Aviation Books.....Must Read Tomes!
We had reports of some....never saw any.
The Snoul airstrip was really pretty....pretty green sod...wide...long...well marked. There were two French built light airplanes there when I showed up looking for my customers. I elected to leg it when I realized my Chinook made an enticing target.
The scary part is the NVA had lots of .51 AAA sites along the treeline down the runway and were in the area in mass as evidenced by the big shoot-out that occurred when the 11th Armored Cavalary finally showed up the next day.
Why the NVA let me get away will always be one of the unanswered questions of my life! We were all alone....no friendly troops on the ground....it describes the fire discipline of the NVA.....definitely good troops.
The Snoul airstrip was really pretty....pretty green sod...wide...long...well marked. There were two French built light airplanes there when I showed up looking for my customers. I elected to leg it when I realized my Chinook made an enticing target.
The scary part is the NVA had lots of .51 AAA sites along the treeline down the runway and were in the area in mass as evidenced by the big shoot-out that occurred when the 11th Armored Cavalary finally showed up the next day.
Why the NVA let me get away will always be one of the unanswered questions of my life! We were all alone....no friendly troops on the ground....it describes the fire discipline of the NVA.....definitely good troops.
That is Miss Jo, G-UHIH, Huey 509.....owned by Phil Connolly who keeps the old Lady near Blackpool.
Web site for them is www.huey.co.uk .
Phil, his wife Jo, and all the others involved deserve a lot of credit for what they have accomplished!
It is the smoothest flying Huey I have had the pleasure to fly.""
It was also the last helicopter I flew.....in the company of Flying Lawyer on a trip to Redhill from Blackpool.
What a way to finish up!
Web site for them is www.huey.co.uk .
Phil, his wife Jo, and all the others involved deserve a lot of credit for what they have accomplished!
It is the smoothest flying Huey I have had the pleasure to fly.""
It was also the last helicopter I flew.....in the company of Flying Lawyer on a trip to Redhill from Blackpool.
What a way to finish up!
Thanks for that SASless.. Very nice site they have and plenty of pics.. I managed to get tlking to his wife about his huey for a bit but didn't get talking to phil, he was getting ready to display her!
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Snuol
SASless
What a book we all could write on '71 Snuol, etc. Mil 4? Right under us one night @5nm north of Snuol just east of highway 13 - really large, slow moving rotor, multiple flat plate windscreens, darkish flat brown-green, long cylindrical tailboom, high set tail rotor, lights on only when very close, lights off on the other side. Big surprise. Obviously we reported it and got told it must have seen an OV-1 Mohawk. Having never seen a Soviet design helicopter I'm sure I got the description wrong!? OK, whatever.
Discovered via internet AA Bell 205 shot one or two down via door gunner; then realized I might not have been mistaken.
What a book we all could write on '71 Snuol, etc. Mil 4? Right under us one night @5nm north of Snuol just east of highway 13 - really large, slow moving rotor, multiple flat plate windscreens, darkish flat brown-green, long cylindrical tailboom, high set tail rotor, lights on only when very close, lights off on the other side. Big surprise. Obviously we reported it and got told it must have seen an OV-1 Mohawk. Having never seen a Soviet design helicopter I'm sure I got the description wrong!? OK, whatever.
Discovered via internet AA Bell 205 shot one or two down via door gunner; then realized I might not have been mistaken.
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Another excellent book that I'm coming to the end of:-
Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
F100 fast FACS in Vietnam. Told with some humility. Recommended.
Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
F100 fast FACS in Vietnam. Told with some humility. Recommended.
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Michael J Novosel
I was lucky enough to meet Michael Novosel in 2003. Whilst having a coffee he answered any questions I had about his experiences over his long flying career. As is found with people that are awarded their nations highest honours he just said that he was doing his job.
I have my personal signed copy of 'Dustoff' in a pride of place on my bookshelf, an excellent read.
Chickenhawk was a required read on my pilots course.
I have my personal signed copy of 'Dustoff' in a pride of place on my bookshelf, an excellent read.
Chickenhawk was a required read on my pilots course.
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Huey 509
Davy07, if you took the photo in Northern Ireland last summer then the display pilot was Neil Airey and the lady you spoke to was his partner, and not Jo.
H1HU.
H1HU.
Helicopters in action: SAR
I stumbled across "Rescue Pilot" last week, by Dan McKinnon (ISBN 0-07-139119-3).
Dan (ex Chairman of the CAB, President North American Airlines) joined the USN back in 1956, and had a fascinating time flying Piasecki HUP helicopters, related in this book. Scary stuff, worth it to read of his 62 rescuees picked up in just one 7 month cruise
Dan (ex Chairman of the CAB, President North American Airlines) joined the USN back in 1956, and had a fascinating time flying Piasecki HUP helicopters, related in this book. Scary stuff, worth it to read of his 62 rescuees picked up in just one 7 month cruise
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"The God Machine" by James R. Chiles.
I have personally met the author at the HELI-EXPO in Houston back in February.
The book goes through the history and development of the helicopter and its industry beginning from Leonardo da Vinci... Very interesting and different point of view of the world in which we live and work!
I have personally met the author at the HELI-EXPO in Houston back in February.
The book goes through the history and development of the helicopter and its industry beginning from Leonardo da Vinci... Very interesting and different point of view of the world in which we live and work!
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I don't think anybody has mentioned it yet but `Not a good day to die' by Sean Naylor is worth a look, it's an account of Operation Anaconda carried out by 101st Airborne and the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan March 2002.
It's been a while since I read it but two accounts from it I particularly remember,a Casevac by a Chinook where the crew took the machine to 170kts IAS which I'm guessing is well past vne (I've know experience on a Chinook,maybe someone who has could verify whether that's exceptional) and then perform somthing called an Australian Decel,(again no idea maybe somone else could help?).
Another account is of an Apache crew who get pretty badly shot up,land and discover amonst other things, a cracked main rotor blade and no oil in the MGB,whilst taking fire they empty their spare tins of oil into the MGB and set off on a 36min flight back to safety,apparently the GB can take 30mins with no oil, I won't ruin it incase you read it.
I thought it was good read, a good insight if nothing else into whats happening in Afghanistan.
It's been a while since I read it but two accounts from it I particularly remember,a Casevac by a Chinook where the crew took the machine to 170kts IAS which I'm guessing is well past vne (I've know experience on a Chinook,maybe someone who has could verify whether that's exceptional) and then perform somthing called an Australian Decel,(again no idea maybe somone else could help?).
Another account is of an Apache crew who get pretty badly shot up,land and discover amonst other things, a cracked main rotor blade and no oil in the MGB,whilst taking fire they empty their spare tins of oil into the MGB and set off on a 36min flight back to safety,apparently the GB can take 30mins with no oil, I won't ruin it incase you read it.
I thought it was good read, a good insight if nothing else into whats happening in Afghanistan.
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Great book
I simply have to recommend TO THE LIMIT by T. A JOHNSON, a really great read, about the Air Cav in Vietnam. Surprised it hasn't popped up in this thread earlier?. Better than Chickenhawk i reckon.
Cheers
Daver_777
Cheers
Daver_777
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There's a comprehensive thread not far away on the subject, perhaps one of the minders wouldn't mind doing a merge.
In the meantime you could start with the one about bein' a piano player in a whorehouse, it's kind of clandestine and gets better by the page, involves some of our threads funny personalities, in fact all sorts of odd bods are liable to jump out at you. It prepares you to be prepared to look over your shoulder, bit like real life in the rotary jungle.
cheers tet
In the meantime you could start with the one about bein' a piano player in a whorehouse, it's kind of clandestine and gets better by the page, involves some of our threads funny personalities, in fact all sorts of odd bods are liable to jump out at you. It prepares you to be prepared to look over your shoulder, bit like real life in the rotary jungle.
cheers tet
Just finished 'Apache Dawn', story of a flight tour to Helmand in summer 2007 by the Army Air Corps. Surprisingly well written, not the usual sensationalist nonsense. Have now passed onto my son in the hope that it gives him some inspiration.....
£10 hardcover from Tesco (that's a UK supermarket, if you're not a Brit).
£10 hardcover from Tesco (that's a UK supermarket, if you're not a Brit).
Apache by Ed Macy, one of the pilots who took part in the rescue at Jugroom Fort.
Book Description
An astonishing first book, Apache is a story of courage, comradeship, technology and tragedy, during the ongoing war in Afghanistan. 'Apache' is the first book to come from the cockpit of the most sophisticated fighting helicopter the world has ever known. Designed in the mid 1980s to take on the Soviets, these machines have proven themselves as the perfect tool for combat in Afghanistan. Ed Macy's account of the incredibly hard Apache selection process, tougher than that of the SAS, combined with his description of the sheer difficulty of flying one of these helicopters provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between man and machine fighting in the toughest conditions imaginable. The climactic build-up to the rescue mission at Jugroom Fort is both dramatic and deeply moving. The rescue of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford has been hailed as one of the most remarkable and daring rescues of modern wartime and Ed's bravery on the ground at Jugroom Fort led to him being awarded the Military Cross - one of the first in the Army Air Corps' history. Taking the reader right to the heart of the war in Afghanistan, 'Apache' offers an unprecedented degree of proximity to the action and horror that troops in the region are faced with on a daily basis. Gripping from the first page to the last, it is utterly compelling and impossible to put down.
An astonishing first book, Apache is a story of courage, comradeship, technology and tragedy, during the ongoing war in Afghanistan. 'Apache' is the first book to come from the cockpit of the most sophisticated fighting helicopter the world has ever known. Designed in the mid 1980s to take on the Soviets, these machines have proven themselves as the perfect tool for combat in Afghanistan. Ed Macy's account of the incredibly hard Apache selection process, tougher than that of the SAS, combined with his description of the sheer difficulty of flying one of these helicopters provides a fascinating insight into the relationship between man and machine fighting in the toughest conditions imaginable. The climactic build-up to the rescue mission at Jugroom Fort is both dramatic and deeply moving. The rescue of Lance Corporal Mathew Ford has been hailed as one of the most remarkable and daring rescues of modern wartime and Ed's bravery on the ground at Jugroom Fort led to him being awarded the Military Cross - one of the first in the Army Air Corps' history. Taking the reader right to the heart of the war in Afghanistan, 'Apache' offers an unprecedented degree of proximity to the action and horror that troops in the region are faced with on a daily basis. Gripping from the first page to the last, it is utterly compelling and impossible to put down.
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Cracking read.
In the process of reading '9 Lives' by David Courteney. Tells of his career in the Irish Air Corps, and his transition to SAR for the Irish Coastguard, via the North Sea.
Excellent read. Name checks one or two posters from here along the way.
Excellent read. Name checks one or two posters from here along the way.