Vietnam Air Force

The involvement of the US Air Force in the Southeast Asian Wars began in 1962 with crews sent to train Vietnamese pilots, and with conflict in Laos, and finally ended in 1972 with the B-52 bombing of Hanoi, though there were Air Force pilots unofficially flying combat in Laos up to the end in 1975. The missions flown by USAF aircrews during those years in Southeast Asia differed widely, from attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail at night with modified T-28 trainers, to missions “Downtown,” the name aircrew gave Hanoi, the central target of the war.

…Ben Het has tanks in the wire! “Hawk Claw is engaging,” the pilot reports firing the first TOW missile ever from a helicopter in combat. Fire Base Delta had already been over run and Fire Base Charlie was fighting for its life. How much would fall before the North Vietnamese army was knocking on the doors of the key city of Kontum? This was the third phase of the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive Campaign of 1972. Standing across the country between them and the fall of Saigon was a poorly led South Vietnamese Army, brave South Vietnamese soldiers, and US Advisors. How much ground ...

Into The Mouth of The Cat: The Story of Lance Sijan, Hero of Vietnam tells the gripping true story of Lance Sijan. He was a United States Air Force captain in the Vietnam War. On November 9, 1967, Sijan was ejected from his F-4 Phantom II at high speed and a low altitude, causing him to suffer massive injuries to his entire body. During his violent ejection and very rough parachute landing on the karst ridge, Captain Lance Sijan suffered a fractured skull, a mangled right hand, with three of his fingers dislocated, and deep cuts and gashes in his forearms, a compound fracture of the left ...

John Plaster’s riveting account of his covert activities as a member of a special operations team during the Vietnam War is “a true insider’s account, this eye-opening report will leave readers feeling as if they’ve been given a hot scoop on a highly classified project” (Publishers...

An account of the over 450 combat missions flown by the author in the Vietnam War. The author is a highly decorated fighter pilot having been awarded three Silver Stars, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, and the Purple Heart. His account of being shot over North Vietnam and living to tell will keep you on the edge of your seat. His stories are filled with dialogue bringing the combat action directly to the reader. His method to overcome boredom was most unconventional as he flew 28 additional missions in helicopters and FAC aircraft. His account of visiting a Special Forces base where he ...

In The Air Force Way of War, Brian D. Laslie examines the revolution in pilot instruction that Red Flag brought about after Vietnam. The program's new instruction methods were dubbed "realistic" because they prepared pilots for real-life situations better than the simple cockpit simulations of the past. In addition to discussing the program's methods, Laslie analyzes the way its graduates actually functioned in combat during the 1980s and '90s in places such as Grenada, Panama, Libya, and Iraq.

The Vietnam War is one of the most misunderstood military conflicts in 20th-century America. Showcasing 72 true stories told by American servicemen who fought from the skies, this unique and historically significant collection is a stunning record of the air war in Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s.

“A GRIPPING CLASSIC. Exhaustively researched, The Hunter Killers puts you directly into a Wild Weasel fighter cockpit during the Vietnam War. Dan Hampton lets you feel it for yourself as no one else could.”--Colonel LEO THORSNESS, Wild Weasel pilot and Medal of Honor recipient At the height...

In his 80s, Peter William Tremayne recounts 60 years of high-risk adventures from all corners of the world: as far south as Antarctica, as deep in the jungles of Southeast Asia, as high as the peaks of the Himalaya, to name just a few. Often reckless, always challenging, Peter realizes it’s time to share his escapades before his luck, or time runs out. The incredible flying and climbing adventures of one of New Zealand’s most unique mountaineers and pilots, yet unsung and forgotten in his country of birth.

They Were Soldiers showcases the inspiring true stories of forty-eight Vietnam veterans who returned home from the "lost war" to enrich America's present and future. In this groundbreaking new audiobook, Joseph L. Galloway, distinguished war correspondent and New York...

Air America flight crews, hired as civilians but castigated as mercenaries, malcontents, and psychopaths, operated military aircraft and performed yeoman service for twenty-five years until the war in Southeast Asia ended on a rooftop in downtown Saigon. Author and former Air America pilot Allen Cates cuts through the myths and deception surrounding this elite stealth Air Force used by the United States government to fight a secret war in Honor Denied. The culmination of Cates's years as a pilot and his in-depth research into Air America's murky past follows his escape from rural, small-...

Pilot Brock flies through the chaos of the Vietnam War, driven by one goal: survive to marry his love. Amidst war’s unpredictability, his hopes remain unwavering. Can he navigate the storm and reach his forever?

On April 4, 1975, the U.S. Government's first flight of orphans being evacuated out of South Vietnam just before the fall of Saigon ended in disaster. Over half the passengers and crew survived, however, due to the airmanship, professionalism, and heroic actions of the crew, civilian escorts, and rescuers. Gleaned from survivor and witness statements and direct interviews with others involved the tragic crash, this story comes to life in a way that only first hand accounts can achieve.

In 1972, America was completing its withdrawal from the long and divisive war in Vietnam. Air power covered the departure of ground forces, and search and rescue teams from all services and Air America covered the airmen and soldiers still in the fight. Day and night these military and civilian aircrews stood alert to respond to "Mayday" calls. The rescue forces were the answer to every man's prayer, and those forces brought home airmen, sailors, marines, and soldiers downed or trapped across the breadth and depth of the entire Southeast Asia theater.

A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....

Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress. Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian bombing sorties would have been impossible.

The story of the United States Air Force (USAF) stretches back to aerial operations prior to the First World War and looks forward to a new era of airpower in space. Fighting from Above presents a concise account of this history, offering a new perspective on how the air forces of the United States created an independent way of warfare over time.

As a young man, the author lived in various places in the US and abroad while serving in the US Air Force. This is not a book about military adventures, but is rather a collection of interactions and experiences from those travels. Written with humor and candor, Echoes From My Military Past tells about the good, the bad, the tragic, and the silly when it comes to the people involved. The military is the backdrop to the author’s experiences, and it was also the vehicle that put him in these sometimes fantastical situations. Whether you served or not, you’ll find entertainment and ...

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. 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.

Magnet Ass and the Stone-Cold Truck Hunters is a Vietnam war memoir about Captain Alan "Magnet Ass" Milacek, the "man who flew his plane on one wing". It is a war story. But it is also not a war story. It has everything to do with a white-hot mission over the Plain of Jars in 1970, for which 10 men earned The Mackay Trophy, one of history's most coveted aviation awards.