Military Aviation

A fireball over the Arctic. A missing hydrogen bomb. A Cold War program exposed in a single, shattering night. Before dawn on January 21, 1968, a U.S. Air Force B-52G code-named HOBO 28 streaked across the polar sky carrying four thermonuclear weapons. Its mission—Operation Chrome Dome—kept nuclear-armed bombers in the air 24/7, ready to strike Moscow in minutes. But when a cockpit fire roared through the bomber at 41,000 feet, the crew faced an unthinkable choice: burn alive or bail out into −60 °F darkness. Minutes later a mushroom-shaped blast lit North Star Bay, scattering ...

A recon team is working the front line trace of defensive positions in the Donbas. Being sneaky is a prerequisite. Then all hell breaks loose when the team gets discovered. Tracers are flying, claymores are popping, and six men start running for their lives. Now someone needs to come and snatch the Deadheads from the jaws of death. Enter Jason Kane and Pole Dance Aviation to the rescue. OV10Js and A7 SUPER SLUFFs start screaming to save the team. Fat Amy gets a load of Shitheads to go to the rescue. There is even and old CIA contract pilot named Toly that's coming along for the ride! How ...

War in Korea! November 1950... Red China launches a full-scale attack to help North Korea crush South Korea and conquer the peninsula. Josef Stalin’s Soviet Union joins the fight by creating a “false flag” event to shift world opinion about America’s “police action,” alienate her allies, and ultimately trigger World War Three. But when Mao Tse-tung’s trusted interpreter, Marya Zhōu-Rostov, discovers her hometown on the Yalu River is ground zero for the “event,” she teams up with Flyboy and a CIA paramilitary team, risking life and limb to keep Stalin’s false flag from ...

This one-volume anthology provides a comprehensive analysis of the role that air power has played in military conflicts over the past century. Comprising 16 essays penned by a global cadre of leading military experts, A History of Air Warfare chronologically examines the utility of air power from World War I to the second Lebanon war, campaign by campaign.

ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH... U.S. Navy helicopter pilot, Admiral Johnny Jack McGirt, has never been one to back away from a challenge. Whether hanging his tail over the line flying missions that would give other pilots nightmares, or taking part in covert CIA operations, he’s always ready for the next impossible task. Now in the twilight of his naval career, Admiral McGirt is dispatched to Manila to coordinate the reestablishment of U.S. military bases in the Philippines as a counter to China’s growing military presence in the Pacific. But discussions come to a sudden halt when a ...

In a hidden base in China, Lieutenant General He Chen licks his wounds. The Devil Dragon project lies in ruins, thanks to the heroics of US Air Force Reserve Captain Ford Stevens and Stevens's best friend, pilot Wu Lee. But now Lee is gone, and as Stevens mourns the loss of his friend, Chen works to complete his second spy plane, codenamed Black Scorpion.

Uncover the quiet legacy of the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam—where courage soared above the jungle and history was written in the skies. From Operation Rolling Thunder to covert rescue missions behind enemy lines, Skyward Sentinels delivers a riveting, in-depth account of the United States Air Force (USAF) in the Vietnam War. This meticulously researched book sheds light on the overlooked aerial campaigns, pilots, and aircrews whose sacrifices were critical to the war’s outcome but often overshadowed in historical memory. Explore how American air power shaped the course of the war across ...

You lack control and just overshot your target… Nick ‘Caboose’ Evans would never admit in a million years that he’d screwed up letting Ivy out of his sights. She was a klutz, washing out of the Academy, nearly destroying government property in the process. He’d lost his temper and his girlfriend in one fell swoop… only to have her rear end his rental car the moment he got to Yonder. Swing around, flyboy, and prepare to take fire… Ivy Quinn saw red as her ex-boyfriend blew past her, driving much too fast. Now a police officer, it was almost enjoyable to pull Nick over… but ...

World War II is usually seen as a titanic land battle, decided by mass armies, most importantly those on the Eastern Front. Phillips Payson O'Brien shows us the war in a completely different light. In this compelling new history of the Allied path to victory, he argues that in terms of production, technology, and economic power, the war was far more a contest of air and sea than of land supremacy.

The A-10 has become an important element of CAS and FAC and is like the grizzled old-school soldier of the USAF. It's never been an aviation beauty queen, it's not super-fast, it's not even full to the brim of state of the art electronics. It just shows up, gets angry, scares the hell out enemy ground forces, and goes home. It’s nickname ‘Warthog’ says it all, angry looking and not the prettiest. But still the best ground attack aircraft in service and proven itself in Iraq and Afghanistan. The A-10 Thunderbolt II saw almost constant use in Afghanistan, proving itself yet again, as ...

How far will an American sniper go to save the lives of his fellow soldiers? Is there a line he will not cross? CIA officer Rene Granier heads up a covert team of specialists out to hunt down and annihilate the very heart of the Viet Cong. Will their merciless tactics shorten the war? Will it be worth the price? In 1966, the Vietnam War rages with no end in sight. The Americans try everything in their power to stop the flow of arms to the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces in the south, but nothing works. The generals at the Pentagon underestimated their enemy and the army of dedicated ...

Clear skies ahead… Jace 'Hot Cakes' Sorensen never had to try hard for anything. Flying came easy, like he was born in the cockpit of a plane. Life was smooth and women fell all over him… except Karen. Even her name should have warned him to stay clear. Turbulence detected! Karen Marks had met with irate men all her life – but usually at a parent-teacher conference. This macho know-it-all took the cake! Why did she ever agree to help her friend for some extra cash and fill her summer break? It wasn’t worth the headache dealing with Jace. She had to put up with him for one week. ...

The War Below is a dramatic account of extraordinary heroism, ingenuity, and perseverance—and the vital role American submarines played in winning the Pacific War. Focusing on the unique stories of the submarines Silversides, Drum, and Tang—and the men who skippered and crewed them—James Scott takes readers beneath the waves to experience the thrill of a direct hit on a merchant ship and the terror of depth charge attacks.

In 1967, something has changed, and not in a good way. For the first time, the communists are holding territory that they have captured near the borders of Laos and North Vietnam. It could be that the leaders in Hanoi want to secure supply and reinforcement routes into South Vietnam… or it could be something far more nefarious. The communists’ new strategy is an opportunity for the U.S. military and its allies to finally engage their enemy in a large-scale, set-piece battle that would allow American airpower and artillery to destroy a massive enemy force. It’s tempting bait. Such a ...

F-35 is the only inside look at the most advanced aircraft in the world and the historic project that built it, as told by those who were intimately involved in its design, testing, and production. Based on the authors' personal experience and over 100+ interviews, F-35 pulls back the curtain on one of the most heavily criticized government programs in history from start to finish.

He’s tasted the thrill of war in the skies. He can’t stay grounded now. From the award-winning author of the bestselling Journeyman Chronicles of the American Revolution comes Frank A. Mason’s gripping new WWII aviation saga that blends heart-pounding combat with unforgettable characters. Trip Gibson thought he left the war behind in Spain. Now back at Georgia Tech, he’s trying to live a normal life of football games, women, and fast cars…but the headlines from Europe are getting harder to ignore. When the siren call of the skies pulls him in again, Trip risks everything to chase ...

When the Marines decided to buy a helicopter-airplane hybrid "tiltrotor" called the V-22 Osprey, they saw it as their dream machine. The tiltrotor was the aviation equivalent of finding the Northwest Passage: an aircraft able to take off, land, and hover with the agility of a helicopter yet fly as fast and as far as an airplane. Many predicted it would reshape civilian aviation. The Marines saw it as key to their very survival. Opponents called it one of the worst boondoggles in Pentagon history.

In 1942, Norman Hanson learned to fly the Royal Navy's newest fighter: the US-built Chance Vought Corsair. Fast, rugged, and demanding to fly, it was an intimidating machine. But in the hands of its young Fleet Air Arm pilots, it also proved to be a lethal weapon. Posted to the South Pacific aboard HMS Illustrious, Hanson and his squadron took the fight to the Japanese. Facing a desperate and determined enemy, Kamikaze attacks, and the ever-present dangers of flying off a pitching carrier deck, death was never far away.

Evasive maneuvers – break hard right! Ryan ‘Reaper’ Merrick had a good reason to jump at the offer of a fake relationship as the beautiful stranger suggested. This would be an easy way to keep a crazy matchmaker off his back. All of his friends were happily married, so they assumed he should be. Fine. Whatever. Besides, being married for thirty days was nothing, wasn’t it? Caution! Grab the handles and punch out! Sophie Lane inherited the bed-and-breakfast, but only if she was married. She had to have a husband by Friday, or the family estate would be liquidated. The idea of losing ...

In this dramatic story of World War II, Jay A. Stout describes how the US built an air force of 2.3 million men after starting with 45,000 and defeated the world's best air force. In order to defeat Germany in World War II, the Allies needed to destroy the Third Reich's industry and invade its territory, but before they could effectively do either, they had to defeat the Luftwaffe, whose state-of-the-art aircraft and experienced pilots protected German industry and would batter any attempted invasion.