FROM A DARK SKY : The Story of U.S. Air Force Special Operations by Kelly, Orr

Novato 1996, Presidio, US First edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6x9, VG./VG condition, 340 pages, illus, bibliog, index. ------------------------------------------------Trained to swim like a Navy SEAL, fight like a member of the Army's Delta Force, parachute with the Rangers, and set up and operate an airfield behind enemy lines in the dark, air commandos perform among the most dangerous jobs of all the nation's special forces. Their expertise is flying close to the ground to deliver Army, Marine, or Navy fighting men to their target, keep them supplied and then bring them back out again.-------------------------------In From a Dark Sky: The Story of U.S. Air Force Special Operations military affairs specialist Orr Kelly tells for the first time the complete, uncensored history of Air Force special operations: a history that had been up to now shrouded in cover stories, secrecy, and deception. Whether they called themselves Air Commandos, Carpetbaggers, or Ravens, they were the ones called on to do the "impossible" jobs - that other Air Force units couldn't, or wouldn't, do.Whether these missions involved flying behind enemy lines or introducing unique new weapons such as the fixed-wing AC-47 gunship or the Pave Low helicopter, the air commandos have been a vital part of America's modem war-waging capability. Kelly describes the action going back to the 1940s when the Army Air Force provided aerial aid to anti-Nazi partisans and successfully extracted scores of downed American pilots. Helicopter insertion of agents into enemy territory during the Korean War, clandestine CIA missions in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, infiltrating intelligence teams during Desert Storm, and current-day operations throughout the world are all included in this exciting and unique history.