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Good military/aviation books


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Just finished Lemay by Warren Kozak. Good look at the hows and whys in his approach to the bombing campaigns in Europe then Japan. And how he built SAC. My favorite quote "I'll tell you what war is about. You've got to kill people and when you kill enough of them, they stop fighting." His mentor was Robert Olds, father of Robin Olds. Lemay was also a lead from the front kind of guy and had to be ordered to stop flying bombing missions.

History has not been kind on LeMay, but he was the right guy at the right time. I also recommend the book, read it a couple of times on deployments while orbiting as the reliability tanker.

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Currently reading "Colonel Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris.  Colonel was Theodore Roosevelt's preferred title after he left the White House and the book is about that part of his life.  This excerpt is from a speech in Paris in 1910 you have probably heard but I think it is worth repeating.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt.

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Currently reading "Colonel Roosevelt" by Edmund Morris.  Colonel was Theodore Roosevelt's preferred title after he left the White House and the book is about that part of his life.  This excerpt is from a speech in Paris in 1910 you have probably heard but I think it is worth repeating.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt.

Vance 15-05 incorporated the speech into their patch. There appears to be multiple versions of the speech. In one, he said "dare mighty things" instead of "daring greatly." The rest of the patch is WWII nose art from some pilot training base.

DMT.jpg

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Recommend "The Hunter Killers" by Dan Hampton.  

The Hunter Killers LP: The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels, the Band of Maverick Aviators Who Flew the Most Dangerous Missions of the Vietnam War

51a2WeYuVSL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Good backstories, technical descriptions, engagement descriptions and perspective on the origin & development of the Weasel Mission.  

 

 

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Recommend "The Hunter Killers" by Dan Hampton. 

Definitely agree.  Hampton goes into incredible detail about the development of both SAMs and the Weasel mission from day 1 until the Vietnam War ended.  I bought it purely on a whim at a bookstore because I recognized the author's name from "Viper Pilot."  I happened to hear Col Leo Thorsness speak at Maxwell a couple days earlier, and the book explains the events that led to him being awarded the MoH.  I've already bought a couple extra copies and handed them out to people.  Highly recommend.

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Definitely agree.  Hampton goes into incredible detail about the development of both SAMs and the Weasel mission from day 1 until the Vietnam War ended.  I bought it purely on a whim at a bookstore because I recognized the author's name from "Viper Pilot."  I happened to hear Col Leo Thorsness speak at Maxwell a couple days earlier, and the book explains the events that led to him being awarded the MoH.  I've already bought a couple extra copies and handed them out to people.  Highly recommend.

Another good one is from the Vs. series of books:

F-105 Wild Weasel vs SA-2 'Guideline' SAM (Duel)

Lots of technical detail and personal interviews (especially interesting with the NVA missile crews) - worth the time to read.

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Recently read:

"Legend" by Eric Blehm.  The back-story of then-SSgt Roy Benavidez, and the events that led to the day he earned the MoH.  The description of the battle is incredible, both in detail and intensity.

 

"Redeployment" by Phil Klay.  Several "short story"-style accounts of people's time during and after their OEF/OIF tours, and how they deal (or don't deal) with their demons.

 

In work:

"Hit The Target: Eight Men who Led The Eighth Air Force to Victory over the Luftwaffe" by Bill Yenne.

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Rogue Heroes: The History of the SAS, Britain's Secret Special Forces Unit That Sabotaged the Nazis and Changed the Nature of War

Excellent read on the start of the SAS in the North African desert though Europe and the end of WWII.  It's a solid and quick read.  Amazing stories on the personalities that were the foundation of the SAS...both good and bad.  I was pretty amazed on the things they got away with (both with leadership and in combat).

Cheers

ATIS

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On 7/20/2015 at 0:42 AM, Dalton said:

"Viper Pilot" by Dan Hampton. One of the few books about military aviation in recent years. I'm not a big reader but I really enjoyed it. Even went out and got "Lords of the Sky" by him after I finished it, about the history of the fighter pilot. About a third of the way thought but so far it's good.

Through* damn autocorrect

i can second this recommendation. I've read both.  I couldn't put viper pilot down when I started reading it and got through it in a weekend. 

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On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2015 at 11:42 PM, Dalton said:

"Viper Pilot" by Dan Hampton. One of the few books about military aviation in recent years. I'm not a big reader but I really enjoyed it. Even went out and got "Lords of the Sky" by him after I finished it, about the history of the fighter pilot. About a third of the way thought but so far it's good.

Through* damn autocorrect

I ran across Dan a few times during my career.  AFROTC field training, a few of the same strike package during Desert Storm out of the 'Lik and at least one Flag.  All I'll say is that not everyone shares as high opinion of him as he does.  That's been a trend since ROTC.  To proclaims one's self the "most lethal pilot" in the USAF or whatever he said when I leafed through the book in an airport bookstore is a bit of a stretch, considering the company he keeps in aviation history.  A good driver with some good stories?  No doubt.  At least his books are selling.

In my final comment below, I realize I may be somewhat biased considering my background.  However, I think it's still extremely valid.

The one question I have for him, should we cross paths again would be this:  Considering the success of the fighter version of the F-15 over the history of it's four-plus decades of operations, how can someone write a history of the fighter pilot and fail to even mention that aircraft once?

I get the whole Eagle-Falcon rivalry.......but considering the F-15 was probably the last US aircraft designed purely to fulfill the role of a true fighter (not a pound for air-to-ground) and has a pretty enviable kill ratio in combat (ya know..... the actual job of a "fighter pilot"), you'd think it might have at least made it into the index.

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On 2/27/2016 at 11:10 PM, slackline said:

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

Medal of Honor recipient shuns spotlight

http://usat.ly/210MTeD

This is the caliber of dudes in used to, not the Marcus Latrells that are out there capitalizing on their brethren. I love that he silently calls them out for it too.

I thought you were talking about Salvatore Giunta at first. Same deal.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Giunta

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5 hours ago, ATIS said:

Everyone should read this book.  Blew my mind the rice bowl of politics that translated into a total Shit-show for the first few days of Linebacker II B-52 Ops.  Is this required reading for Maxwell?  Heck, Navy folks should read this as well. 

https://www.amazon.com/Eleven-Days-Christmas-Americas-Vietnam/dp/1893554279

 

ATIS

Worked with a guy who flew these missions.

3 X DFCs.

He sent me the audio of one of them he had taped via his headset - he was an EWO.  Holy sh1t doesn't come close to describing it.

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On 7/17/2017 at 8:26 AM, ATIS said:

Everyone should read this book.  Blew my mind the rice bowl of politics that translated into a total Shit-show for the first few days of Linebacker II B-52 Ops.  Is this required reading for Maxwell?  Heck, Navy folks should read this as well. 

https://www.amazon.com/Eleven-Days-Christmas-Americas-Vietnam/dp/1893554279

 

ATIS

Even if BUFFs, 'Nam, bombing, and SAC are not your thing, this was a very well written book and very engaging.  In the cliche, it was a "page turner" that was hard to put down.  I especially liked the parts described from the bad guys point of view based on interviews with the actual SA-2 operators.  I read this book based on a recommendation in this thread from like 5 years ago, so it is nice to see it get bumped again.  It's also fairly small, so it wouldn't take too much of a commitment to tackle this and gain a deeper appreciation for bomber/SAM operations, along with the idiocy of bad airpower tactics in Vietnam. 

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Just finished "The Operator"...Robert O'neill...SEAL who took out Osama.  It was pretty predictable, first 1/3 was about BUD/S, the rest about training/missions along the way, ending with the Osama mission. Nothing really surprising but I enjoyed it. 

ETA:  Just placed my order for Eleven Days of Christmas based on the previous post. 

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A Pilot's Story by Bob Prest

 

Excellent read about an RAF F-4 pilots road to wings and flying the mighty Phantom during the Cold War:

getting bounced/bouncing all comers (sts) over Germany; intercepting Bears over the North Sea; deployments to the Med, etc; sitting air defense alert.

 

 

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It was done in this thread a few years ago, but I’ll put in a plug for “Bleeding Talent” by Tim Kane.  Kane is a USAFA grad, was in intel officer for a few years, and then a successful entrepreneur.  His ideas for revamping how the military handles things like assignments, promotions, and evaluations are very interesting.  He basically wants to put market forces in how the military handles people, which he argues would result in less bleeding of talent in the officer ranks.  

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