TALES OF A WAR PILOT by Kirkland, Richard C

Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press 1999, US first edition, hard bound in dust jacket, 6 x 9, FINE/FINE CONDITION, iii, 160 pages, illustrations -----------------------A World War II pilot is forced to bail out over the jungles of New Guinea, where he survives alligators, malaria, and cannibals. A young Australian woman tells a fighter pilot that she hates all Yanks because her brother has been shot down by an American—could the pilot be that same American? A huge, seemingly invincible Convair B-36 disappears on Valentine's Day, 1950, with an atomic bomb in its bay. At the 8055 MASH the real-life Hawkeye Pierce's habit of playing elaborate jokes on his comrades leads to a harrowing nighttime helicopter rescue—and to the pilot's being recommended for both a medal of valor and a court martial.--------------------------------------------------------------Vividly capturing the experiences of the author and his fellow airmen, these stories focus on the people who served in the United States air forces from World War II through the Korean War—their triumphs, humor, loves, and sometimes violent deaths. A pilot who flew 103 missions with the famed Flying Knights squadron in World War II, tested atomic bombs for the U.S. Air Force on Eniwetok Atoll, and flew sixty-nine helicopter rescue missions in the Korean War, Richard C. Kirkland recreates the riveting episodes and memorable characters that shaped his life between 1943 and 1953. He describes encounters with some of the top flying aces of his day, the indelible experience of victory in battle, and emotional rescues in the world's first military helicopters.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tales of a War Pilot encompasses two very different kinds of combat flying—the aggressive dogfights of the fighter pilot and the lifesaving missions of the unarmed helicopter pilot. More than just a memoir of events, the book provides a close-up look at how airmen behaved and survived during one of the century's most war-torn decades.