joseph Michael Sepesy and published by . This book was released on 2021-11-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1958, a helicopter flew across a March sky, bringing wonderment to an eight-year-old boy. Eleven years later, that wonderment became reality as the young man enlisted and completed the US Army's helicopter flight training. Fifty years later, his story comes to life in Once We Flew. Sepesy straps the reader into his Huey helicopter, and shares vivid accounts of his journey from know-nothing new guy to Aircraft Commander and Flight Leader. With insight extracted from 2,200 combat flight hours, Sepesy introduces his brave band of brothers who served at his side, those who taught him how to fly and survive, as well as those who were indifferent or foolhardy. Then, Sepesy leads the reader through his monumental struggles as a civilian, embarking down a new path to battle the scars of war, including PTSD. Meet those who earned the respect of fellow soldiers-warrant officers with big mustaches, big watches and bad attitudes. They were aviators, nineteen years old who were going to life forever-youths in command of quarter-million-dollar aircraft, equipped with machine guns shooting real bullets, flying at 120 knots, nap of the earth. And, enjoy the unique, inherent humor of military life and lighter moments of youthful pilots goofing off, their shenanigans and devil-may-care attitudes. Returning to civilian life, and no longer indestructible, Sepesy faced new situations and responsibilities. But, the wounds and scars of war, the physical injuries and PTSD, along with a continued military mindset, presented new challenges and complicated every-day routines. Muddling through the more mundane obstacles of college and home, and family and career, became another struggle to overcome. During the next five decades, numerous operations plagued the author, and the insidious ways of PTSD went undetected-a new journey of survival and accomplishment, would begin.
Download or read book Price of Exit written by Tom Marshall and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2011-08-10 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The risk of a fatal catastrophe was constant. The NVA was the enemy, but the ultimate opponent was, quite simply, death. . . ." For assault helicopter crews flying in and around the NVA-infested DMZ, the U.S. pullout from Vietnam in 1970-71 was a desperate time of selfless courage. Now former army warrant officer Tom Marshall of the Phoenix, C Company, 158th Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne, captures the deadly mountain terrain, the long hours flown under enormous stress, the grim determination of hardened pilots combat-assaulting through walls of antiaircraft fire, the pickups amid exploding mortar shells and hails of AK fire, the nerve-racking string extractions of SOG teams from North Vietnam. . . . And, through it all, the rising tension as helicopter pilots and crews are lost at an accelerating pace. It is no coincidence that the Phoenix was one of the most highly decorated assault helicopter units in I Corps. For as the American departure accelerated and the enemy added new, more powerful antiaircraft weapons, the helicopter pilots, crew chiefs, and gunners paid the heavy price of withdrawal in blood. For more than 30 Percent of Tom Marshall's 130 helicopter-school classmates, the price of exit was their lives. . . .
Download or read book Chickenhawk written by Robert Mason and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-03-29 with total page 423 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true, bestselling story from the battlefield that faithfully portrays the horror, the madness, and the trauma of the Vietnam War More than half a million copies of Chickenhawk have been sold since it was first published in 1983. Now with a new afterword by the author and photographs taken by him during the conflict, this straight-from-the-shoulder account tells the electrifying truth about the helicopter war in Vietnam. This is Robert Mason’s astounding personal story of men at war. A veteran of more than one thousand combat missions, Mason gives staggering descriptions that cut to the heart of the combat experience: the fear and belligerence, the quiet insights and raging madness, the lasting friendships and sudden death—the extreme emotions of a "chickenhawk" in constant danger. "Very simply the best book so far about Vietnam." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Download or read book The Other Vietnam War written by Marc Cullison and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-11 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Each of us who served in Vietnam was the guy next door, the average Joe, not a hero. The boy who might date your daughter or sister. The young man who might mow your yard. In Vietnam, we weren't out to be heroes. We just did our jobs.For a helicopter pilot, each day was like all the others. You flew the mission and never stopped to think that it might be your last. You didn't think about the bullet holes in the helicopter, the cracks in the tail boom, or about any of it until night, lying in bed when you couldn't think of anything else.The Other Vietnam War is the story of the introduction to a new country, a backward culture, the perils of a combat zone, and the effects on a young lieutenant fresh out of flight school. It does not labor the reader with pages of white-knuckle adventures, as so many other fine books about the Vietnam War do. It instead focuses on the internal battle each soldier fought with himself to make sense of where he was, why he was there, and if he was good enough.The administrative duties of Commissioned officers, while tame compared to the exploits of valiant pilots who wrote about them, caused a deep introspection into life and its value in an enigmatic place like Vietnam. Aside from the fear, excitement, deliverance, and denial that each pilot faced, the inner battle he fought with himself took its toll. Some of us thought we'd find glory. But many of us discovered there is no glory in war.
Download or read book US Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam written by Gordon L. Rottman and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The helicopter changed war forever. This book examines the range of duties helicopter pilots carried out in Vietnam, from air-lift, med-evac and fire-support to landing in high volume crossfires in 'Hot LZs'. Protected by little more than an armoured seat, operating in terrible conditions and flying long hours these brave men led hard, dangerous lives, and casualties were high. Following these pilots from initial deployment through to the deadly thrill of combat in a war zone, Vietnam veteran Gordon L Rottman's book is a crucial examination of the pilots who fought so valiantly for their country. Often unmoved by the politics of the war, conflicts at home and other social issues, the Vietnam helicopter pilots just wanted to fly. As the saying went 'who needs drugs, I'm already high'.
Download or read book Always Ready For The Next Mission written by Iesha Gathers and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-31 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The U.S. military first employed combat helicopters in WWII, to extract downed flight crews. The Korean War saw an increased role for helicopters, most notably in medical evacuations. But "choppers" truly came of age as tactical fighting machines during the Vietnam War - in fact, Vietnam is often referred to as "the helicopter war." Army Pilots had to be between the ages of 18 and 28, had to pass advanced physics, and had to have uncorrected 20/20 vision. This is book three of a series that follows a young helicopter pilot during his tour of duty in Vietnam.
Download or read book To the Limit written by Tom A. Johnson and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 611 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Helicopter pilots in Vietnam kidded one another about being nothing but glorified bus drivers. But these "rotor heads" saved thousands of American lives while performing what the Army classified as the most dangerous job it had to offer. One in eighteen did not return home. Tom A. Johnson flew the UH-1 "Iroquois" -- better known as the "Huey" -- in the 229th Assault Helicopter Battalion of the First Air Cavalry Division. From June 1967 through June 1968, he accumulated an astonishing 1,600 flying hours (1,150 combat and 450 noncombat). His battalion was one of the most highly decorated units in the Vietnam War and, as part of the famous First Air Cavalry Division, helped redefine modern warfare. With tremendous flying skill, Johnson survived rescue missions and key battles that included those for Hue and Khe Sanh and operations in the A Shau and Song Re valleys, while many of his comrades did not. His heartfelt and riveting memoir will strike a chord with any soldier who ever flew in the ubiquitous Huey and any reader with an interest in how the Vietnam War was really fought.
Download or read book Victory Stolen written by David Henard and published by Litfire Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2018-01-29 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Earl Henard received his commission as a second lieutenant signal officer in the US Army upon his graduation from the University of Missouri of Rolla with a BS in electrical engineering in August 1965. His service as a helicopter pilot with the 25th Aviation Battalion, 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam began in July 1967 and ended in June 1968. After a nine-month assignment near Warrington, England, as the aviation detachment commander and battalion signal officer, when he married Gail, he began civilian life as a graduate assistant and student at the University of Illinois. His work there led him into computer programming and systems development, leading to an assignment as the assistant director for systems development at the University of Illinois, Urbana. He received a Master's Degree in Industrial Engineering in June, 1971. He was hired as the computer services director at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Illinois, beginning in 1980. He retired from EIU as the associate vice president for information technology services in 2000 to join his wife Gail as a part-time missionary and as a stock trader. The two have served in various humanitarian jobs in Scotland; Juarez, Mexico; and Central Asia. This is his story about the Tet Offensive, where the 25th Infantry Division was heavily involved in the defense of Saigon. He includes some Vietnam history leading to the Tet Offensive and some researched insights on the press coverage that heavily influenced the ultimate outcome.
Download or read book Low Level Hell written by Hugh L. Mills, Jr. and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2009-01-16 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The aeroscouts of the 1st Infantry Division had three words emblazoned on their unit patch: Low Level Hell. It was then and continues today as the perfect concise definition of what these intrepid aviators experienced as they ranged the skies of Vietnam from the Cambodian border to the Iron Triangle. The Outcasts, as they were known, flew low and slow, aerial eyes of the division in search of the enemy. Too often for longevity’s sake they found the Viet Cong and the fight was on. These young pilots (19-22 years old) “invented” the book as they went along. Praise for Low Level Hell “An absolutely splendid and engrossing book. The most compelling part is the accounts of his many air-to-ground engagements. There were moments when I literally held my breath.”—Dr. Charles H. Cureton, Chief Historian, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine (TRADOC) Command “Low Level Hell is the best ‘bird’s eye view’ of the helicopter war in Vietnam in print today. No volume better describes the feelings from the cockpit. Mills has captured the realities of a select group of aviators who shot craps with death on every mission.”—R.S. Maxham, Director, U.S. Army Aviation Museum
Download or read book Blue Ghost written by Larry Pueschel and published by . This book was released on 2023-06-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tommie Pueschel dreamed of flying ever since he was a little kid. It's now 1968, and U.S. Army Warrant Officer Thomas R. Pueschel is 22 years old and his dream of flying is being realized. Only thing is, he is in Vietnam and the helicopter he is flying is loaded with guns and rockets and while he may be flying, there's people on the ground who are shooting back at him. His dream has now turned into a full-blown nightmare. The events around him are encapsulating him, forcing him to do things he would never do, never even think of doing, and he's got no choice. In a letter home to his parents, he voices his concern:This is the story of Tom's 423 days in Vietnam from his first days in that God-forsaken country in October 1967 through his "freedom bird" home on the 5th of December 1968. Vietnam was ugly and brutal and 1968 was the bloodiest and most deadly year of the war. Troop levels were at their highest (536,100 American troops) and the fighting was at its worst. As one of the original "Blue Ghosts", Tom flew over 900 missions in his 423 days and experienced "enough blood and gore for all."
Download or read book On Warriors Wings written by David Napoliello and published by Global Collective Publishers. This book was released on 2023-08-08 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The book is a wonderment of research with its 37 pages of notes and 29 pages of bibliography. Napoliello supports his secondary sources with interviews with Army aviators who flew in Vietnam and with current-day members of Native American tribes." — The VVA Veteran On Warriors’ Wings traces the evolution of the Army policy to give names to major end items of equipment and specifically Native American tribal, warrior chiefs, and item to helicopters. Twelve Army helicopters saw combat in Vietnam, with eleven bearing Native American names. For each, David Napoliello’s work includes an examination of what capabilities were needed, its performance requirements, and the production of the fleet. Napoliello continues with a discussion on how the aircraft was used during its entire period of service in-country as opposed to a twelve-month snapshot of the experiences of a single aviator or a specific aviation unit. The capstone of each chapter is the story of the Native American tribe or warrior chief and how that history commends it for the naming of that particular helicopter. David also devotes a chapter to the experiences and memories of Native American veterans who served as pilots or crew members of those eleven aircraft. These are insightful, first-person accounts of their tours of duty in Vietnam and duties in aviation units while stationed there. Over two hundred Native Americans perished in Vietnam, nineteen of whom died while participating in aerial operations. The details of that final mission and loss are included in here, along with a listing of the other fallen warriors. On Warriors’ Wings concludes with a summary of the new Native American named helicopters that came after Vietnam and the progress the US military has made with regards to national recognition of Indigenous veterans. On Warriors’ Wings includes extensive illustrations and archival images of Native American veterans.
Download or read book Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association written by Bill Greenhalgh and published by Turner. This book was released on 2007 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
