Once They Were Eagles
The Men of the Black Sheep Squadron
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Narrated by:
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David Randall Hunter
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By:
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Frank Walton
About this listen
Marine Corps Fighter Squadron 214 was hastily organized in the field during World War II to meet the urgent need for another combat squadron in the South Pacific. The squadron, self-named the "Black Sheep", went on under the leadership of the swashbuckling "Pappy" Boyington to become the most famous in Marine Corps history. Now comes the true story of the Black Sheep Squadron and the men who wrote its record in the Pacific skies.
Once They Were Eagles tells how and why the squadron was formed, provides brief sketches of every member, and creates a vivid picture of the exciting but deadly aerial sorties over the South Pacific. Frank E. Walton located the 34 survivors of the 51 original Black Sheep. In a unique series of interviews, former "Eagles" share their recollections of those days of high adventure and their experiences in the years to follow.
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Pretty Good!
- By Robert on 02-01-13
By: Phil Scearce
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Rattler One-Seven: A Vietnam Helicopter Pilot's War Story
- North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
- By: Chuck Gross
- Narrated by: Gerry Burke
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. Soon after the war, Gross wrote down his adventures, while his memory was still fresh with the events. Rattler One-Seven (his call sign) is written as he experienced it, using these notes along with letters written home to accurately preserve the mindset he had while in Vietnam.
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One of the Best Helicopter books I've listened to!
- By Chad on 02-12-14
By: Chuck Gross
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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Malta Spitfire
- The Diary of a Fighter Pilot
- By: George Beurling
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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25,000 feet above Malta -- that is where the Spitfires intercepted the Messerschmitts, Macchis and Reggianes as they swept eastwards in their droves, screening the big Junkers with their bomb loads as they pummeled the island beneath -- the most bombed patch of ground in the world.
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Excellent story!
- By MStewart on 02-01-24
By: George Beurling
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Come Up and Get Me
- An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger
- By: Joe Kittinger, Craig Ryan
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....
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A rewarding read
- By Andrew Braddick on 03-25-13
By: Joe Kittinger, and others
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Damn Lucky
- One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
- By: Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, John Luckadoo
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.
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must read
- By td godfrey on 10-06-22
By: Kevin Maurer
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Indestructible
- One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 17 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur.
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You will love Pappy's story
- By A. L. DeWitt on 11-15-16
By: John R. Bruning
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A Dawn Like Thunder
- The True Story of Torpedo Squadron Eight
- By: Robert J. Mrazek
- Narrated by: Dick Hill
- Length: 15 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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One of the great untold stories of World War II finally comes to light in this thrilling account of the members of Torpedo Squadron Eight and their heroic efforts in helping an outmatched U.S. fleet win critical victories at Midway and Guadalcanal. These 35 American men - many flying outmoded aircraft - changed the course of history, going on to become the war's most decorated naval air squadron, while suffering the heaviest losses in U.S. naval aviation history.
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Excellent story well told
- By Kismet on 01-30-09
By: Robert J. Mrazek
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Tail-End Charley
- Stories from an American Fighter Pilot in World War II
- By: James E. Brown
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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On his 19th birthday, James E. Brown tries to fake to his flight instructor that he has flown before. On his 21st birthday, Brown is on his way home after logging 85 missions in a P-47 fighter over Italy, France, and Germany. Brown's stories surrounding his training and combat experiences in World War II reveal brushes with death, continuous peril and, ultimately, a coming of age for a young man whose freshman year in college becomes instead a heroic engagement with one of the fiercest enemies his country has ever encountered.
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Good read !
- By kevin on 06-19-18
By: James E. Brown
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Man Who Flew The Memphis Belle
- By: Robert Morgan, Ron Powers
- Narrated by: uncredited
- Length: 4 hrs and 51 mins
- Abridged
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As a young man growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, Robert Morgan was a fast-driving party boy - a hell-raiser. But when his mother committed suicide upon learning she had inoperable brain cancer, Morgan's life changed dramatically. He was no longer a carefree playboy; he was a man searching for meaning. He found that meaning at the controls of an airplane, and in the flak-and fighter-filled skies over Occupied France and Nazi Germany.
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Abridged Version = Butchered
- By Kyle on 01-03-17
By: Robert Morgan, and others
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Our Vietnam Wars
- As Told by 100 Veterans Who Served
- By: William F. Brown
- Narrated by: Eddie Frierson
- Length: 14 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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This could be the most important audiobook you'll listen to this year. It isn't another war story. It is an audiobook about people, and it contains the personal stories of 100 Vietnam veterans who served there.
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Compelling
- By Richard D. Ellis on 10-05-19
By: William F. Brown
What listeners say about Once They Were Eagles
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Great Plains Traditional Bow Co.
- 09-04-24
Interesting story. Terrible narrator
I've listened to Pappy Boyingtons book and I really enjoyed it. This was a great story also, and would've been a 5 star if it would've had a good narrator. The narrator has a complete and total disregard for punctuation and delivers the story in the same tone of voice with terrible inflection. Lots of times the reader doesn't know when a different character is talking as the tone never changes.
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- Ernesto morales
- 04-28-18
great insight at the leyendary squadron
it gives you a different view into the story of the black sheep squadron not only it addresses the tours but it gives you a more broad look at the menu that served and their stories.
nice to see a tale that is not overexagerated
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2 people found this helpful
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- Red
- 11-30-21
Ruined!
I really liked the story and history of this book. This narrator just ruined the audio version of this book!
Punctuation has a purpose for a reason! This guy doesn't do anything but take a breath and let it pour our. Almost lime an auctioneer!
Sad, really disappointed!
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- Scott Kiser
- 12-08-22
Worst narration of any audiobook so far
The story is great. Lots of details and it clears up the misconception they were screw ups.
But the narrator just speed reads through the book. It’s hard to tell where one thought ends and another begins.
Overall the stories were interesting despite bad job narrating
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- Thunder
- 05-19-21
Great Story but Narration Lets it Down
I love everything about the Black Sheep Squadron and this book is no different. Very informative and written from an insider perspective, it provides a good picture of the Pacific war. However, the narrator doesn't seem to know what a period or comma is supposed to mean and it feels like one long run-on sentence. The upside is the book is done in record time!
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- Michael E. B.
- 03-28-22
Listen to "Baa Baa Black Sheep" instead Far Better
A valient attempt by a ground officer who never flew a plane. Get Pappy Boyington's Baa Baa Black Sheep. To ride in Corsair with a great ACE fighter. Much, much better than this book. It is 5 stars. This book is a three/3
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- Rod Beck
- 02-03-22
Narrator
Narrator did not pause for new story just went straight into it without a pause. Therefore had to try catch up what he wa talking about.
Too fast.
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- Anonymous User
- 11-27-17
it sorted fact from fiction
I grew up watching Black Sheep Squadron it is nice to have the information sorted out and a better understanding of Squadron
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- ES
- 12-16-22
Very good story first hand account
I really enjoyed this story. It is similar to Fighting Corsairs. I thought that the personal accounts were just that but the story itself perhaps not as well written. The performance made it easy to feel the author was reading. I hope the Black Sheep eventually forgave the TV show. There are a lot of 50 somethings that are interested in their and others’ legacy because of it. Go college boys!
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- ALL-ACCESS
- 04-23-24
The worst narration I have ever heard.
The reading is the worst. WTH? Otherwise, everything. To do with the VMF214 is incredible.
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