
Flying Camelot
The F-15, the F-16, and the Weaponization of Fighter Pilot Nostalgia (Battlegrounds: Cornell Studies in Military History)
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Chaz Allen
About this listen
Flying Camelot brings us back to the post-Vietnam era, when the US Air Force launched two new, state-of-the art fighter aircraft: the F-15 Eagle and the F-16 Fighting Falcon. Michael W. Hankins delves deep into the fighter pilot culture that gave rise to both designs, showing how a small but vocal group of pilots, engineers, and analysts in the Department of Defense weaponized their own culture to affect technological development and larger political change.
The design and advancement of the F-15 and F-16 reflected this group's nostalgic desire to recapture the best of World War I air combat. Known as the "Fighter Mafia", and later growing into the media savvy political powerhouse "Reform Movement", it believed that American weapons systems were too complicated and expensive, and thus vulnerable. The group's leader was Colonel John Boyd, a contentious former fighter pilot heralded as a messianic figure by many in its ranks. He and his group advocated for a shift in focus from the multi-role interceptors the Air Force had designed in the early Cold War towards specialized air-to-air combat dogfighters. Their influence stretched beyond design and into larger politicized debates about US national security, debates that still resonate today.
Flying Camelot deftly engages both popular culture and archives to animate the movement that shook the foundations of the Pentagon and Congress.
The book is published by Cornell University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.
"In this lively, absorbing account, Hankins demonstrates the influence of a specific culture that celebrated the fighter pilot as a "knight of the air." (Foreign Affairs)
"A fascinating look into the way fighter pilots shaped new machines to sustain old myths by styling themselves as knights of the air." (Tim Schultz, Naval War College)
©2021 Michael Wayne Hankins and Smithsonian Institution (P)2023 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
To Fly and Fight
- Memoirs of a Triple Ace
- By: Clarence E. Bud Anderson
- Narrated by: Joshua Katinger
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bud Anderson is a flyers flyer. The Californians enduring love of flying began in the 1920s with the planes that flew over his father's farm. In January 1942, he entered the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program.
-
-
Fantastic!!!
- By chris johnson on 07-24-23
-
Viper Pilot
- The Autobiography of One of America's Most Decorated Combat Pilots
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sure to rank as one of the greatest aviation memoirs ever written, Viper Pilot is an Air Force legend's thrilling eyewitness account of modern air warfare. From 1986 to 2006, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton was a leading member of the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is recognized as the most dangerous job in modern air combat. Weasels are the first planes sent into a war zone, flying deep behind enemy lines purposely seeking to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. They must skillfully evade being shot down - and then return to destroy the threats, thereby making the skies safe for everyone else to follow.
-
-
FINALLY A Pilot Tells it Like it is!!
- By aaron on 10-26-12
By: Dan Hampton
-
Skybreak
- The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1990: Iraqi forces under the command of Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. In response, the US military led a coalition of thirty-four nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm—a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. At the tip of the spear were the men of the US Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia, this book reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern aerial combat…as told by the men who lived it.
-
-
Great telling of the 58th
- By Gary on 01-02-25
By: Mike Guardia
-
Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
-
-
Weak
- By KL on 12-29-22
By: Buck Wyndham
-
How the War Was Won
- Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II
- By: Phillips Payson O'Brien
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 22 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Excellent history, but repetitive
- By Anna S. on 11-26-23
-
To Fly and Fight
- Memoirs of a Triple Ace
- By: Clarence E. Bud Anderson
- Narrated by: Joshua Katinger
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Bud Anderson is a flyers flyer. The Californians enduring love of flying began in the 1920s with the planes that flew over his father's farm. In January 1942, he entered the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program.
-
-
Fantastic!!!
- By chris johnson on 07-24-23
-
Viper Pilot
- The Autobiography of One of America's Most Decorated Combat Pilots
- By: Dan Hampton
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sure to rank as one of the greatest aviation memoirs ever written, Viper Pilot is an Air Force legend's thrilling eyewitness account of modern air warfare. From 1986 to 2006, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton was a leading member of the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is recognized as the most dangerous job in modern air combat. Weasels are the first planes sent into a war zone, flying deep behind enemy lines purposely seeking to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. They must skillfully evade being shot down - and then return to destroy the threats, thereby making the skies safe for everyone else to follow.
-
-
FINALLY A Pilot Tells it Like it is!!
- By aaron on 10-26-12
By: Dan Hampton
-
Skybreak
- The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
August 1990: Iraqi forces under the command of Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. In response, the US military led a coalition of thirty-four nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm—a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. At the tip of the spear were the men of the US Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia, this book reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern aerial combat…as told by the men who lived it.
-
-
Great telling of the 58th
- By Gary on 01-02-25
By: Mike Guardia
-
Skunk Works
- A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed
- By: Ben R. Rich, Leo Janos
- Narrated by: Pete Larkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, the never-before-told story behind America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies. Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds.
-
-
Ben Rich's life story...but not in that order
- By Allstar on 11-05-16
By: Ben R. Rich, and others
-
Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
-
-
Weak
- By KL on 12-29-22
By: Buck Wyndham
-
How the War Was Won
- Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II
- By: Phillips Payson O'Brien
- Narrated by: Peter Noble
- Length: 22 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Excellent history, but repetitive
- By Anna S. on 11-26-23
-
Midnight in Chernobyl
- By: Adam Higginbotham
- Narrated by: Jacques Roy
- Length: 13 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 25, 1986 in Chernobyl was a turning point in world history. The disaster not only changed the world’s perception of nuclear power and the science that spawned it, but also our understanding of the planet’s delicate ecology. With the images of the abandoned homes and playgrounds beyond the barbed wire of the 30-kilometer Exclusion Zone, the rusting graveyards of contaminated trucks and helicopters, the farmland lashed with black rain, the event fixed for all time the notion of radiation as an invisible killer.
-
-
Midnight in Chernobyl is the book to listen to.
- By NH on 03-21-19
-
Winkle
- The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot
- By: Paul Beaver
- Narrated by: Steve John Shepherd, Paul Beaver
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The life story and adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's greatest-ever pilot. Brown's extraordinary flying career saw him fight in the Battle of Britain, narrowly escape death on a torpedoed aircraft carrier, achieve a litany of new records and firsts as a test pilot, and fly more kinds of aircraft than any other pilot in history. With a life as remarkable as his flying, Brown faced imprisonment in Germany at the outbreak of WWII, and after the Allied victory his fluent German saw him interviewing senior Nazi officials and participating in the liberation of Belsen.
-
-
Terrific life story
- By Scotcat on 10-08-23
By: Paul Beaver
-
From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog
- Memoirs of a Cold War Fighter Pilot
- By: Steven K Ladd
- Narrated by: Jeff Bolton
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
You do not have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his 28-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through the narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia; Europe to the Middle East; linking the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot.
-
-
A 28 year history of Air Force fighter duty.
- By David H Milton on 07-09-22
By: Steven K Ladd
-
Leyte Gulf
- A New History of the World's Largest Sea Battle
- By: Mark E. Stille
- Narrated by: John Chancer
- Length: 14 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pacific War expert Mark Stille examines the key aspects of battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval encounter in history and probably the most decisive naval battle of the entire Pacific War, with new and insightful analysis and dismantles the myths surrounding the respective actions and overall performances of the two most important commanders in the battle, and the “lost victory” of the Japanese advance into Leyte Gulf that never happened.
-
-
Perhaps a little scholarly
- By Michael Kiehn on 11-14-24
By: Mark E. Stille
-
Barbarians at the Gate
- The Fall of RJR Nabisco
- By: Bryan Burrough, John Helyar
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 22 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A number-one New York Times best seller and arguably the best business narrative ever written, Barbarians at the Gate is the classic account of the fall of RJR Nabisco. An enduring masterpiece of investigative journalism by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, it includes a new afterword by the authors that brings this remarkable story of greed and double-dealings up to date 20 years after the famed deal.
-
-
Good book but too dense
- By Andrew M. on 08-01-21
By: Bryan Burrough, and others
-
Clean Sweep
- VIII Fighter Command Against the Luftwaffe, 1942–45
- By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, BrigGen Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson USAF (Ret.) - foreword
- Narrated by: Lance C. Fuller
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 7, 1942, two events of major military importance occurred on separate sides of the planet. In the South Pacific, the United States went on the offensive, landing the First Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In England, 12 B-17 bombers of the new Eighth Air Force’s 97th Bombardment Group bombed the Rouen–Sotteville railroad marshalling yards in France. While the mission was small, the aerial struggle that began that day would ultimately cost the United States more men killed and wounded by the end of the war in Europe than the Marines would lose in the Pacific War.
-
-
may be factual but poorly written
- By Bill Mackey on 01-08-24
By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, and others
-
The Art of Clear Thinking
- A Stealth Fighter Pilot's Timeless Rules for Making Tough Decisions
- By: Hasard Lee
- Narrated by: Hasard Lee
- Length: 6 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The training to become a fighter pilot is among the most competitive and difficult in the world with less than one-in-a-thousand succeeding. Pushing a cutting-edge jet to its limits at over 1,000 mph means that every split-second decision can have catastrophic consequences. This extreme environment has forged a group of warriors who for the last 50 years have been considered at the apex of decision-making theory and practice. In The Art of Clear Thinking Hasard Lee distills what he’s learned during his career flying some of the Air Force’s most advanced aircraft.
-
-
Great book on leadership. Every pilot needs to pick this up!
- By Panda_2454 on 05-26-23
By: Hasard Lee
-
Tomcat Fury
- A Combat History of the F-14
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 4 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than three decades, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat was the US Navy’s premier carrier-based, multirole fighter jet. From its harrowing combat missions over Libya to its appearance on the silver screen in movies like Top Gun and Executive Decision, the F-14 has become an icon of American air power. Now, for the first time in a single volume, Tomcat Fury explores the illustrious combat history of the F-14, from the Gulf of Sidra to the Iran-Iraq War to the skies over Afghanistan in the Global War on Terror.
-
-
I read this when it came out, also good as an audio.
- By S. H. Moore on 08-18-20
By: Mike Guardia
-
Stealth
- The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft
- By: Peter Westwick
- Narrated by: David de Vries
- Length: 7 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than 60 feet in length and with a wingspan of 40 feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.
-
-
Good Overview of the original development
- By Amazon Customer on 08-01-22
By: Peter Westwick
-
Ghosts of Baghdad
- Marine Corps Gunships on the Opening Days of the Iraq War
- By: USMC (Ret.) Colonel Eric Ferris Buer
- Narrated by: Kent Lutt
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the Cobra, hanging on tight as you’re hurled into the chaos of night combat operations. Step through an otherwise closed door and explore the emotions, physical danger, and successes that would shape a generation of aviators.
-
-
Good story, a little long. Narrator irritating.
- By A. Canavan on 11-18-23
-
The Kill Chain
- Defending America in the Future of High-Tech Warfare
- By: Christian Brose
- Narrated by: Christian Brose
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When we think about the future of war, the military and Washington and most everyone gets it backwards. We think in terms of buying single military systems, such as fighter jets or aircraft carriers. And when we think about modernizing those systems, we think about buying better versions of the same things. But what really matters is not the single system but "the battle network"—the collection of sensors and shooters that enables a military to find an enemy system, target it, and attack it.
-
-
important message but repetitive
- By Tomas Singliar on 06-06-20
By: Christian Brose
-
Team of Teams
- New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World
- By: General Stanley McChrystal, Tantum Collins, David Silverman, and others
- Narrated by: Paul Michael
- Length: 12 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The retired four-star general and and best-selling author of My Share of the Task shares a powerful new leadership model. Former General Stanley McChrystal held a key position for much of the War on Terror, as head of the Joint Special Operations Command. In Iraq, he found that despite the vastly superior resources, manpower, and training of the US Military, Al Qaeda had an advantage because of its structure as a loose network of small, independent cells. To defeat such an agile enemy, JSOC had to change its focus from efficiency to adaptability.
-
-
excellent book, very informative.
- By J.J. Gardona on 08-24-15
By: General Stanley McChrystal, and others
What listeners say about Flying Camelot
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ron
- 12-15-23
If you read Boyd’s book, this is the antithesis.
It seems like this book was written to not only hammer the fighter pilot ethos, but to discredit or slight Boyd at every turn. It’s an interesting study into the ideas the author has, but it’s so slanted that it’s hard to concentrate. It also sounds like it was recorded on a phone booth.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful