Flying from the Black Hole
The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam
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Narrated by:
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Bob Souer
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By:
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Robert O. Harder
About this listen
Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or simply unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress.
Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian conventional bombing sorties would have been impossible.
This book reveals who these men were and what they did down in the "Black Hole", a story told by one of their own.
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Story
During the early years of World War II in the Pacific theatre, against overwhelming odds, young American airmen flew the longest and most perilous bombing missions of the war. They faced determined Japanese fighters without fighter escort, relentless anti-aircraft fire with no deviations from target, and thousands of miles of over-water flying with no alternative landing sites.
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Pretty Good!
- By Robert on 02-01-13
By: Phil Scearce
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Topgun
- An American Story
- By: Dan Pedersen
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Pedersen takes listeners on a colorful and thrilling ride - from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace - through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.
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I loved it!
- By "airplane_cfii" on 10-09-19
By: Dan Pedersen
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Harnessing the Sky
- Frederick "Trap" Trapnell, the U.S. Navy's Aviation Pioneer, 1923-1952
- By: Frederick M. Trapnell Jr., Dana Trapnell Tibbitts
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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A pilot of calculated courage, "Trap" entered the Navy when test pilots were more like stuntmen than engineers. Airplanes had not yet come into their own as weapons of war, and they had an undeveloped role in the fleet. His vision and leadership shaped the evolution of naval aviation through its formative years and beyond. When the threat of war in 1940 raised an alarm over the Navy's deficiency in aircraft - especially fighters - Trap was appointed to lead the Flight Test Section to direct the development of all-new Navy airplanes.
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Superb Book
- By Peter H. Christensen on 09-27-19
By: Frederick M. Trapnell Jr., and others
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Before Topgun Days
- The Making of a Jet Fighter Instructor
- By: Dave Bio Baranek
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 4 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Before becoming an instructor in the Navy's Topgun program, Dave "Bio" Baranek was just another kid with a dream. Upon graduating from college, he joined the Navy with the goal of becoming a fighter pilot. But, his eyesight waning, he knew that he would never be able to reach that goal. Undaunted, he plowed ahead and found his niche as a radar intercept operator in the backseat of the sleek, new Grumman F-14 Tomcat.
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SHB
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-23
By: Dave Bio Baranek
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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Bloody Sixteen
- The USS Oriskany and Air Wing 16 During the Vietnam War
- By: Peter Fey
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 15 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Strategy and reality collide in Peter Fey's gripping history of aircraft carrier USS Oriskany's three deployments to Vietnam with Carrier Air Wing 16 (CVW-16). Its tours coincided with the most dangerous phases of Operation Rolling Thunder, the ill-fated bombing campaign against North Vietnam, and accounted for a quarter of all the naval aircraft lost during Rolling Thunder. The Johnson administration's policy of gradually applied force meant that Oriskany arrived on station just as previous restrictions were lifted and bombing raids increased.
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Great Listen!
- By MeathookWX on 09-21-18
By: Peter Fey
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Vulcan 607
- By: Rowland White
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Shoulder to shoulder with Strategic Air Command B-52s throughout the Cold War, the big delta-winged Vulcans of the Britain's V-bomber force faced down the Soviet threat to the West. In 1982, they were just months from retirement when they flew in anger for the first time. It was to be a record-breaking mission of breathtaking audacity: a single bomber launched from a remote island airbase to carry out what would be the longest-range air attack in history. An 8,000-mile round-trip.
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Wow, incredibly gripping and entertaining
- By MortonC on 09-10-24
By: Rowland White
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Topgun Days
- Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
- By: Dave "Bio" Baranek
- Narrated by: Jeremy Arthur
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Dave Baranek (callsign "Bio") was one of 451 young men to receive his Wings of Gold in 1980 as a naval flight officer. Four years later, seasoned by intense training and deployments in the tense confrontations of the Cold War, he became the only one of that initial group to rise to become an instructor at the navy's elite Fighter Weapons School. As a Topgun instructor, Bio was responsible for teaching the navy's and Marine Corps' best fighter pilots how to be even better. He schooled them in the classroom and then went head-to-head with them in the skies.
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Top Gun or Topgun
- By Randy on 02-19-13
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Hunter Killer
- Inside America's Unmanned Air War
- By: T. Mark Mccurley, Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The first-ever inside look at the US military’s secretive Remotely Piloted Aircraft program - equal parts techno-thriller, historical account, and war memoir. Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), commonly referred to by the media as drones, are a mysterious and headline-making tool in the military’s counterterrorism arsenal. Their story has been pieced together by technology reporters, major newspapers, and on-the-ground accounts from the Middle East, but it has never been fully told by an insider.
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No political Bias. Just a narration of modern soldier's perspective.
- By Irfan M. Ibrahim on 11-17-15
By: T. Mark Mccurley, and others
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Wings on My Sleeve
- By: Eric 'Winkle' Brown
- Narrated by: Cameron Stewart
- Length: 9 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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The autobiography of one of the greatest pilots in history. In 1939 Eric Brown was on a University of Edinburgh exchange course in Germany, and the first he knew of the war was when the Gestapo came to arrest him. They released him, not realising he was a pilot in the RAF volunteer reserve - and the rest is history. Eric Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm and went on to be the greatest test pilot in history, flying more different aircraft types than anyone else.
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Fascinating memoir
- By Jean on 07-05-16
What listeners say about Flying from the Black Hole
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- JoCOL
- 02-07-23
Super story
Well done. Great look at navigators and radar navigators. Might have touched on how B-52 tactics changed as the airframe had new capabilities added but overall a great listen. (with one caveat— as with some other military books, get your pronunciations correct! it’s “sack! (SAC) not “ess-ay-see” and “”ee-woah (EWO)” and several others.)
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- Christophe
- 06-10-22
Excellent story and narration.
I really enjoyed this book. The author does an excellent humorous job of having us ride along as a a B-52 navigator. The book starts off with a review of bomb aiming of WW1 and 2, and the arduous training programs. the author than delves into SAC's culture (good and bad) and than takes us to "Arc lite" and "Linebacker" missions over Vietnam. Highly recommended book.
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- Richard Douglas
- 01-27-20
Good Story but Bad Narration
I really enjoyed the story but couldn't stand the narrator spelling out the acronym for the Strategic Air Command (SAC). In the military, we don't usually spell out acronyms, so SAC is pronounced "sack", not S-A-C. Given the number of times the acronym comes up in the book, its especially grating to hear it spelled out.
Other than that, I enjoyed the book!
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- D. Salva
- 02-22-24
Intriguing Review of the Buff
Enjoyed the unique viewpoint of being a navigator-bombardier on the b-52 during Vietnam
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- Rick B
- 05-17-20
B52, a history relearned
Wow, the descriptions of this amazing airplane are so real that you feel like you are part of the crew. From it's inception and concept of design to where and how this airplane is currently staged. How vital a role this airplane was to ending of the Vietnam war, to the Cold war and the nuclear programs that proliferated after 1973. If you like learning history from the people who participated in the real events then this audio book is a great place to begin.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Real Honesty
- 01-31-19
loved it,
great storyteller, if you like aviation and military history you will too
about the greatest bomber ever created
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- Lucas
- 04-16-23
Good insight on the B52, crews and missions
Good book that doesn't overstays its welcome. The reading is superb, and the story keeps you coming back for more. The details about the operations and the crew's side on it all are presented in excelent form. Good insight into the plane, the training, the constraints, the theater of operations in the vietnam era. overall and ode to a terrific plane.
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- Lee CD
- 03-15-19
Exceptional story, well written!
The author puts you right there in the ejection seat! He covers all the boring out of your mind sequences with light humor and the terrifying instances with simulated pucker factor! This is one of the best I've read lately! As for the narrator, exceptional! Brilliantly incorporates the authors sarcasm!
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2 people found this helpful
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- R. Frost
- 08-30-23
Too Much Detail
I expected this book to be about events that happened to B-52 crews, but the first half was almost a detailed manual on how to navigate and drop bombs from a bomber. The second half is better, but overall I can't recommend it.
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- Rob Wilson
- 02-20-21
Today I learned something new.
As someone who grew up around these guys, it was an engaging listen. All too often, only the perspective of the left-seater is given; and, while exciting, it overlooks the rigorous training and important contributions of the guys who figured out the directions to the target, how to deliver the payload, and how to get home.
My only real complaint about this audio book is that the reader would say "S-A-C," pronouncing each letter, as opposed to "SAC" the word. (Rhymes with "sack.") The whole world knows what SAC (or TAC) is, and for the duration of the audio book, I'd grumble every time I heard those letters.
(I also think that there was a mistake in the use of the word "exacerbate" when I think the author meant "exasperate.")
All of that said, this was an excellent book, and I am glad that I discovered it.
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3 people found this helpful