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I Always Wanted to Fly
- America's Cold War Airmen
- Narrated by: Jim Seitz
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
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Publisher's summary
This was the first book to cover all of Cold War air combat in the words of the men who waged it. In I Always Wanted to Fly, retired United States Air Force Colonel Wolfgang W. E. Samuel has gathered first-person memories from heroes of the cockpits and airstrips.
Battling in dogfights when jets were novelties, saving lives in grueling airlifts, or flying covert and dangerous reconnaissance missions deep into Soviet and Chinese airspace, these flyers waged America's longest and most secretively conducted air war.
Many of the pilots Samuel interviewed invoke the same sentiment when asked why they risked their lives in the air - "I always wanted to fly." While young, they were inspired by barnstormers, by World War I fighter legends, by the legendary Charles Lindbergh, and often just by seeing airplanes flying overhead. With the advent of World War II, many of these dreamers found themselves in cockpits soon after high school.
Of those who survived World War II, many chose to continue following their dream, flying the Berlin Airlift, stopping the North Korean army during the "forgotten war" in Korea, and fighting in the Vietnam War.
Told in personal narratives and reminiscences, I Always Wanted to Fly renders views from pilots' seats and flight decks during every air combat flashpoint from 1945 to 1968. Drawn from long exposure to the immense stress of warfare, the stories these warriors share are both heroic and historic. The author, a veteran of many secret reconnaissance missions, evokes individuals and scenes with authority and grace. He provides clear, concise historical context for each airman's memories.
In I Always Wanted to Fly, he has produced both a thrilling and inspirational acknowledgment of personal heroism and a valuable addition to our documentation of the Cold War.
The book is published by University Press of Mississippi.
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The Vietnam War is one of the most misunderstood military conflicts in 20th-century America. Showcasing 72 true stories told by American servicemen who fought from the skies, this unique and historically significant collection is a stunning record of the air war in Southeast Asia during the 1960s and 1970s.
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Overall worthy and perspective broadening
- By Clayton Cartier on 11-03-20
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War's End
- An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission
- By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, James A. Antonucci - contributor, Marion K. Antonucci - contributor
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a 25-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion.... The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs.
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the history of the details.
- By Don on 10-23-24
By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, and others
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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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Surprised at Being Alive
- An Accidental Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam and Beyond
- By: Robert F. Curtis
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Sometimes you do everything right, but it just isn't your day. A part fails and your helicopter comes apart in flight, or, another aircraft runs into you and the pieces of both fall to the ground below, or the enemy gunner pulls the trigger at just the right moment and his rounds find your aircraft in exactly the right spot to take it out of the sky. Whichever way it happens, it wasn't your day.
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An Exciting Vietnam war history book it is not.
- By Peter Leo on 07-05-20
By: Robert F. Curtis
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Razor 03
- A Night Stalker’s Wars
- By: Alan C. Mack
- Narrated by: Alan C. Mack
- Length: 9 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The attacks of September 11, 2001, prompted the creation of a robust and deadly special operations force—Task Force Dagger. Alan C. Mack, Callsign Razor 03, led a team of MH-47E helicopters and armed MH-60s. Their two-fold mission–Personnel Recovery (PR) and Unconventional Warfare (UW) involved flying in terrain and weather previously not thought possible. If that wasn’t enough, they pushed the flight envelope of their specially modified Chinooks to the limit and beyond.
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The honesty of the author
- By Daniel on 06-10-24
By: Alan C. Mack
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The Wild Blue
- The Men and Boys Who Flew the B-24s Over Germany
- By: Stephen E. Ambrose
- Narrated by: Jeffrey DeMunn
- Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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The very young men who flew the B24s over Germany in World War II against terrible odds were an exemplary band of brothers. In The Wild Blue, Stephen Ambrose recounts their extraordinary brand of heroism, skill, daring, and comradeship. Stephen Ambrose describes how the Army Air Forces recruited, trained, and chose those few who would undertake the most demanding and dangerous jobs in the war.
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Required Reading
- By Lyle on 11-22-11
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The Fighting Corsairs
- The Men of Marine Fighting Squadron 215 in the Pacific during WWII
- By: Jeff Dacus
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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From historian and columnist in Leatherneck and Armor magazines, this is the exciting, personal account of a marine fighter squadron in the South Pacific during the critical days of 1943, when the tide turned against the Japanese. Based on individual interviews and wartime documents, this is a thrilling narrative of the marines who lived, and died, during the toughest battles of the entire war.
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The Fighting Corsairs
- By Thomas S. Connelly on 05-10-21
By: Jeff Dacus
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Turn and Burn
- A Fighter Pilot’s Memories and Confessions
- By: Darrell J. Ahrens
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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In Turn and Burn the author takes the readers with him in the cockpit as he shares the fulfillment of his boyhood dream and some of his most memorable adventures and misadventures during a 24-year flying career as a fighter pilot, both in combat and peacetime.
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Absolutely Fantastic
- By Wayne Fannon on 05-11-21
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Harrier Boys, Volume 1
- From the Cold War Through the Falklands, 1969-1990
- By: Robert Marston
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In Harrier Boys, Volume One: Cold War Through the Falklands, 1969-1990, Robert Marston, who flew Harriers for many years, draws together accounts from others who worked with this unique jet through its history. The excitement, camaraderie, and pride of Harrier operators shine through in the personal stories of those whose lives were changed by their experience of this iconic aircraft, both on land and at sea.
By: Robert Marston
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Dragon's Jaw
- An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam
- By: Stephen Coonts, Barrett Tillman
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Every war has its "bridge" - Old North Bridge at Concord, Burnside's Bridge at Antietam, the railway bridge over Burma's River Kwai, the bridge over Germany's Rhine River at Remagen, and the bridges over Korea's Toko Ri. In Vietnam it was the bridge at Thanh Hoa, called Dragon's Jaw. For seven long years hundreds of young US airmen flew sortie after sortie against North Vietnam's formidable and strategically important bridge, dodging a heavy concentration of anti-aircraft fire and enemy MiG planes. Many American airmen were shot down, killed, or captured....
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At some point the political commentary is exhausting
- By Tyler White on 06-07-19
By: Stephen Coonts, and others
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Race of Aces
- WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
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Boring, confusing storyline, some technical details wrong
- By ATM on 04-09-20
By: John R. Bruning
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Hawkeye
- The Enthralling Autobiography of the Top-Scoring Israel Air Force Ace of Aces
- By: Brigadier General Giora Even-Epstein
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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For more than 30 years, Giora Even-Epstein flew fighters for the Israel Air Force, achieving recognition as a highly skilled military aviator and the highest-scoring jet-mounted ace with the most number of confirmed victories in the French Mirage. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators' tally in the entire world. This fast-moving autobiography details his experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of 1967, the Six Day War, and 1973, the Yom Kippur War.
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Not a writer
- By Checco on 11-26-21
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Skybreak
- The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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August 1990: Iraqi forces under the command of Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. In response, the US military led a coalition of thirty-four nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm—a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. At the tip of the spear were the men of the US Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia, this book reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern aerial combat…as told by the men who lived it.
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Desert Storm Fighter Action
- By David T. Gato on 07-23-24
By: Mike Guardia
What listeners say about I Always Wanted to Fly
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- James E. Johnston
- 03-29-16
Interesting short stories
If you are interested in how strategic warfare evolved after WW2, then this book is for you otherwise you will be bored to death
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- Jeff Yarbrough III
- 06-15-22
It was my Pleasure to serve in the USAF
Having been a USAF C5 Galaxy aircrew member for 20 Years many of these stories have elements that I can relate to.
It is fun to hear stories from these aircrew members.
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- Philip Mattison
- 12-16-20
Great Book.
This is a fantastic book that tells the real story from the point of view of the men that flew in the Cold War!
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- Lugal
- 08-09-14
OK book with so-so narration
Any additional comments?
This book consisted of some interesting stories told by pilots of some important, if not really spoken about, missions from the time after WWII until Vietnam. It was my first exposure to any information about what it was like to fly in the Berlin airlift. I was also fascinated to listen to the stories of early EW missions over the Soviet Union. Much of what was done by these brave men, and the sacrifices they made, weren't made public at the time and is still not well known.
It was interesting to hear about what drew people into flying and how they made it to become Air Force pilots. The book is basically just a loose collection of stories, roughly grouped by the time frames the pilots flew. There's no real information or background communicated by the author.
One thing I didn't like was the narrator. He spoke well and clearly. The problem I had was that at times the book would switch from the pilot recounting his story to the author giving adding some information (such as the emotions of the interviewee as they reached a difficult part of their experience). Since 'voice' in the book changed, but the voice reading the book remained the same, these switches were a bit jarring. There wasn't much emotion either. You'd hear a story about a guy trying to bail out of a plane on fire, over enemy territory, with the same tone you'd expect from a guy complaining about how his pen ran out of ink today at work.
Overall though, the book was mostly interesting and the narration was good, if flat. If you're interested in hearing about the less spoken about side of the Air Force during the beginning of the Cold War, I would recommend it.
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