Whatcha reading redux.

[308Mike]

I just finished reading Thud Ridge by Colonel Jack Broughton:



And if we had any USAF pilots or maintenance folks in our neighborhood, I'd sure like to shake their hands - particularly if they were supporting the fighter-bomber missions over Hanoi, or in our latest scrapes in Iraq and Afghanistan. We seem to have few USAF people around this area, which is mostly Navy and Marines (with a sprinkling of Army & Coasties here and there).

Now I've cracked open another flight book, but this one about the Huey's in Vietnam; titled Wings of the Eagle, by W.T. Grant (which gets a customer rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars total):



I'm reading the exact same book cover, and so far, I find the book very interesting, especially regarding the difference in the war while he was at Da Nang and then moving up to Marble Mountain (just outside Da Nang) verses what others were going through, and even getting killed, while he was sitting on his butt while the action was going on elsewhere (which he wanted to get into instead of being "in the rear with the gear"). He hasn't said as much, but I also wonder if he hadn't caught references to being a REMF while working at the base while others were out doing something more than shuttling VIPs around. Grant keeps asking and volunteering to be a member of the Alley Cats, a platoon of the Black Cats who are running gunships instead of slicks. So far, he hasn't had any luck since the gun platoon is all filled up but they recently lost a pilot, and one of his friends to hostile fire (a round went through the cockpit of his gunship and went through his pilot's helmet killing him instantly), and Grant wants to go out and kill a bunch of VC in retribution. Sorry, That's where I am in the book, and so far, it's a good book, and I've heard and read from MANY sources that W.T. Grant was a DAMNED GOOD helo pilot in 'Nam, and he pulled many people out of the fire while flying as cool as a refrigerated cucumber - saving MANY lives in the process.

Those are some of the reasons I am reading this book, besides personal recommendations from people I respect and admire.

If you have any other such books from either or both Desert Storm operations, Iraq operations, or anything else fairly recent (meaning Vietnam and more recent), I'd LOVE to see them. And yes, I've read and thoroughly enjoyed Ed Macy's "Apache" - which is simply incredible.



It's a book I recommend for anyone interested in military aviation and the current conflicts.

[Jered]

I find it interesting that you enjoyed the movie without reading the book, as my impression and discussion with folks at the theater was that if you hadn't read the book you'd be pretty lost as far as following the movie was concerned.

I didn't find the movie that hard to follow, although others I spoke to did, and it seemed they had much more problems and dislikes if they'd read the book than if they hadn't. I had no trouble following the movie, perhaps because I picked up on the subtleties of the movie which might have been far easier to identify in the book, and I didn't try to read too much into the movie other than taking much of certain things at face value (rather than trying to interpret it).

Unfortunately, one of the major problems with books is that there's NO WAY to create the same images each person has in their own minds regarding what they've read. It's an almost NO-WIN situation. The most you could hope for is to match the majority of people's perceptions and hope you get most of them right - the rest are going to be disillusioned or not happy with the way things occurred - which is something I never had to deal with having only seen the movie.

Certainly there were things in the movie which made little sense to me and if I read the book would have been very clear. So in those instances, I simply filed them away for future reference to see if they were cleared up and many of them were (but not all). Overall, I found the movie to be enjoyable and certainly one which you need to put aside reality and simply enjoy the movie. Once you've done that and can not be too critical, I found the movie entertaining enough that I bought the DVD.

I was VERY disappointed in the remake and have NO desire to buy the new one - it lacks imagination, even though the sci-fi film technical skills are better - the material isn't better nor is it presented better.

YMMV

The Dune Sequels that Frank Herbert wrote are pretty good.

After the Dune, though, I think that my favorite novel was Chapterhouse.

[MiddleAgedKen]

I liked all the Century Series, possibly excepting the F-101. One of the first model airplanes I built as a kid was the "battle-damaged" F-100 Super Sabre.

I like F-4s best of all, though. Back in the day, I bought IAF for the PC because it was about the only game in town that offered a player-flyable F-4.

[308Mike]

I've read Thud Ridge. Great book. It was the first book I'd ever read presenting a firsthand account of an attack pilots experience in 'Nam... fascinating stuff.

I read it when I was in my early teens, or maybe 12... made a real impact. I ended up reading it mostly because it had an arresting cover and title, given that I was (and still am) a big fan of the F105 Thunderchief; which I still think was one of the most underrated attack aircraft ever. The problem was never the airplane, it was the mission.

At the time, I had just finished gluing up a static model of the Thud, and used Broughtons aircraft for my paint job.

Thud Ridge was a GREAT book!! After reading your comments, I'm sure you're aware of Operation Bolo, where the USAF used the same jamming pods to make the NVA pilots think that they had a bunch of Thuds flying up at them like normal when in fact they were F-4's loaded for bear with air-to-air combat in mind, all headed up by our old friend, Gen. Robin Olds (at that time a Colonel), and they kicked the hell outta' the MIGs with their F-4s, when they were expecting bomb-laden Thuds instead!!

When Washington let our fangs and claws come out, the North Vietnamese suffered and squealed like a bunch of pants'd schoolgirls going commando. They HOWLED and cried but their real intentions came out when they refused to back down from what they were doing and make concessions at the peace talks. We KNOW the government screwed us right into the ground, and had we been allowed to hit the targets like we did in WWII, they would have capitulated within a month - but instead they played politics instead of war - and sine they were better at playing politics (and had the support of OUR media), we lost.

:jacked: Now these same turds are in power in Washington, and people are still listening to their BS and believing the government has an unending supply of money (after all, they can ALWAYS just print more) - using the same rationale that a credit card abuser does to keep tapping out all their cards until they're WAY in over their head for several lifetimes!!

So far, Wings of the Eagle has been highly entertaining, and I especially like the part where they're lifting a battalion of ARVN into an LZ but keep receiving fire until they're in the ground, eventually the lead aircraft gets hit and has to return to the LZ to set down and while downing so, one of the crew identifies the shooters as ARVN troops. One of the gunships announces that they're coming in HOT to suppress the fire and the local US adviser comes up on the radio saying: "Don't fire, that's friendly fire!!" The gunship responded by calling out (in a calm Texas drawl): "Roger, returning Friendly Fire" - and afterwards, there was no more fire on the aircraft for the rest of the troop lift.

Even my wife thought that was friggin' GREAT, about the pilot calling, "Roger, returning Friendly Fire!" She was busting up! She said, "HELL YES, I'D DO THE SAME THING!!"

[Rich]

I liked all the Century Series, possibly excepting the F-101. One of the first model airplanes I built as a kid was the "battle-damaged" F-100 Super Sabre.

I like F-4s best of all, though. Back in the day, I bought IAF for the PC because it was about the only game in town that offered a player-flyable F-4.

My first fighter type out of tech school was the RF-101 Voodoo. Very easy aircraft to work on compared to the F-105, F-4 and F-15.

Now, I understand the true fighter version and the interceptor version were a whole different kettle of fish.

I've tried building models of aircraft I've actually worked on, but I've worked on so many different types and so many variations within the type.

[randy]

[Operation Bolo, where the USAF used the same jamming pods to make the NVA pilots think that they had a bunch of Thuds

It wasn't just the Electronics, it was flight profile, routes, callsigns, airspeeds, turn radius, etc, a complete package to emulate a Thud strike en route to down town.

Sin Loi Charlie!

[randy]

I just finished reading Thud Ridge by Colonel Jack Broughton:

You also are going to want to read his follow up: Going Downtown: The War Against Hanoi and Washington which details the screw job he received for backing his pilots when a Soviet ship thought that firing on US aircraft was an amusing and risk free activity. That incident (IIRC) was mentioned briefly in Thud Ridge.

[Rich]

Might also get Rupert Red Two, Thunderbolts to Thunderchiefs. Which details the rest of his career.

Remember the story of the F-106 that landed itself (in a field) after the pilot ejected? Guess who was the skipper of that ADC squadron.

Very good read.

[308Mike]

I just finished reading Thud Ridge by Colonel Jack Broughton:

You also are going to want to read his follow up: Going Downtown: The War Against Hanoi and Washington which details the screw job he received for backing his pilots when a Soviet ship thought that firing on US aircraft was an amusing and risk free activity. That incident (IIRC) was mentioned briefly in Thud Ridge.

AYUP - it's the last paragraph in the book. He was put in for an Air Force Cross and instead got a general court-martial. Regarding writing about the incident in a new book, he says: "I haven't decided if I will call it "The Turkestan Incident" or "Hanoi and Back-Six Dollars a Round Trip."

I guess the paperback of "Going Downtown: The War Against Hanoi and Washington" must be out of print, since the price for a NEW copy at Amazon.com is listed for: $110.00. New hardcover is $30.88 - used is MUCH cheaper.

Thanks to you and Rich, I now have a couple more books to add to my list of desired books.

[randy]

Hey Mike, I know things are tight for you. I think I have a copy I'm willing to loan you. Shipping back and forth has got to be cheaper than $30. (Especially since I'll pay the shipping to you if you want to borrow it).