Download or read book Throw a Nickel on the Grass a Fighter Pilot s Life Narrative written by Warren Kerzon and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-02-21 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Personal history of my 22+ years as an Air Force fighter pilot starting when I first dreamed about my future career, through flight school, operational experience in France, Germany, then Test Pilot School, flight test projects, combat experience in Southeast Asia, and other assignments; short summary of follow-on 15-year career in the aerospace industry.

Download or read book Throw a Nickel on the Grass written by NORMAN PHILLIPS and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rick North has never spent much time on reflection. For twenty-five years, he has immersed his body and soul in the US Air Force as a forward-looking, self-assured officer. Yet in Norths early life, there were no absolutes. Now, as he lies in a hospital bed in Southeast Asia, the victim of a futile war, he begins to contemplate his past as he is carried further and further away from the only life he has known. Raised by illiterate Polish grandparents, North develops the independence and insatiable curiosity that eventually leads him on an adventurous journey through World War II, where he flies in the Italian campaign and transforms into a steely-eyed, decorated fighter pilot. As he rises in the ranks to colonel, he edges closer to bureaucracy and some of its leaders, dimming his once idealistic views. But after he reluctantly volunteers for the Vietnam War, he is shot down in Laos and saved in a daring rescuean event that alters his life forever. Based on a true story, Throw a Nickel on the Grass shares one mans incredible and challenging journey through life and war, and his ultimate discovery of true happiness.

Download or read book Emergency War Plan written by Sean M. Maloney and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2021-02 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Emergency War Plan examines the theory and practice of American nuclear deterrence and its evolution during the Cold War. Previous examinations of nuclear strategy during this time have, for the most part, categorized American efforts as “massive retaliation” and “mutually assured destruction,” blunt instruments to be casually dismissed in favor of more flexible approaches or summed up in inflammatory and judgmental terms like “MAD.” These descriptors evolved into slogans, and any nuanced discussion of the efficacy of the actual strategies withered due to a variety of political and social factors. Drawing on newly released weapons effects information along with new information about Soviet capabilities as well as risky and covert espionage missions, Emergency War Plan provides a completely new examination of American nuclear deterrence strategy during the first fifteen years of the Cold War, the first such study since the 1980s. Ultimately what emerges is a picture of a gargantuan and potentially devastating enterprise that was understood at the time by the public in only the vaguest terms but that was not as out of control as has been alleged and was more nuanced than previously understood.

Download or read book The Brink written by Marc Ambinder and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “An informative and often enthralling book…in the appealing style of Tom Clancy” (Kirkus Reviews) about the 1983 war game that triggered a tense, brittle period of nuclear brinkmanship between the United States and the former Soviet Union. What happened in 1983 to make the Soviet Union so afraid of a potential nuclear strike from the United States that they sent mobile ICBMs (intercontinental ballistic missiles) into the field, placing them on a three-minute alert Marc Ambinder explains the anxious period between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1982 to 1984, with the “Able Archer ’83” war game at the center of the tension. With astonishing and clarifying new details, he recounts the scary series of the close encounters that tested the limits of ordinary humans and powerful leaders alike. Ambinder provides a comprehensive and chilling account of the nuclear command and control process, from intelligence warnings to the composition of the nuclear codes themselves. And he affords glimpses into the secret world of a preemptive electronic attack that scared the Soviet Union into action. Ambinder’s account reads like a thriller, recounting the spy-versus-spy games that kept both countries—and the world—in check. From geopolitics in Moscow and Washington, to sweat-caked soldiers fighting in the trenches of the Cold War, to high-stakes war games across NATO and the Warsaw Pact, “Ambinder’s account of a serious threat of global annihilation…is spellbinding…a masterpiece of recent history” (Publishers Weekly, starred review). The Brink serves as the definitive intelligence, nuclear, and national security history of one of the most precarious times in recent memory and “shows the consequences of nuclear buildups, sometimes-careless language, and nervous leaders. Now, more than ever, those consequences matter” (USA TODAY).

Download or read book Nickel on the Grass written by Phil Handley and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nickel On The Grass is a series of vignettes that capture the life of an extraordinary aviator, fighter pilot and leader, Colonel Phil Handley. In a career that spanned 26 years "Hands" earned a reputation as an exceptional pilot and leader in war and peace. I do not know anybody who served with him who does not admire him for his dedication, integrity and courage.The central theme of the stories he relates is that the fraternity of true fighter pilots is made up of men who share a love of adventure, have exceptional flying skills, are willing to risk all rather than admit defeat and believe earning the respect of their peers is their greatest accomplishment. The really good ones possess a sixth sense about people and machines that gives them an edge over mere mortals in the air and on the ground. This is a book about a man who lived most of the stories and counts among his friends and acquaintances the central characters in the others. It has been my privilege to have been his friend and fellow fighter pilot for the past 30 years. General Ron Fogleman, USAF, Ret. Chief of Staff, USAF, 1994-1997

Download or read book Singing the Vietnam Blues written by Joseph F. Tuso and published by College Station : Texas A&M University Press. This book was released on 1990 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The songs of the U.S. Air Force flyers during the Vietnam War, written in the cryptic language of pilots and navigators, aloft in their "beasts" a dozen "angels" up in the sky, uniquely reflect the stark emotions and black humors of that ill-fated war. Veteran navigator Joseph F. Tuso spent fifteen years collecting the lyrics for more than a hundred songs written or sung by U.S. Air Force flyers from about 1966 through 1969. Many of the songs' authors are unknown. But their lyrics, even such jarring lines as those of "Chocolate-covered Napalm," often are set to popular melodies, such as "The Wabash Cannonball." Some songs have original tunes as well. Twenty-five of the 148 songs whose lyrics are included here were written by Dick Jonas, the premier songwriter of the Vietnam era Air Force. Many other songs appear in print for the first time. Singing the Vietnam Blues begins with a personal overture that sets the stage for a play of war-evoked emotions and lines that are less than sacred, more than profane, and sometimes poignant. Some songs, such as the "Phu Cat Alert Pad," are based on historical events, while others have their origins in popular myths, such as "Wolf Pack's Houseboy." Whatever the direct source of the songs, it is the daily combat, rescue, or transport missions; the possibility of death; and the fear, bravado, and competition between pilots, navigators, planes, and enemy flyers or "bandits" that generated the lyrics. Most songs are preceded by Tuso's explanation of each song's origin, other versions, references to current events or "inside jokes," and sometimes personal insights and memories. A glossary is also included.

Download or read book Sierra Hotel flying Air Force fighters in the decade after Vietnam written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Words on Cassette written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 2496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Interceptor written by and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 788 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Time written by and published by . This book was released on 1965-04 with total page 1598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Living Up The Street written by Gary Soto and published by Laurel Leaf. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a prose that is so beautiful it is poetry, we see the world of growing up and going somewhere through the dust and heat of Fresno's industrial side and beyond: It is a boy's coming of age in the barrio, parochial school, attending church, public summer school, and trying to fall out of love so he can join in a Little League baseball team. His is a clarity that rings constantly through the warmth and wry reality of these sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic, always human remembrances.

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 The Praetorian STARShip the untold story of the Combat Talon written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 507 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Wingless Flight written by R. Dale Reed, Darlene Lister and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Much has been written about the famous conflicts and battlegrounds of the East during the American Revolution. Perhaps less familiar, but equally important and exciting, was the war on the western frontier, where Ohio Valley settlers fought for the land they had claimed -- and for their very lives. George Rogers Clark stepped forward to organize the local militias into a united front that would defend the western frontier from Indian attacks. Clark was one of the few people who saw the importance of the West in the war effort as a whole, and he persuaded Virginia's government to lend support to his efforts. As a result Clark was able to cross the Ohio, saving that part of the frontier from further raids. Lowell Harrison captures the excitement of this vital part of American history while giving a complete view of George Rogers Clark's significant achievements. Lowell H. Harrison, is a professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University and is the author or co-author of numerous books, including Lincoln of Kentucky, A New History of Kentucky, and Kentucky's Governors."

Download or read book Aviation in the U S Army 1919 1939 written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book A Concise History of the U S Air Force written by Stephen Lee McFarland and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1997 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

Download or read book Green Ink written by Radm H. Denny Wisely USN Retired and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-06 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biography of a navy fighter pilot who started out from immature, shaky beginnings. He found himself in the navy while growing up during Vietnam. He was the first to shoot down two enemy airplanes and flew 350 combat missions during three deployments aboard USS Kitty Hawk. The ledger he kept will bring you right there with him as he recounts many of those more than exciting missions including being shot down near Hanoi. He flew F4 Phantom to 85,000 feet during operational test flights at the McDonnell-Douglas factor in St Louis. Later at VX-4 in Pt Mugu, California he tested the F 14 Tomcat and flew the MiG 21 from Area 51. He went on to command a Fighter Squadron from USS Midway home-ported in Japan and then went on to be Flight Leader and Commanding Officer of the Blue Angels. He went on to Command the aircraft carrier John F Kennedy.