Product Overview
This book is about the life of US Air Force pilots during the cold war years, with special emphasis on events that occurred during the 1950s and 1960s.The introduction of jet aircraft, combined with the World War II mindset that seemed to disregard aviation safety made life in the wild blue yonder a very dangerous way to make a living. Many changes were required in both the fighter pilot operational philosophy and military discipline. The stories provide a look at various events that occurred during this period. As you will read, it was an interesting and challenging era, interspersed by long periods of great anguish for some and sudden death for many others. Of special note is our government's abandonment of number of our airmen who were known to be prisoners of war but who were not repatriated. The Cuban involvement with our POWs is especially distressful in that some of the POWs they held simply disappeared, with 17 airmen taken from Hanoi to Havana for medical experiments in torture techniques. With a combat tour completed in both Korea and Vietnam the author was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses and nine Air Medals. He finished his military career with 7,500 hours in 28 types of military aircraft, of which 5,000 hours were in jet fighters and 460 hours in aerial combat. This is the author's ninth book; others include Professional Pilot Third Edition, Anatomy of a Spin, and A Pilot's Accident Review.
