num_pages: 436
description: A masterpiece of becoming an aerial warriorReview by Stephen Coonts, author of Flight of the Intruder and fifteen other New York Times Best Sellers .(July 23, 2022, Amazon BooksThis personal "Remembrance" [of the Vietnam War] stands head and shoulders above all those that I have read, which is a bunch. Mike Mullane was an A-4 pilot in VA-164 aboard USS ORISKANY during his 1967-'68 cruise, and USS HANCOCK during the 1968-1969 cruise. From college boy to seasoned attack pilot, Mike tells it like it was with an understanding that hindsight sometimes gives the most sensitive and perceptive. He came out of the war with a case of PTSD that he wrestled with for many years until he finally got help. . . .[Dead Men Flying, a Remembrance] should be required reading for all current military aviators and all those to come. THIS IS WHAT IT TAKES.Review by Tom Beard (February 2022), Military Writers Society of AmericaDead Men Flying’s [descriptions of] ... wartime missions flown in the Skyhawk and trials experienced by their pilots are as real as any ever revealed in the written word.Dead Men Flying is an honest, unflinching account of how Mike, the college kid, became a warrior called “Mule.” It tells of his struggles to become a Naval Aviator. He masters the skills necessary to launch and land a jet fighter bomber on an aircraft carrier. He experiences the transforming state of being when his aircraft merges with his body and becomes an extension of his will; a place where time slows to a crawl; sensory awareness extends to the horizon; and thoughts flash faster than the flick of an eyelid. Within the squadron he develops the bonds of brotherhood that are forged when the pilots must trust each other with their lives. Flying mission after mission into the heart of the North Vietnamese defenses, he pays the cost when death shatters those bonds. The descriptions of combat are immediate and immersive. They envelop the reader in the perishable art of aerial warfare, a ballet performed out of sight and mind of all but the few who were there. The descriptions are enhanced with more than seventy photographs, many taken during combat. Dead Men Flying is the story of men tested to the breaking point and beyond by unrelenting threat and losses. It tells how they stood together with unflinching resilience, courage, devotion, and sacrifice. The author flew 212 combat missions with the Ghost Riders of Attack Squadron 164 over two cruises between June, 1967 and February, 1969.
language: English
title: Dead Men Flying, A Remembrance : Going to War in the A-4 - Rolling Thunder over Hanoi