Download or read book Fighter Pilot written by Christina Olds and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2010-04-13 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Fighter Pilot s Heaven written by Donald S. Lopez, Sr. and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2001-03-17 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighter Pilot's Heaven presents the dramatic inside story of the American military's transition into the jet age, as told by a flyer whose life depended on its success. With colorful anecdotes about fellow pilots as well as precise technical information, Donald S. Lopez describes how it was to be “behind the stick” as a test pilot from 1945 to 1950, when the U.S. military was shifting from war to peacetime operations and from propeller to jet aircraft. An ace pilot who had served with Gen. Claire Chennault's Flying Tiger Fighter Group, Lopez was assigned at the close of World War II to the elite Proof Test Group of the Air Proving Ground Command. Located at Eglin Field (later Eglin Air Force Base) in Florida, the group determined the operational suitability of Air Force weapons systems and aircraft and tested the first operational jet, the P-80 Shooting Star. Jet fighters required new techniques, tactics, and weaponry. Lopez recounts historic test flights in the P-59, P-80, and P-84, among other planes, describing complex combat maneuvers, hair-raising landings in unusual positions, and disastrous crashes and near crashes. This memoir is peppered with lively accounts of many pilots and their colleagues, revealing how airmen coped with both exhilarating successes and sometimes tragic failures.
Download or read book Fighter Pilot written by Mac 'Serge' Tucker and published by Allen & Unwin. This book was released on 2014 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sit down and strap yourself in for an exhilarating ride to the sound barrier and beyond with a real life Topgun!
Download or read book The Last Fighter Pilot written by Don Brown and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-07-31 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *A NATIONAL BESTSELLER!* The New York Post calls The Last Fighter Pilot a "must-read" book. From April to August of 1945, Captain Jerry Yellin and a small group of fellow fighter pilots flew dangerous bombing and strafe missions out of Iwo Jima over Japan. Even days after America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, the pilots continued to fly. Though Japan had suffered unimaginable devastation, the emperor still refused to surrender. Bestselling author Don Brown (Treason) sits down with Yelllin, now ninety-three years old, to tell the incredible true story of the final combat mission of World War II. Nine days after Hiroshima, on the morning of August 14th, Yellin and his wingman 1st Lieutenant Phillip Schlamberg took off from Iwo Jima to bomb Tokyo. By the time Yellin returned to Iwo Jima, the war was officially over—but his young friend Schlamberg would never get to hear the news. The Last Fighter Pilot is a harrowing first-person account of war from one of America's last living World War II veterans.
Download or read book Fighter Pilots written by David West and published by The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. This book was released on 2008-01-15 with total page 49 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sketches featuring three famous fighter pilots presented in graphic novel format accompany information about the history of fighter planes and requirements for the job of fighter pilot.
Download or read book Once A Fighter Pilot written by Jerry W. Cook and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2002-05-17 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: * 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.
Download or read book Life as an Air Force Fighter Pilot written by Robert C. Kennedy and published by Children's Press(CT). This book was released on 2000 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The On Duty series celebrates the exciting and rewarding life in the armed forces. Each book offers readers a panoramic view of the work, responsibilities, and opportunities to be expected by a member of the army, navy, marine, and air force branches of the military.
Download or read book The Spirit of Attack written by Bruce Gordon and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SCRAMBLE! In a couple of minutes my wingman and I would be airborne on another adventure. Sometimes we intercepted an airliner, sometimes a misplaced B-52 bomber, and sometimes Russian bombers probing our defenses; Russian warships; MIG fighters; or troops in contact in Vietnam, calling for napalm only yards from their positions. Twice it was UFOs - Unidentified Flying Objects! This book is a series of short stories, supported by more than 90 photographs. The first part has my own stories; later stories were contributed by my fellow pilots. The last story is from WW II of our P-38 fighters attacking the Romanian oil fields and getting badly mauled by defending Romanian fighters - and a Romanian pilot's view of the battle! Only the spirit of attack borne in a brave heart will bring success to any fighter aircraft, to matter how highly developed the aircraft may be. That quote from Adolf Galland, an Ace of the German Luftwaffe in WW II, was the motto of our 317th Fighter Interceptor Squadron in Alaska. The fighter pilot is a hunter, and his quarry is the most dangerous in the world - men who want to kill him! The best defense is a good offense - ATTACK! The US Air Force had a program called Every Man a Tiger. A tiger does not kill impulsively or in anger, but plans his attack carefully and strikes with cool ferocity. We were tigers! Fighter pilots tell stories around the bar, but they seldom write them down. These stories were written by the fighter pilots themselves! Come with me and hear of the beauty of flight, the mortal danger of electrical power failure at night in a snowstorm, and the thrill of attack with 20mm cannons firing right under your feet!
Download or read book Flying Camelot written by Michael W. Hankins and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flying Camelot brings us back to the post-Vietnam era, when the US Air Force launched two new, state-of-the art fighter aircraft: the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. It was an era when debates about aircraft superiority went public—and these were not uncontested discussions. Michael W. Hankins delves deep into the fighter pilot culture that gave rise to both designs, showing how a small but vocal group of pilots, engineers, and analysts in the Department of Defense weaponized their own culture to affect technological development and larger political change. The design and advancement of the F-15 and F-16 reflected this group's nostalgic desire to recapture the best of World War I air combat. Known as the "Fighter Mafia," and later growing into the media savvy political powerhouse "Reform Movement," it believed that American weapons systems were too complicated and expensive, and thus vulnerable. The group's leader was Colonel John Boyd, a contentious former fighter pilot heralded as a messianic figure by many in its ranks. He and his group advocated for a shift in focus from the multi-role interceptors the Air Force had designed in the early Cold War towards specialized air-to-air combat dogfighters. Their influence stretched beyond design and into larger politicized debates about US national security, debates that still resonate today. A biography of fighter pilot culture and the nostalgia that drove decision-making, Flying Camelot deftly engages both popular culture and archives to animate the movement that shook the foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.
Download or read book Air Combat written by Robert F. Dorr and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2007 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dozens of interviews with combat veterans, along with photographs, offer a firsthand look inside the world of the fighter pilot, from the early days of World War II to the present day, describing the realities of battle, the history and characteristics of each pilot's plane, and the thoughts and feelings of aviation warriors. Reprint.
Download or read book From F 4 Phantom to A 10 Warthog written by Steve Ladd and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 269 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This behind-the-scenes account of a USAF career is “an absorbing read, written with the classic humor fighter pilots seem to have” (Flight Line Book Review). From Baron von Richthofen to Robin Olds, the mystique of the fighter pilot endures. The skill, cunning, and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers is well known, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve—until now. You don’t have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his twenty-eight-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia, Europe to the Middle East, the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot. The anecdotes are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous, and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. “This book will appeal to a variety of readers with its Vietnam War combat stories and accounts of flying the Warthog in Cold War Europe. Fun, flying, international experiences—you won’t want to put it down.” —Aviation News
Download or read book To Fly and Fight written by Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson and published by Xlibris Corporation. This book was released on 2017-05-12 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Fighter Combat written by Robert L. Shaw and published by US Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a detailed discussion of one-on-one dog-fights and multi-fighter team work tactics. Full discussions of fighter aircraft and weapons systems performance are provided along with an explanation of radar intercept tactics and an analysis of the elements involved in the performance of fighter missions.
Download or read book Amazons to Fighter Pilots A Q written by Reina Pennington and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With entries overviewing groups such as the Amazons, women in the Spanish Civil War, and Native American women and entries profiling over 300 women, tells their stories, focusing particularly on women who fought. With a focus on those who fought, this two-volume reference for scholars and general readers contains alphabetically arranged entries on some 300 military women from antiquity to the present. The entries are also listed by geographic region, time period, branch of service, prisoner status, and by group or organization. Pennington (affiliation not cited) presents a historical overview of women in the military and in war in the introduction, while an extensive timeline traces the accomplishments of women in military history reaching back to 9000 BCE. Bibliographic surveys of women as prisoners of war and women's participation in military medicine are found in the appendix.
Download or read book Lords of the Sky written by Dan Hampton and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2014-06-24 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive history of combat aviation and fighter aircraft, from World War I to present INCLUDES 32 PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND 12 MAPS Lords of the Sky is the “dramatic, fast-paced, and definitive" (Michael Korda) history of fighter pilots and aircraft and their extraordinary influence on modern warfare, masterfully written by "one of the most decorated pilots in Air Force history” (New York Post). A twenty-year USAF veteran who flew more than 150 combat missions and received multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses, Lt. Colonel Dan Hampton draws on his singular firsthand knowledge, as well as groundbreaking research in aviation archives and rare personal interviews with little-known heroes, including veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Hampton (the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot) reveals the stories behind history's most iconic aircraft and the aviators who piloted them: from the Sopwith Camel and Fokker Triplane to the Mitsubishi Zero, Supermarine Spitfire, German Bf 109, P-51 Mustang, Grumman Hellcat, F-4 Phantom, F-105 Thunderchief, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and beyond. In a seamless, sweeping narrative, Lords of the Sky is an extraordinary account of the most famous fighter planes and the brave and daring heroes who made them legend.
Download or read book Bogeys and Bandits written by Robert Gandt and published by Penguin (Non-Classics). This book was released on 1998 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former Navy pilot takes readers on a thrilling ride in the FA-18 Hornet, weaving superb technological details of the plane with portraits of the day-to-day lives of very real people aspiring to fulfill a dream. photos.
Download or read book Stealth Fighter written by William B. O'Connor and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2012-04-16 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pilot recounts his experiences flying NATO missions in a F-117 stealth fighter over Kosovo in 1999.
