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An aviation pioneer in the early 1900s, Roland Garros taught himself how to fly a bamboo airplane despite crashing it at Versailles. He was a world-class athlete, a lawyer who wouldn't learn Latin, a sports car salesman on the Champs-Elysées, an airshow pilot and racer. Ultimately, Roland Garros became the world's first fighter pilot.
What's it like to fight an unwinnable war? What's Mach 2? What does night ground attack feel like? How was the Phantom to fly? It's all here, the sights, sounds, smells, violence, political frustrations, the terror and triumph of survival in the sky over Vietnam. Death in the air but exotic pleasures available back on base in Thailand. Live it n
War-from 25,000 feet up. During the Vietnam War, Ed Cobleigh served two tours of duty, logging 375 combat sorties and over 1,000 hours of combat time in the F-4D Phantom II fighter/bomber. Unlike so many others, he made it back in one piece. And he returned with an experience-and a perspective-that those of us on the ground could not begin to understand. In War for the Hell of It, Cobleigh shares that perspective in an intimate account of his life in a war filled with moral ambiguity and military contradictions. This is an unprecedented look into the state of mind of a pilot as he experiences everything from the carnage of a crash to the joy of flying through a star-studded night sky, from illogical political agendas to his own dangerous addiction to risk. With the aviation thrills of Flight of the Intruder and the military pathos of M*A*S*H, Cobleigh gives a stirring and emotional description of one man's journey into airborne hell and back.
Ed, "Fast Eddie," Cobleigh served two tours of duty during the Vietnam air war, logging 375 combat sorties in the F-4 Phantom fighter/bomber. In War for the Hell of It, Cobleigh shares his perspectives in a deeply personal account of a fighter pilot's life, one filled with moral ambiguity and military absurdities offset by the undeniable thrill of flying a fighter aircraft. With well-crafted prose that puts you into the Phantom's cockpit, Cobleigh vividly recounts the unexplainable loss of his wingman, the useless missions he flew, the need to trust his reflexes, eyesight, and aggressiveness, and his survival instincts in the heat of combat. He discusses the deaths of his squadron mates and ...
Publishers Weekly: “ … a story full of convincing period details, fraught with tension and violence, and featuring a strong cast.” In 1587, 117 English colonists landed on Roanoke Island in the New World. A month later, disintegrating conditions forced the governor back to England for additional supplies and colonists. In 1590, he returned to find the colony vanished—America’s greatest unsolved mystery, the Lost Colony of Roanoke. In year 2000, young Allie O’Shay experiences a series of unsettling, lifelike dreams. She deduces she’s witnessing the desperate saga of the Lost Colony through the heart, mind, and tribulations of a young colonist named Emily Colman. The colony battl...
He can't shoot down the future, but his storied past is the key to his present. The Pilot loves fighter planes, a beautiful woman, and Paris. He is to fly the new F-35, but will its electronics erode his lone-wolf ethos? Complicating his life is a beautiful, mysterious French woman who may be a spy, or maybe someone much closer to him. The Pilot has mastered many fighters, from the treacherous Sopwith Camel to the stiletto F-104 Starfighter, from the Spitfire to the F-16 Viper. But, this challenge is different, with no obvious airborne answer. The Pilot re-flies classic combat missions, from the leaden skies of WWI to the sun-blasted Iraqi desert, while re-living past love affairs. Searching for answers, he taps the thoughts of Hemingway, Bobbie Burns, Churchill, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Robert the Bruce, von Richthoven, and Yogi Berra. Fast-paced in the City of Light, The Pilot; Planes Fighter and Paris delivers a mélange of air combat, aviation history, libido, and memories. The novel puts you in the cockpit and the bedroom, immerses you in Parisian ambiance, and answers the question, "Who is the Pilot?"
The naval aviation safety review.
Written by a pilot who flew near-daily combat missions, this engrossing book is the story of one man, his colleagues and his machine, the mighty F-4 Phantom II, at war. 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 at this time as part of Operations Rolling Thunder and Steel Tiger. 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. Gail Peck's arrival in-theatre coincided with the beginning of electro-optical and laser guided 'smart' bomb combat operations. There were periods of fierce combat interspersed with lulls, and the fighting was intense and unforgettable to those who participated. Some men lived through it, and others died without a clear understanding of why.
An amazing story-even more so because it's all true. City-born and country-raised, Ken developed a need to fly and found a way to do it. While recalling his career as a USAF navigator, he relates to the history of the '60s, '70s and '80s-linking people, places, aircraft and adventures that circled the globe. In an early chapter, Ken describes in detail crossing the Atlantic, southern Europe and the Middle East to ferry a rare jet bomber to Peshawar, Pakistan. Later, the decorated aviator recollects a dangerous flight to the South Pacific, through a hurricane, becoming lost overwater with only a sextant to find a tiny island and procure the safety of his crew. After that, following three years in the C-130 aircraft in Europe, he transitioned to the F-4 Phantom II fighter for the rest of his career. He details missions and the use of smart weapons during his year in combat in Southeast Asia. During the '70s, he returned to Germany for six more years in the F-4, which involved sitting nuclear alert and training for all other missions.Twenty-one years in the USAF with more than 5,600 hours of flying provides for many intriguing war stories from the backseat....