Scream of Eagles The Creation of Top Gun and the U.S. Air Victory in Vietnam

336 Pages·1990·30.84 MB·English

by  Robert K. Wilcox

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SCREAM OF
EAGLES
As spellbindingas any novel by Stephen
Coonts or Tom Clancy, Scream of
EaglesISthefirsttrue-lifeaccountofthe
Navy's fighter pilots in Vietnam—and
how the creation ofthe Navy's Top Gun
fighterpilotschool helpedto forgeadra-
maticvictoryintheVietnamairwar. Itis,
in large measure, a story told through
the words of the Top Gun pilots them-
selves.
Despite a history of overwhelming
success in WWII and the Korean War,
U.S.fighterpilotsintheearlyyearsofthe
Vietnam War found themselves losing
thebattlefortheskies.AlthoughtheU.S.
had the most sophisticated planes and
weapons, andbyfartheheftiestmilitary
budget, the world's most powerful air
force too often found itself humbled in
dogfights with the "peasanf'-based
NorthVietnameseMiG pilots.
The reasons for our dismal perfor-
mance were many from the limitations
of the F-4—our front line fighter—to a
lack of familiarity with the new missile
systems the planes carried. Most telling
ofall, however, was the de-emphasis on
ACM—air combat maneuvering—in
training.
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Scream of Eagles:
The Creation of Top Gun—
And the U.S. Air Victory in Vietnam

^ Scream of Eagles ^
The Creation of Top Gun—
And the U.S. Air Victory in Vietnam
by Robert K. Wilcox
&
John Wiley Sons, Inc.
New York iV Chichester -jir Brisbane iV Toronto i^ Singapore
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Copyright © 1990 by Robert K. Wilcox
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