From the Flight Deck: An Anthology of the Best Writing on Carrier Warfare - Hardcover

9781574884333: From the Flight Deck: An Anthology of the Best Writing on Carrier Warfare

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1574884336 ISBN 13: 9781574884333

Publisher: Brassey's Inc, 2003

“Prepare to launch aircraft!” One can almost hear the order booming from the island’s loudspeaker. In From the Flight Deck, the exhilarating and always dangerous world of aircraft carrier aviation is covered in thirty-two excerpts of the best fiction and nonfiction writing on the subject. Beginning with the first success in 1910 by American aviator Eugene Ely, the anthology then covers British operations during World War I and the unique contributions to carrier warfare made by the U.S and British navies during the 1920s and 1930s. World War II and the Korean War are also well represented—with excerpts from such American classics as Walter Lord’s Day of Infamy, Ted Lawson’s Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, and James A. Michener’s The Bridges of Toko Ri—as the period during which carriers and their crews matured into the indispensable weapon systems we nearly take for granted today.

Experiments with larger and more capable aircraft as well as advances in a vast array of carrier-related technology bring the reader to the present day, with selections by such noted authors as Norman Polmar (Aircraft Carriers) and George Wilson (Supercarrier). The diverse experiences of U.S. and foreign naval aviators in the Suez Operation in 1956, the French and American wars in Vietnam, the Falklands War, the Persian Gulf War, and the Allied air campaign in Bosnia are all covered, often through eyewitness accounts. For example, in Peter B. Mersky’s book, RF-8 Crusader Units Over Cuba and Vietnam, he relates a chilling first-person account of the fire on board the U.S.S. Oriskany in 1966. In She's Just Another Navy Pilot, Laurie Hirschman describes the major social changes caused by the arrival of women fighter pilots in the Navy.

From its primitive start during the earliest years of flight, through its numerous tests in the crucible of war, and to the high-tech operations of recent missions, all the thrills and risks of nearly a century of carrier aviation are captured in From the Flight Deck.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Peter Mersky is a series co-editor for Potomac Books' Aviation Classics and the editor of From the Flight Deck: An Anthology of the Best Writing on Carrier Warfare (Brassey's, Inc., 2003). He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Review:

"Especially valuable is the author's introduction to each chapter that is informative, accurate, and helpful in understanding the writings that follow. . . . Highly recommended for information and enjoyment, FROM THE FLIGHT DECK is especially useful as an introduction to the wealth of excellent writing available about carrier aviation." --THE HOOK

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.