Download or read book Vector to Destiny Journey of a Vietnam F 4 Fighter Pilot written by George W. Kohn and published by Koehler Books. This book was released on 2020-11-15 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vector to Destiny: Journey of a Vietnam F-4 Fighter Pilot goes beyond the classic Vietnam war story to give you some insight into what it was like to grow up on a farm with a big dream. George's journey takes you from farm fields in Wisconsin to the skies over Vietnam in F-4 fighter jets. Share his struggles, failures, and exhilarations as he moves along his path toward destiny. His story is filled with riveting accounts of missions flown by a fighter pilot into intense enemy resistance. Along the way, there were indications of divine intervention. The reception upon returning home from the war was less than desirable. Understanding the plight of Vietnam veterans is a prelude to respecting the contributions of 2.4 million Americans who have fought to preserve the freedoms we cherish.
Download or read book No Lilies Or Violets written by Jonathan A. Hayes and published by Amethyst Moon. This book was released on 2011 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No Lilies or Violets, Reminiscences of a Fighter Pilot, the first book written by author Jonathan A. Hayes, is a fast-paced, in-your-face trip into the world of an F-4 Phantom II fighter pilot and his exploits during eleven years and three tours into the tumultuous Vietnam war. Hayes recounts his reminiscences forty years after the experiences, lending a mature insight into the raucous adventures of a man and his machine. Visceral recollections are dished to the reader in a shotgun of images. This is a man putting his life on the line numerous times a week, having to react at lightning speed in concert with pilots around him as they pursue the ever-moving enemy in hostile and explosive environment. One of the weird things about aerial combat is how quiet it is. The air around you will be filled with explosions from anti-aircraft shells and missiles and the only thing you will hear is your backseater's quiet breathing and the occasional radio transmission. You are totally cut off from the sonic part of your surroundings. They lived hard and played hard in an effort to maintain their sanity and balance so that could go out there and do it again the next day. No Lilies or Violets puts the reader in the mind of a fighter pilot. Daily on-the-ground routines are predictable, but the mind and body are always braced and torqued for the next bombing run. Join Hayes for a journey into war.
Download or read book Palace Cobra written by Ed Rasimus and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2007-08-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Palace Cobra picks up where Ed Rasimus's critically acclaimed When Thunder Rolled left off. Now he's flying the F-4 Phantom and the attitude is still there. In the waning days of the Vietnam War, Rasimus and his fellow pilots were determined that they were not going be the last to die in a conflict their country had abandoned. They were young fighter pilots fresh from training and experienced aviators who came back to the war again and again, not for patriotism, but for the adrenaline rush of combat. From the bathhouses and barrooms to the prison camps of North Vietnam, this is a gripping combat memoir by a veteran fighter pilot who experienced it all. The wry cynicism of a combat aviator will give readers insights into the Vietnam experience that haven't been available before, and the heart-stopping action will keep readers turning the pages all night.
Download or read book Phantom Reflections written by Mike McCarthy and published by Stackpole Books. This book was released on 2008-12-23 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hair-raising descriptions of aerial combat as seen from the cockpit of a fighter jet Thoughtful reflections on what it meant to fight in Vietnam As the Vietnam War raged thousands of miles away, Mike McCarthy completed his flight training in the United States, eager to get into the war and afraid it would end before he could participate. He needn't have worried. By 1967, he was flying his F-4 Phantom II fighter with the U.S. Air Force's 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, also known as Satan's Angels. Before his tour ended, McCarthy completed 124 missions during the intense air war over North Vietnam and Laos and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross. His memoir recreates the horror and exhilaration of air combat.
Download or read book Sherman Lead written by Gaillard R. Peck, Jr and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a pilot who flew near-daily combat missions, this engrossing book is the story of one man, his colleagues and his machine, the mighty F-4 Phantom II, at war. Sherman Lead is the gripping story of a year flying the F-4 in combat during the Vietnam War, told through the eyes of a fighter pilot. Operating out of Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand in 1968–69, Gail Peck and his squadronmates in the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing were tasked with flying combat missions into North Vietnam and Laos at this time as part of Operations Rolling Thunder and Steel Tiger. The F-4 was heavily involved in the air-to-ground mission at this time, with targets being well defended by enemy anti-aircraft artillery and surface-to-air missiles. Gail Peck's arrival in-theatre coincided with the beginning of electro-optical and laser guided 'smart' bomb combat operations. There were periods of fierce combat interspersed with lulls, and the fighting was intense and unforgettable to those who participated. Some men lived through it, and others died without a clear understanding of why.
Download or read book The Phantom Vietnam War written by David R. Honodel and published by University of North Texas Press. This book was released on 2018-09-15 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David R. “Buff” Honodel was a cocky young man with an inflated self-image when he arrived in 1969 at his base in Udorn, Thailand. His war was not in Vietnam; it was a secret one in the skies of a neighboring country almost unknown in America, attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail that fed soldiers and supplies from North Vietnam into the South. Stateside he learned the art of flying the F-4, but in combat, the bomb-loaded fighter handled differently, targets shot back, and people suffered. Inert training ordnance was replaced by lethal weapons. In the air, a routine day mission turned into an unexpected duel with a deadly adversary. Complacency during a long night mission escorting a gunship almost led to death. A best friend died just before New Year’s. A RF-4 crashed into the base late in Buff’s tour of duty. The reader will experience Buff’s war from the cockpit of a supersonic F-4D Phantom II, doing 5-G pullouts after dropping six 500-pound bombs on trucks hidden beneath triple jungle canopy. These were well defended by a skillful, elusive, determined enemy firing back with 37mm anti-aircraft fire and tracers in the sky. The man who left the States was a naïve, self-centered young pilot. The man who came back 137 missions later was much different.
Download or read book War for the Hell of It a Fighter Pilot s View of Vietnam written by Ed Cobleigh and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-01-22 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ed, "Fast Eddie," Cobleigh served two tours of duty during the Vietnam air war, logging 375 combat sorties in the F-4 Phantom fighter/bomber. In War for the Hell of It, Cobleigh shares his perspectives in a deeply personal account of a fighter pilot's life, one filled with moral ambiguity and military absurdities offset by the undeniable thrill of flying a fighter aircraft. With well-crafted prose that puts you into the Phantom's cockpit, Cobleigh vividly recounts the unexplainable loss of his wingman, the useless missions he flew, the need to trust his reflexes, eyesight, and aggressiveness, and his survival instincts in the heat of combat. He discusses the deaths of his squadron mates and the contradictions of a dirty, semi-secret war fought from beautiful, exotic Thailand. This is an unprecedented look into the state of mind of a pilot as he experiences everything from the carnage of a crash to the joy of flying through a star-studded night sky, from the illogical political agendas of Washington to his own dangerous addiction to risk. Cobleigh gives a stirring and emotional description of one man's journey into airborne hell and back, recounting the pleasures and the pain. the wins and the losses. and ultimately, the return.
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 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 From F 4 Phantom to A 10 Warthog written by Steven K Ladd and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-09-30 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fighter pilots! Images of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker in the Great War, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Stanford Tuck and Richard Bong in the Second World War, or Robin Olds in Vietnam, all spring to mind. Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers, 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 do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through the narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia; Europe to the Middle East; linking the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot. The anecdotes provided 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. From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog is a terrific read: the legacy of a fighter pilot.
Download or read book When Thunder Rolled written by Ed Rasimus and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2011-09-20 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ed Rasimus straps the reader into the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber in his engaging account of the Rolling Thunder campaign in the skies over North Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1968, more than 330 F-105s were lost—the highest loss rate in Southeast Asia—and many pilots were killed, captured, and wounded because of the Air Force’s disastrous tactics. The descriptions of Rasimus’s one hundred missions, some of the most dangerous of the conflict, will satisfy anyone addicted to vivid, heart-stopping aerial combat, as will the details of his transformation from a young man paralyzed with self-doubt into a battle-hardened veteran. His unique perspective, candid analysis, and the sheer power of his narrative rank his memoir with the finest, most entertaining of the war.
Download or read book 100 Missions North written by and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2003 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 100 Missions North, Ken Bell recounts the harrowing sorties that he and his comrades flew in F-105 Thunderchiefs, the famous "Thud", in 1966-67, when pilots faced a 50 percent loss rate. What was it like to face these odds day after day? We learn that men sustained by faith in each other and joined by the unique bonds of combat can overcome anxiety, fear, and even terror to achieve common goals.
Download or read book Warriors at 500 Knots written by Robert F. Kirk and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2017-01-17 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a sequel to the authors first book about the F-4 and its pilots during the Vietnam War. It adds ten additional stories. These stories show the commitment to duty of the brave men who flew the F-4 and the pain that duty cost them. As the ground war struggled for success in Vietnam, it became intensely clear that the skies had to be owned by the Allies for victory to have a chance. It was the F-4 and its pilots that made that possible. The author, a Phantom pilot himself, details intense stories of undaunted and valiant American pilots with their legendary fierce Phantom. These are personal stories of intrepid courage and self-sacrifice to get the mission donewhatever the cost. Fierce and unflinching battles to save friendlies and destroy a ruthless enemy are all recorded over forty years later. These are true tales of war at five hundred knots.
Download or read book 100 Missions North written by Ken Bell and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2000-12-01 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A harrowing personal account of the extraordinary dangerous missions the author and his comrades flew over North Vietnam in 1966-1967. At that time, American airmen were faced with unprecedented defenses and the highest pilot loss rate (exceeding 25%) since the early days of the US strategic bombing of Europe during World War II. This thrilling book tells what it was like to muster the courage to climb into the cockpit day after day as you watched your comrades fall one by one.and how the pilots fought back.
Download or read book A Sense of Duty written by Quang Pham and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2010-04-20 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A memoir by a former Vietnamese refugee who became a U.S. Marine, Quang Pham’s A Sense of Duty is an affecting story of fate, hope, and the aftermath of the most divisive war the United States has ever fought. This heartfelt salute to the spirit of America is also the account of the author’s reunion with his long-absent father, Hoa Pham, himself a devoted officer who saw combat firsthand as a South Vietnamese fighter pilot. Hoa’s revelations about his wartime experience leave Quang even more conflicted about his service in the Marines in the first Gulf War, and after years of struggling to reconnect with each other and the homeland they left behind, the two set out on a final, profound quest—to make sense of the war in Vietnam. Tracing Quang Pham’s uniquely spirited yet agonizing journey from his experiences as an uprooted refugee to his becoming a combat aviator, A Sense of Duty reveals the turmoil of a family torn apart and reunited by the fortunes of war. It is an American journey like no other.
Download or read book Scrappy written by Howard C. “Scrappy” Johnson and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-10-01 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From World War II to high above the Earth to Vietnam, this memoir tells the story of fighter pilot Howard C. "Scrappy" Johnson. Beginning with his early years in Knoxville, Tennessee, the book follows Johnson through his career at the University of Louisville and his enlistment as an Air Force cadet at the onset of World War II. After World War II, Johnson served a tour of duty in the skies over Korea and in 1958 broke the world's altitude record by over 14,000 feet, soaring at 91,249 feet in his F-104A Starfighter. For this remarkable feat he was awarded the Collier Trophy, aviation's highest honor. In Vietnam, he was director of operations for the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing and was instrumental in founding the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots, a group dedicated to the remembrance of fallen and captured airmen. Written with panache, this work records the bigger-than-life adventures of one of America's finest.
Download or read book A Pilot S Story written by Don Volz and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-27 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is my storythe story of a pilot who flew airplanes for some thirty-seven years: ten years in the United States Air Force, primarily in jet fighters, and then twenty-seven years flying commercial jet airliners. I was inspired to write this story after reading the autobiography, a few years ago, of Gen. Chuck Yeagerhe being the world-renowned test pilot, World War II fighter ace, and first man to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1. My story is the story of an average pilot, an average guy who survived several close calls, had many interesting experiences along the way, and often wondered, Am I still here because I was especially good or because I was especially lucky? I think the answer is definitely a combination of the two, just as Yeager says or implies in his book. With him, it may have been a larger contribution of skill, but as he said, The secret of my success is that I always managed to live to fly another day. I have to echo that comment. While flying around the country with American Airlines, during hours of complete boredom (as we say), we pilots often traded our war stories of our flying (and other) experiences. I often thought that I had many tales that were similar to some of Yeagers and that I should put my experiences down on paper, even if it would only be my family who might read it. So this, then, is my story, my life, primarily, as it revolved around my aviating experiences over some thirty-seven years, from the viewpoint of a pilot who has no particular claim to fame but who has survived to fly another day. One of the best descriptions of a flying career says: You start out with a big bag of luck and an empty bag of experience; you want to fill the bag of experience before you empty the bag of luck! I guess I have done that.
