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摘要
摘要
Drawing on the experiences of Vietnam combat pilots and the new generation they taught, this text traces the rise of today's fighter pilots and the transformation of aerial warfare. It includes a look at the pilots who tested themselves during the Gulf War.
评论 (4)
出版社周刊评论
Vietnam veteran Wilcox (Scream of Eagles) begins this narrative with the confession that his original military ambition was to be a pilot; after failing the selection test for unknown reasons, he became a U.S. Air Force information officer instead. Over the years, he has retained his love of flying and his great admiration for the men in those G-suits. Some would argue that American fighter pilotssuch as those accused of misbehavior at the Tailhook conventionare imbued with excessive machismo, but Wilcox also makes the strong case that these talented, arrogant, athletic men are an integral part of our nation's defense. Comparing elite fighter pilots to professional all-star athletesonly "more mature"Wilcox introduces readers to an impressive lineup of some of the country's best fighter pilots. Dale Snodgrass is a Navy aviator so skilled at aerial maneuvers that his colleagues have nicknamed him "Golden Arm," in reference to how a fighter jock controls his aircraft through foot and hand movements. Snodgrass reveals one of the basic characteristics of men of his profession: "A fighter pilot is a hunter." His personal adventure tale ushers in those of other fighter pilots whose exploits include flying beneath civilian bridges and playing high-stakes pranks while airborne, as well as performing astounding feats in warfare. In many cases, the pilots are allowed to speak in their own words, but with Wilcox ever hovering in the background to moderate their boasts and certify their veracity. In the end, it seems perfectly reasonable to agree with Wilcox's assessment of these men who, he says, loathe war but want it as their crucible: "We need such people in this society." Photos not seen by PW. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus评论
A behind-the-scenes history of American fighter pilots, from Vietnam to Desert Storm. Wilcox, a former air force information officer, believes that Vietnam was the forge that shaped the great air victory in the Gulf War. Profiting from the mistakes of Vietnam (due, in part, to the ineffective training of pilots in the 1960s), many veterans of that conflict became highly critical and innovative teachers. They challenged their young students to the utmost in long, brutal sessions of combat-simulated training; they developed new techniques of aerial warfare; they stressed a new level of professionalism in the service--and in the process they developed undoubtedly the best fighter pilots in the world. Wilcox interviewed many of the highest achievers, past and present, including the navy's ``Top Guns'' (he warns that the reality of being a Top Gun is far different from the image presented in the melodramatic movie of that name). To be successful, Wilcox asserts, a fighter pilot must learn to control fear, to live with it and fly with it, knowing that no margin of error is allowed in combat. The pilots he interviews are cool and self-assured, proud of being able to keep their emotions in check, loyal to each other, somewhat isolated from the outer world. They find unwinding difficult. They are, he says, a highly macho group: They face the possibility of sudden death every time they fly, and their ethos stresses courage, dedication, and performance above everything. Such dedication exacts a price: disrupted family lives, divorces, and a cramped lifestyle (military pilots earn far less than their commercial counterparts). A revealing study of the lives of an isolated, elite American warrior class. The book often reads like an oral history, and that is both a strength and a drawback: The narrative is frank and lively, but it lacks the objectivity and research notes one expects in a serious work of history. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen)
《书目》(Booklist)书评
Wilcox's follow-up to Scream of Eagles (1990), his book on the navy's Top Gun air-to-air combat school, is uneven. He jumbles together pilot profiles, the armed services' corporate culture, slaps at "political correctness," the development of new aircraft and tactics, the flying of a squadron of illicitly acquired Soviet aircraft in simulated combat, and much else in the first two-thirds of the book. The last third, however, is a gripping, well-organized account of air-to-air combat in the Gulf War. Wilcox emphasizes the first four days, for after them, the Iraqis were fleeing rather than fighting, and his presentation of the war's first night--the most detailed yet made available to general readers--throws much new light on those crucial hours, during which one American aircraft was probably lost to an Iraqi jet in an incident officially denied, then and now. --Roland Green
《图书馆杂志》(Library Journal )书评
Wilcox (Scream of Eagles, LJ 9/15/90) served as an Air Force information officer in the Vietnam War but desperately wanted to be a fighter pilot. In this work, he concentrates on the experience of American fighter pilots in Vietnam and the Gulf War. Following their careers through flight school and detailing their exhausting technical and physical training, the author finds that combat pilots are boisterous, rowdy, macho overachievers. Wilcox personalizes his narrative by interviewing scores of pilots and allowing them to tell their own stories, which makes for a certain amount of repetition. Though he argues that American fighter pilots are the best in the world, he fails to acknowledge that they have only been tested against second-rate air forces in Vietnam and the Gulf. Of interest to dedicated air-war aficionados but needed only by libraries that purchase everything in air-war combat.Stanley Itkin, Hillside P.L., New Hyde Park, N.Y. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.