Life on the Line Vietnam Air Combat By Philip Chinnery
Life on the Line Vietnam Air Combat By Philip Chinnery
Hardback, with dust jacket very good condition, minor shelf/edge wear 256 pages Published by Blandford Press, 1988 ISBN: 0713719478
Three dozen airmen tell the story of the war in the skies over Vietnam. According to received wisdom, the grunts slogging through the jungles of Vietnam and fighting their way out of ambushes tended to envy their brothers in the air as above the battle, literally and figuratively. This disservice toward the air war is put to rights here by 36 airmen whose reminiscences are collected by Aeroplane Monthly contributor Chinnery. There are tales related by pilots of jets and helicopters of fighter, bomber and photo reconnaissance missions in which fliers tell of narrow escapes, of failures as well as successes, of ejecting from their craft into the jungle and the sea, and of POW camps. So much of the material is technical.
The influence of aviation on the Vietnam War was vast; this compilation of first-person accounts of action in the many types of aircraft over North and South Vietnam illuminate not only the technical and tactical factors of their use but the sometimes incredible courage displayed by their pilots. From down low in observer aircraft to seven-mile-high air-to-air refueling, the voices of these pilots and crewmen are wry, tense, capable, and instructive, as they recount their experiences. Nearly every episode is illustrated with photos, and small maps are included to mark the locales of the action. An appeal on behalf of missing in action and prisoners of war still not accounted for ends the work. There is no previous collection of first-person accounts by air crews in Vietnam.