Air Force War

When Cheryl Dietrich joined the US Air Force, she began a transformation from overweight introvert and military neophyte into one of the key personnel redesigning the structure of the Air Force within the Pentagon. In this stirring and revelatory memoir, Cheryl - one of only a hundred female officers of colonel rank or higher - explains what it takes to stay the course, overcome male domination issues, break the glass ceiling more than once, and deal with the political issues facing the Pentagon.

When Lyndon Baines Johnson wanted to go somewhere, there was no stopping him. This dynamic president called for Air Force One as others summon a taxi - at a moment's notice, whatever the hour or the weather. And the man who made sure that LBJ got his ride was General James U. Cross, the president's hand-picked pilot, top military assistant, and personal confidante. The only Air Force One pilot to have a position, simultaneously, in the White House, General Cross is also the only member of LBJ's inner circle who has not publicly offered his recollections of the president. Until now.

When American fighter jets were being downed at an unprecedented rate during the Vietnam War, the US Navy turned to a young lieutenant commander, Dan Pedersen, to figure out a way to reverse their dark fortune. On a shoestring budget and with little support, Pedersen picked eight of the finest pilots to help train a new generation to bend jets like the F-4 Phantom to their will and learn how to dogfight all over again.

Step back in time and hear my parents tell how things used to be back in simpler days before the internet and smartphones. Hear Dad tell about growing up on a farm in Cleburne County, Alabama, when running water meant you had to run and get it. Ride on a troop ship with him to Europe, not knowing what he would face in Nazi Germany. Find out what it was like to be right there in the middle of the sheer joy and mad celebrations when the war in Europe ended. Hear Mom tell about the hurts, fears and joys of raising her two children from the moments they were born until the oldest begins school....

Thinking about joining the Air Force, let me share my experiences with you so you know what to expect.

On America's newest combat base, U.S. Air Force aerial warfare expert Major General Patrick McLanahan and his crew of daring engineers are devising the air combat unit of the future. Known as Air Battle Force, it can launch concentrated, stealthy, precision-guided firepower to any spot on the globe within hours. And soon McLanahan and his warriors will have their first target.

This is an action-packed account of a foremost flyer's life with endless good stories and a colorful cast of characters to match. Rick's compelling recollections in Rate of Climb reveal a life of considerable achievement, in a very personal book capturing the ties of airmanship that the author has been privileged to share. A must for all lovers of derring-do in the air.

In his thrilling and incredibly thoughtful book, Colonel Bruce Hurd thrusts us into the private world of an accomplished military officer as he describes the trials and triumphs of his 30-year career in the Air Force. With courage and honesty, Colonel Hurd unveils the fears, disappointments, and shame he overcame to be a life-changing leader both at home and abroad. His wit and ability to see the big picture give us a new perspective on possibilities.

World War I saw the advent of combat aviation. Pilots from all over the world took to the skies in open-air biplanes armed with machine guns. They were daredevil pioneers. Newspapers filled pages with stories on the danger and heroism of aerial combat. The romance of hunting and evading enemies in the clouds turned ace fighter pilots into the equivalent of modern knights. This book contains first-hand history of the dawn of combat aviation in the First World War.

Diego Garcia is an island in the Indian Ocean. Technically a British Indian Ocean Territory, since 1966 it has been dominated by U.S. military facilities headed by Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia and its current 2,800 personnel. China’s lucrative trade route to Europe ran through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean. To help preserve European countries’ economies, the U.S. Navy established a quarantine against Chinese cargo vessels. This led to naval engagements between American and Chinese forces. Due to the inability to resolve the dispute diplomatically, ...

Born Kathleen to an immigrant Irish farming family in southern Ontario, Kit McNair has been a troublesome changeling since, at ten, they fell through the river ice and drowned—only to be nursed back to life by their mother's Celtic magic. A daredevil in boy's clothes, Kit chafes at every aspect of a farmgirl's life, driving that same mother to distraction with worry about where Kit will ever fit in. When Rebekah Kromer, an elegant German-Canadian doctor's daughter, moves to town with her parents in April 1939, Rebekah has no doubt as to who 19-year-old Kit is.

Candid and fast-paced like the best combat memoirs, Stanek focuses on the men and women he flew with, telling their stories as well as his own and creating what is ultimately an inspiring and uplifting story of the human spirit challenged by the agony and terror of war.

GPS, the satellite navigation system, was invented to guide Cold War missiles. It now lets us find our way, find each other, tell time, and track a billion things around the globe. We take it granted, like we do electricity, unaware of how it almost didn’t happen. Jim Carrier, a veteran science writer and filmmaker, contributor to the New York Times and the National Geographic, a transatlantic sailor, and a GPS entrepreneur, provides the first primer on the fascinating history and vital importance of this civilizing tool.

The late Van Slayden trained on the PT-3 kite-like biplane in 1937, but he learned fighter pilot operations flying "by the seat of his pants," walking away from five crashes. Shortly after the invasion of Normandy, he landed on Utah Beach to help establish a US Army Air Forces' (AAF's) presence in Europe. He flew the P-47 Thunderbolt, a fighter-bomber, in combat over Northern France and commanded the 36th Fighter Group—the "Fightin' 36th"—at Batogne, St. Vith, the Bridgehead at Remagen, Operations Grenade, Clarion, Varsity and other missions.

The riveting story of one of World War II’s most intense and desperate missions. Mission Aphrodite was a real-life, aerial Guns of Navarone scheme that called for volunteers to guide B-17 drone planes packed with explosives into Nazi V-2 rocket bases. The secret mission was carried out with reckless courage that ultimately cost many brave men’s lives including President John F. Kennedy’s elder brother Joseph Kennedy, Jr. This is the story of the most incredible mission of World War II, born in desperation and carried out with foolhardy courage and at the cost of brave men's lives: ...

Magnet Ass and the Stone-Cold Truck Hunters is a Vietnam war memoir about Captain Alan "Magnet Ass" Milacek, the "man who flew his plane on one wing". It is a war story. But it is also not a war story. It has everything to do with a white-hot mission over the Plain of Jars in 1970, for which 10 men earned The Mackay Trophy, one of history's most coveted aviation awards.

Pilot Brock flies through the chaos of the Vietnam War, driven by one goal: survive to marry his love. Amidst war’s unpredictability, his hopes remain unwavering. Can he navigate the storm and reach his forever?

Between 1918 and 1955, 60 airmen were awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and Two Bars. In this book, recorded for the first time together are the mini-biographies of those 60 along with the citations that accompanied their awards, or in some cases the recommendations for them. As the listener will discover, the range of airmen who received the DFC and Two Bars cover most of the ambit of World War II operations, be they fighter pilots, bomber pilots, night-fighter aircrew, aircrew navigators, engineers, etc, or reconnaissance pilots

In the high-stakes world of experimental fighter jets, only the elite survive. Lieutenant Peng Keppa is the Alliance's hotshot pilot, tasked with taming the volatile new Skydemon stealth interceptor. But when the jet's deadly prototype claims one of his comrades, Keppa must overcome his doubts to master the Skydemon's cutting-edge systems...or be its next victim. His skills are pushed to their limits when renegade Coalition stealth drones accidentally target the coastal city of Cape Town. With only an unarmed prototype at his disposal, Keppa must take the fight directly to the unmanned ...

The General’s dysfunctional home life drove him to apply to the Air Force Academy almost 40 years ago, where he was provided with a new family and sense of worth he had never gotten from his own father. This purpose has driven the General throughout his remarkable career, taking him to Alaska, the Pentagon, and Germany; to Florida during Hurricane Opal, and has also allowed him to work alongside Presidents Bush and Obama and Secretaries of Defense Leon Panetta and Ashton Carter. Journey is a book about leadership. It is packed with the General’s lessons from life in the military.