History of the 101st Airborne Division: Screaming Eagles - The First 50 Years Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is well-written and an easy read, as compared to most military history which is, often, difficult, if not impossible to follow. I give it one strike technical/historical matters. First, for having been written after Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers, it and fails to take that work into account. The 506th is rarely mentioned and Easy's assault at Brécourt is not mentioned, at all. Now, I'll admit that Band of Brothers is as much hagiography as history, but, if one disagrees with the assertions, it's important for one to refute those assertions, not ignore them. Also, the World War II section is VERY brief and could've stood to have more detail added to it, as was done in the "Training Years", (1956 to 1967), where every minutia is mentioned (and no less interesting, I have to admit). This is, of course, an unfortunate effect of this being a collaborative effort with an author for each section. All in all, a good read, but very thin on World War II, if that's one's interest.
One thing I'd add is that it is a bit apologetic. It glosses over the last battle casualties of the war, while those of you familiar with Stephen Ambrose's Band fo Brothers will recall that it was a bit of a self-created SNAFU resultign in freindly fire...

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The History of the 101st Airborne Division is the epic story of the Division from its activation in August 1942 through the completion of Operation Desert Storm in April 1991.

In World War II, the 101st became the first American troops to set foot in occupied France, when, on 6 June 1944, its paratroopers dropped behind enemy lines, clearing the way for the 4th Infantry Division landing on Utah Beach. The Division would become famous for its work in Holland during Operation Market Garden, and for its successful defense of Bastogne, Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.

In Vietnam, the Screaming Eagles engaged in battle from 1965 to 1972, when they began their evolution to Air Mobile by deploying by helicopter. In the Gulf War, the Division fired the first shots of Operation Desert Storm by destroying Iraqi radar sites, and during ground war of the operation, they made the longest and largest Air Assault in history.

In every engagement and during the training periods in between, the 101st Airborne Division has honored the words of its first commander, General William C. Lee, that it has a rendezvous with destiny. This book is a fitting record of that history, and of the men who are proud to be called Screaming Eagles.

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Airpower in Small Wars: Fighting Insurgents and Terrorists (Modern War Studies) Review

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(More customer reviews)The ideal aircraft in a counter insurgency war has to be able to fly low and slow enough to detect the insurgents and terrorists. But also have the ability to stay over the target long enough to direct firepower on them, if not fire upon them. While being able to carry the ordnance and have the speed to avoid being hit by ground fire. Does this require several types of aircraft, or is there one that can do it all?
Airpower in Small Wars presents over nine examples of small wars by giving the background of each particular conflict or the origins of each insurgency. The US Marine Corps is credited in the introduction and following chapter, with having greater interest and experience in employing aircraft against insurgencies. While the US Army Air Corps (later to become the USAF) focused on strategic use of airpower. The USMC still emphasizes aviation in its support of ground units with its close-air support doctrine. (Combined Arms Operations).
From the conflicts presented in the book, high performance jet aircraft are not particularly a benefit in the Counter Insurgency or Anti-Terrorist campaigns. And helicopters, though very useful are sussceptible to ground fire and Shoulder fired surface to air missles and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs).
The book also shows the interaction between the US and assisted countries with regard to supplying aircraft, supplies and training in relation to US foreign affairs policies.
Though recent US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are not covered. The examples presented provide you a frame work to understand the current and past air operations in both countries. The peacekeeping mission in Somalia was not also featured but this is well documented in other books and a smilar analysis frame work can be applied.
It is the hope of the authors that this book may serve "to inspire other writers to take any one of the case studies as a starting point to more fully examine airpower in a specific conflict in much greater depth, then they will consider their book to be a very positive contribution to military and airpower history."

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Dirty Little Secrets: Military Information You're Not Supposed To Know Review

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(More customer reviews)Mr. Dunnigan should have stopped with his volume "How to Make War." It contains everything informative that appears in this volume with none of the pop-media inspired "conspiracy" aire. "Dirty Little Secrets" is 90 percent trivia, 5 percent restatements of the obvious, 4 percent tired rehashes of long-corrected (or discredited) "problems" and about 1 percent "military information you're not supposed to know." Whenever pop-media and the military collide, the military comes off the worse, portrayed as either buffoons or renegades. Dunnigan and Nofi play heavily to the former theme. I recommend a serious reader check out Mr. Dunnigan before he sold out to the pop-media and read "How to Make War." Miss this skewed collection of trivia with attitude. If we bought weapons and doctrine according to the implied standards of this work, every system would have to work perfectly from the instant of conception. God forbid it should experience some growing pains. The amusing thing is, the discerning reader can detect the flaws of Dunnigan and Nofi's approach in their own work. Revelations that a popular tank was reviewed as having numerous "flaws" during initial testing include the observation that none touched on its fighting qualities and most were minor "creature comforts." All of which were subsequently corrected. Big shock! Do you think GM doesn't test automobiles and then make minor design changes before going to production? Do you think MicroSoft doesn't do product tests, or updates? If these facts are Dirty Little Secrets to you, you need to get out more.

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Warbird Recovery: The Hunt for a Rare World War II Plane in Siberia, Russia Review

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(More customer reviews)When Gordon sent me the book, I was excited to dig into it, but life is busy, and I didn't get a chance to read it right away. I am sorry I delayed reading it as it is an excellent story. I couldn't put it down once started. Gordon's undying passion and perseverance in the recovery of these WWII relics is impressive. I thought that I have had some pretty crazy adventures moving aircraft around here in the United States, but they are nothing compared to the situations that Gordon and his group had to endure. It makes me very thankful to live in America. Warbird Recovery is a well written story that I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone, even if you are not an aviation fanatic like me. Thanks Gordon!

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April Fool's Day, 1992. Author Gordon R. Page receives a call from a business associate offering him the chance to travel to Russia in hopes of acquiring a rare World War II fighter plane. He's waited for this call for years—and it's not a joke. Packed with action, intrigue, and danger, Warbird Recovery delivers Page's gripping true story of his journey to Russia to recover the aircraft and fulfill a lifelong dream.In bitter winter conditions, Page journeys to St. Petersburg, Russia, in an attempt to recover a rare German Bf 109 fighter plane. But everything about traveling in the former Soviet Union only reinforces the vast differences between cultures. Placing a call, buying lunch, and even riding in a taxi—to say nothing of buying an aircraft—prove to be strange and dangerous.Putting his life at risk, Page discovers that he must learn to negotiate and have plenty of cash on hand to ensure both his safety and his return to the United States. Yet nothing can compare to the excitement he experiences upon finding lost aircraft. Unfortunately, chasing a childhood dream just might cost him his life.

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Twilight Warriors: Inside the World's Special Forces (Special Warfare) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is factually flawed and execrably written. the author can't even spell the names of some of his alleged primary sources (he cites Ron Yaw instead of Ron Yeaw; he cites Bucky Burruws instead of Bucky Burruss). He gets the specifics of the capture of Che Guevara wrong, making Felix Rodriguez a Green Beret instead of what he was, a b-contract foreign national cia agent operating under the cover name Felix Ramos Medina. The Green Beret involved in Che's capture was a Special Forces major named "Pappy" Shelton. he refers to the first co of Delta Force as Colonel "Charles" Beckwith. Beckwith was never known as Charles; he was always Charlie. he uses information from the marcinko bio, rogue warrior, as if he had actually interviewed marcinko, when he is simply appropriating copy from the book. He puts Marcinko on furlough from Petersburg prison in february, 1991, waiting for a federal marshal to take him back to prison. That is just plain fiction writing--and bad fiction at that. When Kuwait was liberated, marcinko was under lock and key at Petersburg. he gets so much information just plain wrong that one wonders whether or not his editors ever did any fact-checking on the manuscript, or ever checked his qualifications to write a book like this. Twilight Warriors is a third rate clip job that never deserved to get published in the first place.

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Every army has them. Every nation needs them. Now enter the world of...Twilight Warriors.Deadly Scud hunts in the Gulf War. Daring hostage rescue missions at London's Iranian Embassy and the Japanese Embassy in Peru. Special Forces go where no one else will...and do what no other army would dare...Now, in vivid, fascinating detail, journalist and counterterrorism expert Martin C. Arostegui tells their stories: secret training exercises in the Australian desert; pitched warfare in the Falklands, Northern Ireland, and the Middle East; and some of the most X-rated R&R strikes ever carried out around the world. From the weapons they use to the secrets they guard, this is the explosive story of the few, the elite, and the brave-- with the skill and daring to take on any enemy, any place, any time...Includes 8 pages of photographs!

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ALAN BRISTOW: HELICOPTER PIONEER: The Autobiography Review

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(More customer reviews)Some time ago one of my sons called to ask me some questions about the British army. It transpired that a new employee in his firm was, like myself, a retired army officer and my son was concerned that this man had a senior position of trust and was claiming to have done far more than seemed possible during that former career in uniform. I wonder if the call would have been made at all had that new colleague been Alan Bristow whose own real-life CV might have been instantly dismissed as pure fiction.
Alan Bristow died shortly after this biography was completed and, all things considered, we should be grateful for its completion. Survivor of two ships sinking under his feet in WW2, credited with shooting down two Stukas, one of the earliest British helicopter pilots, first man in the world to land a helicopter on a battleship, holder of the Croix de Guerre, veteran of many of the world's conflicts from WW2 onwards, flew air support for pirate whaling fleets as well as for oil workers in the Persian Gulf and much more besides. Everything this man accomplished and experienced led inexorably to his forming Bristow Helicopters, the largest helicopter company in the world outside the USA. Oh!, and he almost brought down Margaret Thatcher's government.
Alan Bristow lived a full and complete life and this autobiography discloses the detail of his life and his service to others as well as to himself. Above all it reveals his underlying adventurous spirit which dominated everything he undertook.
The book comprises 370 pages of often riveting text, with approx. 90 black and white photos which take the reader from those early days of service, to the various machines flown, right up to the latter days of boardroom, business and politics. It also has the most thorough Index!, which makes cross- reference so easy.
As far as biographies go, this is one of those very rare "5" Star products. For those who like helicopters, much of what you know is owed to this man, for those who admire adventurers, this man is your subject, for those who simply enjoy biographies, this man lived a life which has now provides an excellent read.
NM


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Alan Bristow, founder of Bristow Helicopters, died on April 26, 2009, seven days after completing his autobiography. He was a truly remarkable man; his full-page obituary was published in The Times and The Daily Telegraph. As a merchant navy officer cadet during the war Bristow survived two sinkings, played a part in the evacuation of Rangoon and was credited with shooting down two Stukas in North Africa. He joined the Fleet Air Arm and trained as one of the first British helicopter pilots, he was the first man to land a helicopter on a battleship and became Westland's first helicopter test pilot. Sacked for knocking out the sales manager, he flew in France, Holland, Algeria, Senegal and elsewhere, narrowly escaping many helicopter crashes before winning the Croix de Guerre evacuating wounded French soldiers in Indochina. For four years he flew for Aristotle Onassis's pirate whaling fleet in Antarctica before joining Douglas Bader and providing support services to oil drillers in the Persian Gulf. Out of that grew Bristow Helicopters Ltd, the largest helicopter company in the world outside America

Bristow's circle included the great helicopter pioneers such as Igor Sikorsky and Stan Hiller, test pilots like Harold Penrose and Bill Waterton, Sheiks and Shahs and political leaders, business giants like Lord Cayzer and Freddie Laker - with whom he tossed a coin for 67,000 in 1969 - and the author James Clavell, a lifelong friend whose book 'Whirlwind' was a fictionalized account of Bristow's overnight evacuation of his people and helicopters from revolutionary Iran. Bristow represented Great Britain at four in hand carriage driving with the Duke of Edinburgh and precipitated the 'Westland Affair' when he made a takeover bid which eventually led to the resignation of Michael Heseltine and Leon Brittain, and almost to the downfall of Margaret Thatcher.

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Vietnam: Us Uniforms in Colour Photographs (Europa Militaria, 13) Review

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(More customer reviews)A major collecting field today is clothing and equipment.
This is the third edition of a book I have had in my library for a number of years. It is an excellent set of images of models wearing the clothing and equipment recreations of soldiers as they appeared during various time periods of the Vietnam War.
Vietnam servic3 for the typical serving soldier was a one year tour, he would be not be cognizant of the changes that occured over the war's course. And the vast majority would not have cared about them.
In the early sixties, when major units begsn to arrive to. troops were wearing garishly tricked out cotton utilities of the post Korea Cold War which had color shoulder sleeve insignia, xonspicuous white name tapes, golden U.S. Army strips, and bright yellow stripes, making them easy to spot. When in the early seventies the last ground troops left the changes were considerable. The insignia for all combat uniforms was dudued, mostly black on OG, or black pinons.
Both the regular design green utiliy shirt and trousers set, and the khaki service uniform sets once made of cotton needing to be starched to look presentable for a rew hours before they were sweat-soaked, were vy the end made of wash-and-wear cloth known as Durapress.
The tropical combat coat had undergone two design changes, the tropical boot was ubiquitous. Individual equipment had changed considerably in design and in material, from cotton webbing and duck to nylon goods.
It is said iwtnam was not one eight year long war (twice as long as we were in WW II) but eight one year wars in a row. Thus it is not enough to state that a soldier was in Vietnam in order to know how he appeared; also you must know when and where and with whom he served.
There were lots of limited issue, mission-specific items used by special operations troops. These object alone form a major collecting field. Aemy aviation items are another. The largest Vietnam era collecting specialty nowadays is the clothing and individual equipmntof the ground troops--The "grunts". Major changes also had been made in the design and color of insignia worn on the field clothing. and in the cut, colors and materials of the clothing itself.
This book is far from definitive at its length but it is useful to show indicating the vast variety from time to time and place to place.

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Flights of Adventure Review

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(More customer reviews)If the purpose of a good book is to transport readers to new worlds, Flights of Adventure succeeds many times over, leading a journey from Middle America to the Middle East, Africa, South America, and, ultimately, the South Pole.
Anyone with a bit of the flying bug, or even just a traveling jones, should find something to love about this book, which features ten memoirs, all related to flying but told from very different perspectives.
The stories include the reminiscences of a wing-walking acrobat; a pair of essays by a father and his daughter about his love of flying; and a surreal, humorous account penned by the passenger - some might say "unwitting accomplice" - of a novice pilot who faked his way into soloing an ill-conceived flight over the Sierras in search of a weeklong camping trip/rave party in the desert.
Several chapters offer first-hand accounts of historical events. Marion Stegeman Hodgson writes about her days flying with the WASPs (Women Airforce Service Pilots), a little-known but important corps of female pilots who flew non-combat missions during World War II under the direction of the US Army Air Forces. Other military and commercial pilots contribute tales of flying in various world hot spots - Somalia, Beirut in 1983, Colombia during the search for notorious drug lord Pablo Escobar - while retired Navy pilot Paul Derocher details the thrills and perils of three years in the world's coldest spot: Antarctica.
The pilots in Antarctica could only fly to the South Pole a few months out of the year, when the temperature "warmed up" to 65 degrees below zero - the temperature below which their aircraft couldn't operate. For those of us who don't consider 65 degrees above zero to be especially warm, the idea of flying, or doing anything for that matter, in a place so cold is difficult to imagine.
One amusing image from the chapter involves a group of curious penguins crowding around an aircraft while the crew scurries aboard and quickly closes the door so the penguins couldn't follow. Apparently, if given half a chance, the flightless birds would love to see what they're missing.


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Who hasn't daydreamed of soaring above a South American rainforest, landing a float plane on a pristine Alaskan lake, or piloting a commercial airliner? Flights Of Adventure introduces the exciting, often harrowing, lifestyles of fighter pilots, wingwalkers, and men and women who brave the elements in the most barren places on the planet. This is a collection of real-life adventures to stir the blood of anyone who loves aviation-stories that are touching, humorous, exciting, and often dangerous or miraculous. Flights Of Adventure is as close as you can get to experiencing aerial adventure while keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground.

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Hunting Warbirds: The Obsessive Quest for the Lost Aircraft of World War II Review

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(More customer reviews)Author Hoffman did well in bringing the Kee Bird (B-29) renovate-to-fly story to the reader. His vivid character descriptions made one feel he was in a smoke filled, "expat" barroom alive with dreams and deals. However much like the Kee Bird herself, Mr. Hoffman's book failed to clear the runway and fly the reader to a satisfying landing. After the Kee Bird tale the author lapsed into a meandering style as he wrote of hohum tell-me-about-yourself visits with vintage aircraft collectors and relatively mundane (cf. the Kee Bird) aircraft recovery ops. Additionally, as noted by another reviewer, if you are a student of vintage aircraft you already know of the Hoffman tales via PBS, Discovey, and aeronautical periodicals.

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Marine Air Review

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(More customer reviews)As a former Marine and combat vet, I owe my life to a couple of Marine pilots out there. This is an incredible and highly entertaining read for those interested in aerial combat...or Marine Corps history. These accounts put you right in the cockpit. Robert Dorr has done a good job. Very informative and well written. Well done. Semper Fi to my flying brothers out there and thanks for giving me an oppotunity to praise you in this manner.

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The first fully illustrated oral history of the United States Marine Corps Air Force-the "Flying Leathernecks."The U.S. Marines generally inspire thoughts of a peerless ground force that has always bravely answered America's call to arms. But the Marines also have an air arm with a tradition every bit as proud and legendary as the ground infantry they support. Now, military historian Robert F. Dorr presents the first fully--llustrated oral history of the Marine Air Wingand gives the "Flying Leathernecks" the recognition they deserve. When America entered World War I in 1917, the Marine Air Wing had only thirty-five aviators. During World War II, it expanded to sixty-one squadrons--twenty with at least one flying ace--and over 10,000 pilots. Led by men like their top ace, Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, Marine planes ruled the air in the Pacific.Marine Air is a long-overdue, illustrated history-from WWI to Operation Iraqi Freedom. Filled with the Flying Leathernecks' own words and packed with photographs of the "the few, the proud" of the skies, this is the story of their unwavering commitment to protecting their comrades on the ground-and to defending the country they have never let down-no matter what the odds.

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In the Cockpit 2: Inside History-Making Aircraft of World War II Review

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(More customer reviews)Military history buffs will find much to interest them in this lavish photographic album of 34 incredible flying machines, remnants of the kamikaze attacks, blitz and other air battles of World War II, many now displayed in the Smithsonian and other national museums. Eleven full-color spreads alone feature the famous Enola Gay, back from its August 6, 1945, mission to bomb Hiroshima. Even before Enola Gay, the Douglas SBD-6 Dauntless (Slow But Deadly, as it was known) had turned the tide of the war in the Pacific by destroying almost half of Japan's aircraft carrier force, including the carriers set to launch Japan's Seiran (Clear Sky Storm) kamikaze attacks against the Panama Canal. Not only are American aircraft portrayed (including the Boeing Kaydet, on which an entire generation of pilots learned to fly), but aircraft from all theaters of the war: Britain's Spitfire; IL-2 Shturmovik, the signature aircraft of the Soviet Air Force and arguably the most influential tactical combat aircraft of the war; even the Fa 330 rotary wing kite, an aerial oddity designed to provide the Germans with U-Boat reconnaissance. //In the Cockpit 2// displays aircraft from a crucial period of military history and intense innovation in aeronautical technology.
Reviewed by Zara Raab

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In the Cockpit II: Inside History-Making Aircraft of World War II provides close-up access to the instrument panels, controls, and crew stations of 34 legendary World War II aircraft in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's impressive collection. Using a high-end digital camera with a wide-angle lens and complex shooting techniques that combine digital precision with manual dexterity, photographers Eric F. Long and Mark A. Avino expertly capture every detail of the cockpits, bringing them to life as never before. Insightful text by Smithsonian curators Roger D. Connor and Christopher T. Moore place each cockpit in historical context.

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At the Controls: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Book of Cockpits Review

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(More customer reviews)If you love aircraft, this is a book for you ! The photography of the cockpits is stunning. The information about the control and instruments of flying from the day Wright Brothers, to the Spirit of St. Louis, the Warbirds of WW II, to today's Spacecraft
is extraodinary ! I bought the book just to have a photo of the greenhouse of th B-29 Superfortress, my plane in WW II. I was not disapointed. A plus was a view of the A Squares of my 497th bomb Group, 73rd Wing of the 20th Air force in formation.

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This is perhaps the finest collection of cockpit photographs in existence. The National Air and Space Museum holds the world's premier collection of historic aircraft, but visitors to the museum must maintain a respectful distance. In At the Controls, NASM photographers Eric Long and Mark Avino use creative lighting techniques andphotography to duplicate the sensation of actually being at the controls inside the cockpit of 45 legendary aircraft, with access not only to the instrument panels but to the consoles as well. The reader experiences a pilot's-eye view. This book will be a treasured addition to every aviation library.
(20011124)

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Primary Target Review

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(More customer reviews)Never having read Joe Weber before I was a little dubious about the chance of his stories living up to other techno-military authors. Joe's book was gripping from the beginning page, excellently written with a story line that given todays global issues could certainly become true. Get this book today and you will not be disappointed!

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