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REQUEST: Good aviation/military books

Anytime Baby!

Dave, I’ve finished “Anytime Baby!” (Good book! By the way Lots of great pictures.) The little kid next door, “Ben” has lots of questions, he's helped me with the book.:) I’ve given him your work e-mail addy. So stand by! (Just :)kidding.)

Did you take some of those pictures? Credits in the book were a bit sparse.

Steve
 
Achilles said:
I just finished Flying Black Ponies by Kit Lavell and I found it was a great read. I must confess that I had never heard of VAL-4 before I saw the book at my school's library when I was actually looking for another book. But after reading it I was able to appreciate the risks these men took and the sacrifices they made to protect a lot of sailors and soldiers in the Brown Water Navy. I checked around to try and find a copy to keep, and it's impossible to find on Amazon for a good price, but I was able to buy a copy from the US Naval Institute who I believe actually publishes the book. Unfortunately I tried to post a link and it looks like they no longer offer the book in their online store, but you might be able to get a copy if you contact them directly. It is one of the few books that due to its rarity and quality that I was willing to pay the full price of a hardback addition.

104-0559327-1352712
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Amazon has a bunch of copies of Flying Black Ponies from 3rd party sellers now for less than 30 bucks. I just picked myself up a copy. They are all paperback and used, but it sure beats spending $160 for a new copy.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/1557505217/ref=dp_olp_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1217848084&sr=8-2
 
helolumpy said:
NORTH SAR by Gerry Carroll - Great book about Combat SAR H-3 pilots in the Viet Nam War. Also highly recommend Ghostrider ONE by Carroll as well, this is a story about A-4 pilots early in the Viet Nam War. Carroll writes as someone who has been there and uses great humor and sarcasm to get his point across. All JO's should read one of these books!
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+1 on all Gerry Carroll. Not to be confused with Ward "Punk's War" Carroll (any relation?).

North SAR - Follows two JO's, one flying A-7s, the other flying CSAR H-3s, on Yankee Station in the last months of Vietnam.

Ghostrider One - "Hog" Hogan arrives as the new XO of an A-4 squadron on cruise in '67. He quickly realizes that the ineffectual, timid skipper has seriously demoralized the squadron. He has his work cut out for him to get the squadron back on its feet in the middle of a combat cruise, especially when he has to assume command much earlier than expected. Also follows a Marine FAC assigned to Khe Sanh when Tet kicks off.

Nowhere to Hide - LT Tim Boyle (the H-3 pilot from North SAR) is assigned to help plan helo evacuations during the fall of Saigon. Meanwhile, a pair of SEALs try to rescue one of their old Teammates, in the hills with the Montangard tribesmen for years, before the NVA gets to him.

Gerry flew both fixed-wing light attack and helos. Knows what he's talking about. Great stories about the difficulties of leadership and command without being formulaic or preachy. The "Carroll's Glossary" at the end of each book is arguably more entertaining than the story itself.
 
Carroll "earned" a spot in Burkett's book,"Stolen Valor," for exaggerating his experiences. I don't remember the exact context, and it was a library book, so I don't have it with me. Will get back on it later.
 
phrogdriver said:
Carroll "earned" a spot in Burkett's book,"Stolen Valor," for exaggerating his experiences. I don't remember the exact context, and it was a library book, so I don't have it with me. Will get back on it later.
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Which one, Gerry or Ward? Only thing I ever read about Gerry was him saying he got a Navy Comm for a night SAR. Anyway, he's dead now.

Don't know much about Ward, besides he was a Tomcat guy and taught at the Boat School for a while.

Edit: Looked up the controvery in question. Gerry Carroll was a Navy helo guy; the issue seems to be whether he claimed to be a Vietnam vet when he, in fact, did not serve in-theater. The bio blurb on his books doesn't say anything about Vietnam service. One website I looked up notes that the authors of "Stolen Valor" didn't even spell Carroll's name right.

Issue might have something to do with Tom Clancy (a friend from college) promoting his books after Carroll died. Short change from "he served during Vietnam" to "he served in Vietnam".

Anyway, they're good books.
 
Maybe already mentioned but I'll list it anyway:

100 Missions North...A fighter Pilots Story of the Vietnam War.

A very good book, I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Well written, first hand account. The author can write.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Which one, Gerry or Ward? Only thing I ever read about Gerry was him saying he got a Navy Comm for a night SAR. Anyway, he's dead now.

Don't know much about Ward, besides he was a Tomcat guy and taught at the Boat School for a while.

Edit: Looked up the controvery in question. Gerry Carroll was a Navy helo guy; the issue seems to be whether he claimed to be a Vietnam vet when he, in fact, did not serve in-theater. The bio blurb on his books doesn't say anything about Vietnam service. One website I looked up notes that the authors of "Stolen Valor" didn't even spell Carroll's name right.

Issue might have something to do with Tom Clancy (a friend from college) promoting his books after Carroll died. Short change from "he served during Vietnam" to "he served in Vietnam".

Anyway, they're good books.
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Gerry. Ward is way too young to have been in Vietnam.

I remembered really liking North SAR when I first read it. That's why I was disappointed to see the author's name in "Stolen Valor."
 
Fast Movers by John Darrell Sherwood. Check out the chapters on Mike Estocin (A4 driver), John "Pirate" Nichols (F8) and Coral Sea CAG "Blinky" Sheets ( he flew with the downtrodden USMC A6 squadron that was embarked and damn near shot down a Mig17 in an Intruder!)....great great read.
 
"BOYD,
THE FIGHTER PILOT WHO CHANGED THE ART OF WAR."

Author: Robert Coram
Purchased at Barnes & Noble

Earned his name for the demonstrated abilities of the Korean War, defeating in less than 40 seconds any pilot who challenged him. Both in the air and on the ground he paved the way for new aircraft designs especially the f-16 and f-15 and revolutionary thinking in the arena of dogfighting etc..

just started reading it but it is great, recommended to me by an NFO Captain who served as an Commanding officer and was one of my interviewee's for my OCS package i'll be submitting next week!!!! a great read.
 
"Hornets over Kuwait" - Jay Stout

"Hammer from Above" - Jay Stout

Great reads, especially if you're all about Marine Air.
 
SKYRAIDER
The Douglas A-1 Flying Dump Truck
Rosario Rausa

PLOESTI
The Great Ground-Air Battle of 1,August 1943
Dugan-Stewart
 
bunk22 said:
Maybe already mentioned but I'll list it anyway:

100 Missions North...A fighter Pilots Story of the Vietnam War.

A very good book, I'm about 1/3 of the way through. Well written, first hand account. The author can write.
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Excellent book. If you enjoyed that one, I highly recommend these:

"War For The Hell Of It" - Ed Cobleigh
"Once A Fighter Pilot..." - Jerry W. Cook
"When Thunder Rolled" - Ed Rasimus


invertedflyer said:
"Hornets over Kuwait" - Jay Stout

"Hammer from Above" - Jay Stout

Great reads, especially if you're all about Marine Air.
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I definitely second "Hammer from Above" - gives a great overview of how the USMC aviation works. There was one part in the book where Marine FAC describes two unidentified Navy F-14s bombing Marine LAVs (unsuccessfully thankfully). I always wondered if anything came of this...

"Hornets Over Kuwait" has been on my to-get list, although I haven't had the time to read much lately. :)
 
Michael Durant's (of Black Hawk Down) new book, "The Night Stalkers: Top Secret Missions of the US Army's Special Operations Regiment," is a keeper.
GREAT read--chronicles all kinds of missions from the unit's inception to today.
I would have called it a night a long time ago, but a section on Operation Prime Chance kept me up. Little Birds operating off a make-shift barge in the Gulf; Army aviators, SWO-types and SEALS knocking heads with Iran's RGC--amazing read...
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Quick link re: Operation Prime Chance (just facts; Durant's account is from the participants' perspectives).
http://www.specialoperations.com/Operations/Prime_Chance/Operation_Profile.htm
 
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