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To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace
A top fighter pilot tells the story of a life in aviation, from World War II fighter combat to years of dangerous test-piloting
Hardcover
First published November 1, 1990
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407 people want to read
About the author
Clarence E. Anderson
4 books4 followersColonel Clarence Emil "Bud" Anderson, USAF
Veteran of World War II and the Vietnam War, with a total of 30 years service in the USAAF and USAF. Credited with 16 aerial victories during WWII, making him a "triple ace." Recipient of the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, and, from France, the Croix de Guerre with Palm. In total, he was decorated 25 times. Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
Veteran of World War II and the Vietnam War, with a total of 30 years service in the USAAF and USAF. Credited with 16 aerial victories during WWII, making him a "triple ace." Recipient of the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, and, from France, the Croix de Guerre with Palm. In total, he was decorated 25 times. Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
September 7, 2008
Hey, this is a local guy who went out and lived BIG on the edge and speaks modestly of his life.
January 2, 2020
Well paced and well written. This memoir is a must read for anyone interested in aviation history.
June 14, 2011
I found this a very enjoyable book, full of 'war stories' and reminiscence of days gone by in the life of Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson. There is nothing profound here, just a great recollection of experiences of one of America's great combat aces. It's a 5-star for airplane fanatics, 4-star for war buffs, and worth three for everyone else.
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July 2, 2017The short version first . . .
The veterans of the Second World War are generally at least 80 years old, now; and, many are more than 90. Therefore, the reader interested in the memories and biographies of those intrepid airmen are able to read about both those with whom they are familiar as well as those who accomplished great things in their careers in flight during the “golden age” of the transitions from reciprocating to turbojet and even rocket propulsion, from hot shooting wars to cold less shooting, more reconnaissance missions and ground troop, close air support missions, and from the atmosphere of their home planet to the near vacuum of the fringes of outer space. Some have passed away, some have retired to private life, and some have taken the opportunity and shared with us their stories of their exploits in the Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and possibly even the war in Vietnam. Some flew in various flight test programs with familiar names like Edwards AFB, Nevada, or Patuxent River, Maryland, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, or with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, North American, Lockheed, Martin-Marietta, or Bell. For a special group of these aviators, they did it all. The focus of this review is the autobiographical memoirs of Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson. author of To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace
With the assistance of respected, experienced author, Joseph P. Hamelin, Colonel Anderson recounts the stories of his exploits in the air which started when he was a youngster growing up in the farming communities in the central California farm country where his family owned a farm and were modestly successful in that endeavor. With his face sunward, Colonel “Bud” Anderson paid a lot of attention to the planes that were flying in the skies over one of the more active airplane manufacturing areas in the United States. One thing led to another, in such a way, that “Bud” was able to get a civilian pilots license, enough college credit to become a certified airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corps, and enough aeronautical engineering and experience in working on airplanes to qualify to be considered as a candidate to the Flight Testing Center at Edwards AFB, then Muroc Testing Center.
His flying career started with his college coursework as well as his mechanic work at various airports wherever he could lend a hand. He spent most of his time in the areas around San Francisco, the Napa V Valley, and along the central California coast. When he wasn’t fixing planes, or going to school, he was flying planes getting his civilian general aviation basic aviation license certifying him to be able to fly general, small, single-engine planes. His personal favorite was the Piper J-3 Cub, a single engine plane with a large wing above the fuselage. In fairly rapid succession, “Bud” was able to get a civilian pilot’s license, sign up for the Army as a cadet flight candidate, a certification which would be put to much use in “Bud” ’s history with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II as well as with the U.S. Air Force once it became a separate, but equal branch of the armed forces of the United States. He started his Air Corps career shortly after getting the other licensure for which he already applied, attended schools, and passed with flying colors. His initial assignment was to perform routine search and assistance missions during the early part of World War II as a part of the defense plan for the West Coast, for which the units doing the same work as “Bud” did, were the “tip of the spear” after the disastrous 12-7-41 Pearl Harbor surprise attack by the Japanese. He would fly the Bell P-39 Airacobra during these missions, assigned to the 238th Fighter Squadron based at Oakland Municipal airport. There were usually 5 of 8 airplanes operational at any one time, with a flight roster of 25 to 30 pilots depending on who was going overseas next as replacements for those injured or otherwise unable to fly.
Based largely on his experience in the 238th, “Bud” was assigned to transit to England as a replacement flier in the waning days of 1943, in the 357th Fighter Group, a bomber escort group flying the second model of the North American P-51 Mustang. The -B model. available at that time, proved to be quite the scrappy plane with lots of speed, solid armament with 4, Browning 50-caliber machine guns, and the legs to keep up with the bomber streams they escorted all the way to and returning from the deep penetration raids being waged to soften up Germany prior to the 6-6-44 D-Day invasion of Western Europe. As production ramped up for the newer model -C, and the iconic, -D models of the P-51, the 357th found that they were usually a unit that could ask for newer hardware and manage it well. The 357th had a reputation of a group that took care of its planes. The fact both “Bud” Anderson and “Chuck” Yeager were both mechanics on earlier pursuit (fighter) types of planes like the Airacobra, they had a good maintenance record and were noted as pilots who took care of their planes. Several pilots from the West Coast took advantage of those opportunities which made them top candidates to send overseas since they know how to fly and fight their planes. “Bud” came out of the war with 15 victories, and 1 probable (making him a triple ace) over enemy aircraft including the Me-262 of the Luftwaffe.
“Bud” would serve for several different organizations at the Muroc Dry Lake Bed, eventually a part of Edwards AFB, home of the Air Force Flight Test Center. He also served a tour of duty during the Korean Conflict in the early 1950s, as well as a tour of duty in Vietnam as commander of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Tahkli, Thailand, where he led and flewg F-105 Thunderchiefs on close air support missions for Army and other units under enemy fire. He worked with McDonnell Douglas, serving in several of their corporate positions at their Edwards AFB field office. He was decorated 25 times encompassing all of his time in the Air Corps and the Air Force.
This is a great book if you are not used to the rigor that appear from other authors. Missing in this book are the indices, the end notes and supporting footnotes providing references and citations for further research and study. Missing also are the bibliographical materials, citation references, and other items that mark “historical” and “scholarly” works of the biography genre. So why did I read this book? Why did I go against all of the “traditional” expectations I always have for books of the biography genre? It is really simple. This book was written for people who can understand what flight is all about. There is a freedom, a sense of being more than you can be, a release from the constraints of gravity, a “dancing on the mirth of sun-split clouds . . .” You see, flight written about by pilots, men and women who have been there as a participant not a passenger, they know that the book is not about some cold, smelly, old collection of books somewhere or the other. No!!! Flight is about just that and nothing else. Okay, so I missed all the neat collections of information in reasoned order, and the trappings of a great bibliography. Those are window dressing to a book like this. This is a book about fighters, the fastest planes in Earth’s atmosphere. The only things that go faster have to get out of the atmosphere to do that, and going that fast, they have to have shielding to keep them burning up on the trip back down to the ground.
No, this is a book about pilots and their adventures, plain and simple. Considering what they do and how they do it, simple is not the right word. It is a complex choreography that goes on in a cockpit with a pilot who knows his stuff. That should be true about anyone who writes, unless you are writing fictional works with unusual settings and unique characters, like in the genres of science fiction or fantasy. There you may be loosely bound to the constraints of modern science if you want your work to be even partially believable. So, yes I really did want an index in here as well as a reference section. There were excellent quotations from interviews which appeared in each chapter. Acknowledgements and very nicely written foreword by [author : Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, Brigadier General, USAF|162674]. You can’t get much better press than to have your element lead writing for your book! That’s way too cool for words, after that is “THE” Chuck Yeager, as in the first man to ever fly faster than the speed of sound, officially! As you can tell, for flight, aviation pioneers, and some other things like fluffy kittens and cute dogs, I will sacrifice most anything to keep them happy! Still and all, it was a great book about flying in general, ahd fighting while flying snuck in for some spice and heat!
Recommendations? Well, aside from the criticism above, and it really isn’t critical, it’s more of, it would have been even nicer if. . . kinds of things, seriously, this book was well written, superb storytelling from someone who has stories that they remember and that they tell with consummate vigor, élan, and panache. Written at a level that just about any reader can understand and enjoy if pilot tales and lots of planes doing lots of flying, then this book is definitely for you. As it stands, flying book by pilot with stories to tell, many of them very illuminating, this is one of those “must” reads. Considering what a true aviation fan I am, it was absolutely on my list, Chuck Yeager’s wingman tells his story, absolutely I was all over that!!!! Happy trails; this one was one of my favorites of all time!!!
Review of To Fly and Fight by Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson, Col. USAF, Ret. by Richard Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19662752-to-fly-and-fight.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.tobem.com/aviation/tag/pacifica-military-
The veterans of the Second World War are generally at least 80 years old, now; and, many are more than 90. Therefore, the reader interested in the memories and biographies of those intrepid airmen are able to read about both those with whom they are familiar as well as those who accomplished great things in their careers in flight during the “golden age” of the transitions from reciprocating to turbojet and even rocket propulsion, from hot shooting wars to cold less shooting, more reconnaissance missions and ground troop, close air support missions, and from the atmosphere of their home planet to the near vacuum of the fringes of outer space. Some have passed away, some have retired to private life, and some have taken the opportunity and shared with us their stories of their exploits in the Second World War, the Korean Conflict, and possibly even the war in Vietnam. Some flew in various flight test programs with familiar names like Edwards AFB, Nevada, or Patuxent River, Maryland, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, or with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing, North American, Lockheed, Martin-Marietta, or Bell. For a special group of these aviators, they did it all. The focus of this review is the autobiographical memoirs of Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson. author of To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace
With the assistance of respected, experienced author, Joseph P. Hamelin, Colonel Anderson recounts the stories of his exploits in the air which started when he was a youngster growing up in the farming communities in the central California farm country where his family owned a farm and were modestly successful in that endeavor. With his face sunward, Colonel “Bud” Anderson paid a lot of attention to the planes that were flying in the skies over one of the more active airplane manufacturing areas in the United States. One thing led to another, in such a way, that “Bud” was able to get a civilian pilots license, enough college credit to become a certified airplane mechanic for the Army Air Corps, and enough aeronautical engineering and experience in working on airplanes to qualify to be considered as a candidate to the Flight Testing Center at Edwards AFB, then Muroc Testing Center.
His flying career started with his college coursework as well as his mechanic work at various airports wherever he could lend a hand. He spent most of his time in the areas around San Francisco, the Napa V Valley, and along the central California coast. When he wasn’t fixing planes, or going to school, he was flying planes getting his civilian general aviation basic aviation license certifying him to be able to fly general, small, single-engine planes. His personal favorite was the Piper J-3 Cub, a single engine plane with a large wing above the fuselage. In fairly rapid succession, “Bud” was able to get a civilian pilot’s license, sign up for the Army as a cadet flight candidate, a certification which would be put to much use in “Bud” ’s history with the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II as well as with the U.S. Air Force once it became a separate, but equal branch of the armed forces of the United States. He started his Air Corps career shortly after getting the other licensure for which he already applied, attended schools, and passed with flying colors. His initial assignment was to perform routine search and assistance missions during the early part of World War II as a part of the defense plan for the West Coast, for which the units doing the same work as “Bud” did, were the “tip of the spear” after the disastrous 12-7-41 Pearl Harbor surprise attack by the Japanese. He would fly the Bell P-39 Airacobra during these missions, assigned to the 238th Fighter Squadron based at Oakland Municipal airport. There were usually 5 of 8 airplanes operational at any one time, with a flight roster of 25 to 30 pilots depending on who was going overseas next as replacements for those injured or otherwise unable to fly.
Based largely on his experience in the 238th, “Bud” was assigned to transit to England as a replacement flier in the waning days of 1943, in the 357th Fighter Group, a bomber escort group flying the second model of the North American P-51 Mustang. The -B model. available at that time, proved to be quite the scrappy plane with lots of speed, solid armament with 4, Browning 50-caliber machine guns, and the legs to keep up with the bomber streams they escorted all the way to and returning from the deep penetration raids being waged to soften up Germany prior to the 6-6-44 D-Day invasion of Western Europe. As production ramped up for the newer model -C, and the iconic, -D models of the P-51, the 357th found that they were usually a unit that could ask for newer hardware and manage it well. The 357th had a reputation of a group that took care of its planes. The fact both “Bud” Anderson and “Chuck” Yeager were both mechanics on earlier pursuit (fighter) types of planes like the Airacobra, they had a good maintenance record and were noted as pilots who took care of their planes. Several pilots from the West Coast took advantage of those opportunities which made them top candidates to send overseas since they know how to fly and fight their planes. “Bud” came out of the war with 15 victories, and 1 probable (making him a triple ace) over enemy aircraft including the Me-262 of the Luftwaffe.
“Bud” would serve for several different organizations at the Muroc Dry Lake Bed, eventually a part of Edwards AFB, home of the Air Force Flight Test Center. He also served a tour of duty during the Korean Conflict in the early 1950s, as well as a tour of duty in Vietnam as commander of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing based at Tahkli, Thailand, where he led and flewg F-105 Thunderchiefs on close air support missions for Army and other units under enemy fire. He worked with McDonnell Douglas, serving in several of their corporate positions at their Edwards AFB field office. He was decorated 25 times encompassing all of his time in the Air Corps and the Air Force.
This is a great book if you are not used to the rigor that appear from other authors. Missing in this book are the indices, the end notes and supporting footnotes providing references and citations for further research and study. Missing also are the bibliographical materials, citation references, and other items that mark “historical” and “scholarly” works of the biography genre. So why did I read this book? Why did I go against all of the “traditional” expectations I always have for books of the biography genre? It is really simple. This book was written for people who can understand what flight is all about. There is a freedom, a sense of being more than you can be, a release from the constraints of gravity, a “dancing on the mirth of sun-split clouds . . .” You see, flight written about by pilots, men and women who have been there as a participant not a passenger, they know that the book is not about some cold, smelly, old collection of books somewhere or the other. No!!! Flight is about just that and nothing else. Okay, so I missed all the neat collections of information in reasoned order, and the trappings of a great bibliography. Those are window dressing to a book like this. This is a book about fighters, the fastest planes in Earth’s atmosphere. The only things that go faster have to get out of the atmosphere to do that, and going that fast, they have to have shielding to keep them burning up on the trip back down to the ground.
No, this is a book about pilots and their adventures, plain and simple. Considering what they do and how they do it, simple is not the right word. It is a complex choreography that goes on in a cockpit with a pilot who knows his stuff. That should be true about anyone who writes, unless you are writing fictional works with unusual settings and unique characters, like in the genres of science fiction or fantasy. There you may be loosely bound to the constraints of modern science if you want your work to be even partially believable. So, yes I really did want an index in here as well as a reference section. There were excellent quotations from interviews which appeared in each chapter. Acknowledgements and very nicely written foreword by [author : Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, Brigadier General, USAF|162674]. You can’t get much better press than to have your element lead writing for your book! That’s way too cool for words, after that is “THE” Chuck Yeager, as in the first man to ever fly faster than the speed of sound, officially! As you can tell, for flight, aviation pioneers, and some other things like fluffy kittens and cute dogs, I will sacrifice most anything to keep them happy! Still and all, it was a great book about flying in general, ahd fighting while flying snuck in for some spice and heat!
Recommendations? Well, aside from the criticism above, and it really isn’t critical, it’s more of, it would have been even nicer if. . . kinds of things, seriously, this book was well written, superb storytelling from someone who has stories that they remember and that they tell with consummate vigor, élan, and panache. Written at a level that just about any reader can understand and enjoy if pilot tales and lots of planes doing lots of flying, then this book is definitely for you. As it stands, flying book by pilot with stories to tell, many of them very illuminating, this is one of those “must” reads. Considering what a true aviation fan I am, it was absolutely on my list, Chuck Yeager’s wingman tells his story, absolutely I was all over that!!!! Happy trails; this one was one of my favorites of all time!!!
Review of To Fly and Fight by Clarence E. "Bud" Anderson, Col. USAF, Ret. by Richard Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19662752-to-fly-and-fight.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.tobem.com/aviation/tag/pacifica-military-
April 24, 2023
To Fly and Fight: Memoirs of a Triple Ace is the remarkable story of Colonel “Bud” Anderson, test pilot and fighter ace. His military career spanned three decades, during which time he earned the distinction of becoming the highest scoring ace in his squadron during the Second World War.
I chose this book as research for air combat maneuvering, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Colonel Anderson’s memoir offers a personalized view of what it was like to sit inside the cockpit of a P-51 Mustang over Europe at the height of the air war against Nazi Germany. The writing is vivid and detailed, so much so that the reader can almost feel the strain of the air frame and the roar of the engine as his Mustang banks and turns. The memoir also includes a good deal of technical detail regarding engines and avionics, which would no doubt appeal to aviation buffs.
The memoir also details Colonel Anderson’s life (his childhood and family, his training, his marriage, his sorrows for friends lost) as well as includes a number of fascinating and often comical anecdotes. The one about Minoru Genda’s business trip to America was my favourite.
What struck me most about Colonel Anderson’s retelling of fighter combat over Europe was how the enemy was just one of the dangers allied pilots faced. Stalls, unexploded ordinance that failed to release, midair collisions, passing out while in flight, inclement weather, and navigation troubles were all just as dangerous as German twenty-millimetre rounds and flak.
As a memoir itself, it would most likely appeal to readers interested in aviation, military history and air combat. While it does include personal details about Colonel Anderson’s life outside of the military, the focus of the book is on flying.
I chose this book as research for air combat maneuvering, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. Colonel Anderson’s memoir offers a personalized view of what it was like to sit inside the cockpit of a P-51 Mustang over Europe at the height of the air war against Nazi Germany. The writing is vivid and detailed, so much so that the reader can almost feel the strain of the air frame and the roar of the engine as his Mustang banks and turns. The memoir also includes a good deal of technical detail regarding engines and avionics, which would no doubt appeal to aviation buffs.
The memoir also details Colonel Anderson’s life (his childhood and family, his training, his marriage, his sorrows for friends lost) as well as includes a number of fascinating and often comical anecdotes. The one about Minoru Genda’s business trip to America was my favourite.
What struck me most about Colonel Anderson’s retelling of fighter combat over Europe was how the enemy was just one of the dangers allied pilots faced. Stalls, unexploded ordinance that failed to release, midair collisions, passing out while in flight, inclement weather, and navigation troubles were all just as dangerous as German twenty-millimetre rounds and flak.
As a memoir itself, it would most likely appeal to readers interested in aviation, military history and air combat. While it does include personal details about Colonel Anderson’s life outside of the military, the focus of the book is on flying.
August 11, 2021
Never speak of bad of Chuck Yeager in my father's presence.....my father flew with him once in Vietnam. Bud Anderson tells us in many ways more detailed about actually flying specifying the turn tendencies of the Mustang v the Spitfire the extreme sensitivity of the P-39 in pitch, why the fuel of the Mustang had to be managed in certain way. He puts you in the cockpit with more vivid descriptions of the birds we in our dreams fly. The story of the man who allowed him to sit in cockpits being granted payback when Anderson was Colonel and he was a major is heart warming. We also get an understanding of Yeager from Anderson that worth while. Strap in hear the roar the Merlin or the J75 and yeah feel a bit of envy as friend makes history.
March 13, 2023
The only good thing our current regime has done is promote Col. Anderson to Gen. Anderson. A great story of a short guy from California kicking butt and doing other cool things. Whether it's shooting down NAZIs, bombing the crap out of communists, or going hunting with his best friend Chuck Yeager. This book is necessary reading for any soy-boy who wants to grow a pair.
November 27, 2024
Anderson's book is an autobiography of his entire life. The WW2 fighter pilot memories are about half of it, the rest describes his career and friendships. I really enjoyed it. I met Bud at the Reno Air Races two years ago, when he was 100 years old. I bought an autographed poster from him and got to shake is hand. What an exceptional man. He passed away this May at 102 years old.
March 4, 2018
A down to earth humble author.
C. Bud Anderson’s reflections give credit to the people that helped him live and fly a hectic yet wonderful life. He tells it like it was and was there. I so enjoyed this read on kindle with the extra photos.
C. Bud Anderson’s reflections give credit to the people that helped him live and fly a hectic yet wonderful life. He tells it like it was and was there. I so enjoyed this read on kindle with the extra photos.
June 25, 2024
Why were there so few number of shot downs by our guys was that we were on a defensive position to protect our bombers in the sky. Great career by a once young Californian in the army air corps and air force. Thank you for your service!
November 23, 2024
Nästan fyrtio år efter att jag fick flygarmemoarerna ’Yeager’ i julklapp har jag läst klart den mycket mer givande (läs mindre överdrivet självförhärligande) självbiografin av hans kollega svenskättade Bud Anderson. Bra skildring av krigets elände och hjältemod.
June 16, 2025
An Air Force Brat Rates This “Sierra Hotel”
Having read the original edition years ago, I was delighted at all the new material in the this one. So true to the spirit of the man, so accurate in tone, so exact, historically - well worth reading or re-reading.
Having read the original edition years ago, I was delighted at all the new material in the this one. So true to the spirit of the man, so accurate in tone, so exact, historically - well worth reading or re-reading.
October 10, 2017
This man had an amazing life!! A terrific story, well written. It could have been two books.
May 20, 2021
A very good sketch
Nice, easy reading. Found myself anticipating an adventure in a P51 cockpit in WW2 , escorting allied bombers
to their targets.
Nice, easy reading. Found myself anticipating an adventure in a P51 cockpit in WW2 , escorting allied bombers
to their targets.
Read
January 2, 2022DNF. Too rambling.
August 14, 2022
Awesome book!
Great read about one of the best from the greatest generation. Couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend the book.
Great read about one of the best from the greatest generation. Couldn’t put the book down. I highly recommend the book.
November 14, 2022
The author turned one hundred years old this past February- the last living American triple ace.
August 3, 2023
Dare I say this is almost better than Yeager's autobiography?
September 9, 2023
I love my autographed copy of this book.
Very glad I’ve been able to meet this legend twice now.
Very glad I’ve been able to meet this legend twice now.
February 18, 2024
“Bud” retells his experiences and time spent involved with WWII with no bars held. A very honest, open, and charming read. One of my all time favorites.
April 25, 2024
Great man
Very good book about an incredible man. We don't have people like this anymore. I really enjoyed reading is story.
Very good book about an incredible man. We don't have people like this anymore. I really enjoyed reading is story.
July 1, 2024
Awesome Book
A terrific book about the amazing life of one outstanding member of Americas’s greatest generation. I couldn’t put it down.
A terrific book about the amazing life of one outstanding member of Americas’s greatest generation. I couldn’t put it down.
August 7, 2025
Fakt hustá kniha. Doporučuji všem se zájmem o letectví.
December 21, 2025
Was able to meet Bud in person at the EAA air show in Oshkosh and purchased his book. I have read many WWII books and this is by far the best I’ve come across. His true emotions and feelings of life, war, and post war come across excellent. A very under rated book from a very humble person.
February 12, 2023
I read this book on my Kindle, big mistake on my part. There is no way to quickly look up all the types of planes General (he was recently given that honorary rank) Anderson mentions in the book. Well written and gives you a look back at the birth of the Air Force.
February 17, 2017
A novel set during wartime - check!
Interesting read especially for those who live in the Sacramento area since the author is from the nearby Auburn/Loomis area and a good deal of the book takes place in the area.
Interesting read especially for those who live in the Sacramento area since the author is from the nearby Auburn/Loomis area and a good deal of the book takes place in the area.
December 30, 2013
A fun memior about one of the fighter excorts over Europe. He flew with and became friends with Chuck Yeager (who wrote the forward) and after WWII he was a test pilot for the Air Force. Later he flew combat missions in Vietnam. He was told he was to old to make General and retired after 30 years of service.
November 5, 2016
Really fun book. Bud is a special guy and Hamelin tells his story with an easy conversational tone that makes it feel like you're in his living room. No arrogance, no bluster...just a good story from a very real and relatable man.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
September 19, 2011
This is a great book for aviation enthusiasts and pilots. I feel like some of his stories would get lost on the average reader, but overall I was never bored throughout the book.
November 8, 2013
Excellent. Very interesting to read, esp. For aviation buffs. Gripping narrative of flying adventures. Highly recommended.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews