From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog

Author: Steve Ladd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526761254
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 269

Book Description
This behind-the-scenes account of a USAF career is “an absorbing read, written with the classic humor fighter pilots seem to have” (Flight Line Book Review). From Baron von Richthofen to Robin Olds, the mystique of the fighter pilot endures. The skill, cunning, and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers is well known, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve—until now. You don’t have to be an aviation aficionado to enjoy Colonel Steve Ladd’s fascinating personal tale, woven around his twenty-eight-year career as a fighter pilot. This extremely engaging account follows a young man from basic pilot training to senior command through narratives that define a unique ethos. From the United States to Southeast Asia, Europe to the Middle East, the amusing and tongue-in-cheek to the deadly serious and poignant, this is the lifelong journey of a fighter pilot. The anecdotes are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous, and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. “This book will appeal to a variety of readers with its Vietnam War combat stories and accounts of flying the Warthog in Cold War Europe. Fun, flying, international experiences—you won’t want to put it down.” —Aviation News

From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog

Author: Steven K Ladd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526761270
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Fighter pilots! Images of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker in the Great War, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Stanford Tuck and Richard Bong in the Second World War, or Robin Olds in Vietnam, all spring to mind. Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve – until now. 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. The anecdotes provided are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog is a terrific read: the legacy of a fighter pilot.

Engineering the F-4 Phantom II

Author: Glenn E. Bugos
Publisher: US Naval Institute Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Book Description
Conceived in 1953 in a chickenwire-covered cubicle known as the advanced design cage at McDonnell Aircraft, the F-4 Phantom II fighter-bomber was produced for 25 years, serving a full workload in Vietnam for the Navy, Marines, and Air Force, and surviving through the 1990s in the air arms of eleven nations. While most case studies of modern aircraft focus on the many ways the military-industrial complex goes wrong, this trenchant, invigorating study looks deeper at how those who built the complex intended it to work. Step by step the reader discovers how the relationships among parts, systems, procedures, economies, and missions were shaped by relationships among people - scientists, engineers, testers, program managers, subcontractors, military strategists, pilots and corporate leaders. Drawing on exhaustive research, including interviews with key players, the author makes a major advance in the burgeoning body of literature on technology management by showing how McDonnell worked through the problems of technical integration that plagued defense engineering in the 1960s and 1970s and led to programs full of "complexity". It is as much a study of how aircraft manufacturers and military officers went about their business as it is a life-and-times history of an important aircraft.

Sierra Hotel : flying Air Force fighters in the decade after Vietnam

Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990488
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228

Book Description
In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C.R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions.

Summary of Colonel Steve Ladd's From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog

Author: Everest Media,
Publisher: Everest Media LLC
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 59

Book Description
Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The Air Force was able to produce 3,500 pilots in 1967, and I entered the service in 1966. My road to an F-4 cockpit began in 1966, my final year at the University of South Carolina, where I was enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps. #2 I had passed the five specific areas of the Air Force recruiting test: pilot, navigator, academic aptitude, verbal, and quantitative (math). I was excited to be a potential candidate for pilot training and a chance to wear the coveted silver wings. #3 I was ordered to Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia. I was disappointed that the base wasn’t conducive to the debauchery and uninterrupted hell-raising I had planned for my pilot training experience. #4 I rewarded myself by buying a shiny new British racing green Austin Healey 3000, which I could not afford. I set sail for Moody Patch, where the road to aviation fame and glory began in a classroom. I was introduced to the delights of flight theory, aircraft systems, and flight planning.

From F-4 Phantom to A-10 Warthog

Author: Steven K Ladd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 9781526797957
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 320

Book Description
Fighter pilots! Images of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker in the Great War, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Stanford Tuck and Richard Bong in the Second World War, or Robin Olds in Vietnam, all spring to mind. Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and bravery that characterizes this distinctive band of brothers, but there are other dimensions to those who take to the skies to do battle that have not been given the emphasis they deserve - until now. 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. The anecdotes provided are absorbing, providing an insight into life as an Air Force pilot, but, in this book, as Colonel Ladd stresses, the focus is not on fireworks or stirring tales of derring-do. Instead, this is an articulate and absorbing account of what life is really like among a rare breed of arrogant, cocky, boisterous and fun-loving young men who readily transform into steely professionals at the controls of a fighter aircraft. Phantom to Warthog is a terrific read: the legacy of a fighter pilot.

Phantom in the Cold War

Author: David Gledhill
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1526704102
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504

Book Description
An RAF veteran presents an in-depth study of one of the Cold War’s most effective fighter, defense, and reconnaissance planes. The McDonnell Douglas F4 Phantom was a true multi-role combat aircraft. Introduced into the Royal Air Force in 1968, it was employed in ground attack, air reconnaissance and air defense roles. Even after the arrival of the Jaguar in the early 1970s, it continued to play a significant role in air defense. In its heyday, the Phantom was Britain’s principal Cold War fighter. There were seven UK-based squadrons, two Germany-based squadrons, and a further Squadron deployed to the Falkland Islands. Phantom in the Cold War focuses on the aircraft’s role as an air defense fighter, exploring its contribution to the Second Allied Tactical Air Force at RAF Wildenrath during the Cold War. Author David Gledhill, who flew the Phantom operationally, also recounts the thrills, challenges, and consequences of operating this temperamental jet at extreme low-level over the West German countryside, preparing for a war which everyone hoped would never happen.

Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II

Author: Peter C. Smith
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 9781526759269
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
The Fairchild-Republic A-10A Close Support aircraft has become a legend over its long front line life. Known as the Warthog due to her unusual appearance, this little aircraft has built up an awesome reputation in the specialised ground-attack role, where her accuracy and deadliness are widely recognised as the best of their kind.Hard lessons from the Second World War, that were reinforced by the bitter experience of the Vietnam War two decades later, showed that it was both impracticable and highly non-cost efficient to use supersonic fighter jets in the close air support mission. A requirement was therefore drawn up for an aeroplane capable of carrying a heavy and varied load of ordnance, which had good endurance and unprecedented manoeuvrability, and which could survive heavy ground fire - thus the A-10 was born. But, by the time it came into service her role had changed to that of a tank-buster in the defence of Western Europe in the face of the overwhelming numbers of Soviet battle armour.With her straight wing, twin tails and turbine engines mounted high on her rear fuselage, this single-seat aircraft certainly presented a unique appearance. But all these features served a vital role, as Peter C. Smith explains in this highly detailed study.Although the Warthog's expected missions on the plains of Germany did not materialise, she did destroy hundreds of Soviet-built tanks during the Gulf wars. The A-10 has also flown almost continuous missions over the Balkans, against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and ISIS in Iraq and Syria.In this beautifully-illustrated and comprehensive volume, Peter C Smith brings the A-10's incredible story right up to date.

Palace Cobra

Author: Ed Rasimus
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312948764
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 366

Book Description
Picking up where the acclaimed "When Thunder Rolled" leaves off, the author pens a riveting memoir of his service as an experienced combat pilot in the waning days of the Vietnam War. photos. Martins Press.

Modern Taiwanese Air Power

Author: Roy Choo
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781950394036
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

Book Description
The sovereign status of Taiwan - or the Republic of China - has been a source of instability in the Asia-Pacific region for much of the last 70 years. While Taiwan aspires to be an independent and democratic nation, the communist-led People's Republic of China sees it as a breakaway province. With Beijing flexing its muscles in recent years amid rising tensions between China and the US, the potential for a military flashpoint along the narrow Taiwan Strait cannot be overstated.The strategy of the Republic of China Armed Forces is to present Beijing with a credible deterrent, and should this fail, defend against a People's Liberation Army attack and possible invasion. The Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) is charged with the defence of airspace over and around Taiwan and enabling military operations in land and sea domains. If necessary, it could also take the battle into China as part of a multi-pronged offensive effort.While the ROCAF is relatively well-equipped and trained, attempts to modernise have been hit by political and fiscal challenges. The ROCAF has made some headway with mid-life upgrades for the majority of its more than 20-year-old fighter fleet and will receive a much-needed boost with the introduction of F-16C/D Block 70s in the coming years. However, it still lacks many force-multiplier capabilities such as aerial refuelling and electronic warfare. Amid qualitative and quantitative improvements to the PLA air combat fleets, the military balance across the Taiwan Strait continues to tip towards Mainland China.This book provides a comprehensive study of Taiwan's air force with in-depth analysis backed by high-quality images. It examines ROCAF combat capabilities today, its aircraft fleet, and what the future holds for the air arm.