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Book Review - Viper Pilot

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Old 12-30-2012, 03:01 PM
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Default Book Review - Viper Pilot

VERY GOOD book.....written by a pilot, his style of writing allows the reader to quickly put himself into the seat of the action. I read this book in one day.

Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat: Dan Hampton: 9780062130358: Amazon.com: Books
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Old 12-30-2012, 03:25 PM
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I agree. Its nice to have some good military aviation books that are about recent events. Magnum i also a great read about the gulf war. Fighter Pilot, the story of Robim Olds, is still the best bokk ever writen. Olds is the real deal and makes the fictional move Top Gun look like the Mickey Mouse show.
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Old 12-30-2012, 05:21 PM
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Default Book Review - Viper Pilot

I'll have to buy and read it. Thx for posting!
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Old 12-30-2012, 06:30 PM
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Not terribly recent, but a decent read. Written by a friend.



This book is based upon a journal Jim Schreiner kept during his deployment to the Persian Gulf region for Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. Building upon that record and the recollections of other F-4G Wild Weasel aircrew, the authors show a slice of what life and war was like during that time. The pawns in the game, the ones that had to actually do the fighting and dying were the hundreds of thousands of men and women who left their homes and families to live for seemingly endless months in the vast, trackless desert while the world stage-play unfolded. To them, the war was deeply personal. At times, the war was scary; at other times, it was funny as hell. Usually, if you survive the former, it turns into the latter.
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Old 12-30-2012, 07:01 PM
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Originally Posted by 11Fan View Post
Not terribly recent, but a decent read. Written by a friend.

+1 on Jim's book.

Due to TOS, I won't say why I would never read Viper Pilot. Save your money and time for Robin Olds, Bud Day, John Boyd, or "Bury Us Upside Down," the Misty FAC story.
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Old 12-30-2012, 08:56 PM
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Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer View Post
+1 on Jim's book.

Due to TOS, I won't say why I would never read Viper Pilot. Save your money and time for Robin Olds, Bud Day, John Boyd, or "Bury Us Upside Down," the Misty FAC story.
if you can't say it specifically, can you guide us to our own conclusion why you won't read Viper Pilot ?

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Old 12-31-2012, 02:46 AM
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+1,000,000 for Robin Olds' book... Can't recommend that enough.

I've been holding off on Viper Pilot until I hear some more reviews, I'll probably pick it up here soon though.

Here are some others I would recommend:
Sunday Punchers (about an A-6 attack squadron in the Vietnam war)
First In Last Out (About the Wild Weasels in Vietnam)
Thud Ridge (About Major Jack Broughton's time in 105s during Vietnam)
Warthog (Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War)
Black Aces High (Story of the first USN "Bombcat" squadron over Kosovo)
Hornets Over Kuwait (About bug-drivers during ODS)
A Nightmare's Prayer (A recent book I read... Pretty good account of CAS in Afghanistan)

...And this list doesn't even touch all of the great WW2 books out there. Anything written by Martin Bowman is a guaranteed quality read.
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Old 12-31-2012, 05:24 AM
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Originally Posted by satpak77 View Post
if you can't say it specifically, can you guide us to our own conclusion why you won't read Viper Pilot ?

Personal knowledge of some of his "service," and self-aggrandizement. Selective historical revisionism.
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Old 12-31-2012, 09:49 AM
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Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer View Post
Personal knowledge of some of his "service," and self-aggrandizement. Selective historical revisionism.
I too have heard this from some viper-drivers I talked to recently... One of the reasons I have been waiting to hear from others about this book.
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Old 12-31-2012, 11:59 AM
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Originally Posted by UAL T38 Phlyer View Post
Personal knowledge of some of his "service," and self-aggrandizement. Selective historical revisionism.
he plays up (or milks?) the Purple Heart award, altho he also admits either in the book or maybe on the internet somewhere that it was from flying debris that hit him when a wall or something got blown up by car bomb or IED or something. In other words, it wasn't like he was driving a Humvee into enemy territory and took rounds

all in all the book was a good read, I read it for free at the bookstore in one sitting. didn't intend to, just sat down to peruse it and I ended up reading it right then and there
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