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Book Reviews
Book Review: June 2012
A Story of Political Intrigue and the Shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue
BETRAYAL: CLINTON, CASTRO & THE CUBAN FIVE
Thirteen years of research and two years of writing have produced one of the greatest real-life, true tales of aviation, espionage and intrigue. Co-authors Matt Lawrence and HistoricWings.com's own Thomas Van Hare together bring to life the story of the shootdown of Brothers to the Rescue off the coast of Cuba.
On the morning of February 24, 1996, three aircraft took off from Opa Locka Airport in South Florida on a routine search and rescue mission. The aircraft were Cessna 337 Skymasters and the mission was identical to those the group had been flying for six years. In that time, the group had saved over 15,000 lives, almost all Cuban rafters, the so-called balseros who would build tiny rafts and row northward in hopes to escape Cuba and survive the journey to freedom in the United States.
That day, however, instead of saving lives, the three planes were attacked by two Cuban MiG jet fighters. Within minutes, two were shot down in what would later be termed, "cold-blooded murder". Four men were killed -- three of were American citizens. A third Cessna 337 Skymaster aircraft fled northward, pursued closely by a second pair of Cuban MiGs, who hunted the plane nearly all the way to Key West.
The book presents sworn testimony, court records, evidence, Freedom of Information Act requests, and official government releases and statements to make clear the real history of what happened that day.
The book reveals that the Cubans didn't attack "out of the blue". Instead, Fidel Castro's government asked permission of the Clinton Administration to attack and murder Americans. As inflammatory as this charge sounds, the authors make clear that the facts presented in the book are not unsubstantiated -- every claim is backed up and supported, in detail -- the references are freely available and cited with each chapter.
The public figures involved range from the President of the United States, Bill Clinton, to Sandy Berger, Gov. Bill Richardson and dozens of other figures, many of whom in all likelihood knew in advance what was to take place and did nothing to stop the murder.
As for the USAF's jet fighters that day? It turns out that not only did they not scramble to intercept the Cuban MiGs, they were instead ordered to taxi back to their hangars and shut down their engines.
The book is an incredible read -- detailed, yet brilliantly written in a way that personalizes the story. It brings the reader right into the airplane seats alongside those who died.
When the last page is turned, the reader is faced with a moment of truth. What really happened out there? Who knew in advance? Why was nothing done? Who could have stopped it but did not?
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Book Review: June 2012
Book Review: Oct 2003
A first-hand account of the life and experiences of Alaskan bush flying.
ARCTIC BUSH PILOT
Alaskan Bush Pilots have earned a unique place in aviation lore and history -- and rightfully so. It's sad that so few of their stories have been published over the years. So this month, we bring you one such book -- the story of pioneering Bush Pilot James "Andy" Anderson.
Simply a wonderful Alaska flying book comes from the small, regional specialty publishing house, Epicenter Press, in Kenmore, Washington. Arctic Bush Pilot is the memoir of one of Alaska's finest, the pioneer Bush Pilot Andy Anderson, who flew alone across the northern reaches of Alaska's Brooks Range from Bettles in everything from a Cessna 170 to a Republic Seabee, to a Noorduyn Norseman and beyond.
Between flying pregnant women to the hospital to taking hunters into Alaska's barely charted (and often incorrectly charted) mountainous north for caribou, dal sheep and bear, to hauling fisherman and medical supplies, this is the real story of Alaska's early years of aviation. It covers a time when such pilots had to do everything, from storing fuel, fixing engines, to running their flight operations out of a tent alongside a small grass strip in the middle of native Alaskan wilderness.
Co-authored as an autobiography by Andy Anderson and Jim Rearden, the book is a light, fun, and wonderful read -- shedding insight into the non-textbook type of flying that is still allowed in Alaska where "Bush Pilot" is an honored title for those who are experienced and skilled, given special privileges and somewhat different regulations from the FAA to fly small scale commercial operations across the one of America's last, untouched wildernesses. Even today, to be a Bush Pilot is an incredible line of work, but by looking back fifty years through this book, you are taken along on an incredible journey over the ridges and pine forests of the frigid north.
Below, dal sheep dot the mountainsides, looking like popcorn from a distance, and the flash of the sun off a moose's antlers can be seen from thirty to forty miles away in the cold winters, where CAVU is really a truthful term. It was a type of flying where strapping a farm wagon to the underside of the landing gear of a Noorduyn Norseman to haul it into a small grass airstrip in the Koyukuk Valley was no big deal.
The style of Rearden's writing and Anderson's story telling is to divide stories into short vignettes, each of which are fascinating and offer real lessons about flying in the north as well as humorous interludes throughout. Take for example the smoker who hires Anderson to fly him out into the wilderness, "where there are no cigarettes", so he can finally quit the habit. After a few weeks, Anderson returns with food supplies and lands on the lake nearby. The man races into the plane, clearly out of his mind, begging to be flown to Bettles, at any cost, or "anywhere else to buy a smoke!" Such is the timbre of the book -- fun reading, through and through.
You probably won't find Arctic Bush Pilot on the shelves of your local book store -- it goes that way with most really good books so it would seem -- but you can buy it through Amazon.com for now. We highly recommend it, it's a great book from a specialty house that you'll just have to have on your shelf.
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Book Review: Oct 2003
Book Review: Sep 2003
Flying the desert sands of North Africa an RAF recce pilot's experiences at war.
MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE
Over the years, we've read dozens of autobiographies of famous and not-so-famous pilots who flew during World War II. Thus, it comes as an extraordinarily pleasurable surprise to find not just another "I was there" sort of book, but rather a brilliantly composed, honest, and literally breathtaking book.
Authored by Wing Commander Geoffrey Morley-Mower, DFC, AFC, the book Messerschmitt Roulette takes you where you never imagined you could go -- into the desert sands of North Africa, faced off against the Afrika Korps and the most deadly Luftwaffe ace of all time, Hans-Joachim Marseille of I/JG27.
The book, from specialty publishing house, Airlife Books, sent to us by Stackpole Books in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, covers the wartime experiences of a British recce pilot whose mission it was to command Australian recce pilots in Egypt and Libya during 1941 and 1942. Their mission involved long over desert flights, all the while hoping that they wouldn't be spotted and intercepted by the Luftwaffe, which flew superior planes, principally the Me-109. As Morley-Mower quotes from a squadron mate in his book, "The 109 can out climb us, out dive us and it beats the hell out of us in level flight."
The style of Morley-Mower's writing is such that it takes you in and puts you there beside him in the cockpit. Clearly, his talents at writing are as good as flying, and he has a certain tone that he uses in describing particularly hazardous moments that is quite compelling, if not even somehow bland, flat and almost emotionless.
From beginning to ending, the book reads very well. The author, in his usual tone, notes early on, "A relative of mine on my mother's side, Captain Maurice Hewson, Royal Navy, was captured by the French during the Napoleonic wars, His narrative, Escape from the French, 1803-1802, was published in 1981. Perhaps this story of my adventures in World War II will, like his, interest readers two hundred years from now."
Happily, we can report that readers won't have to wait two hundred years to read this book.
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Book Review: Sep 2003
Book Review: Aug 2003
Alaska's true heroes of the air, chronicling the pioneer bush pilot of the 1930s and 1940s
MERCY PILOT - THE JOE CROSSON STORY
From time to time, a truly brilliant book comes to our review desk from one of the publishers. So many books escape the notice of our readers, perhaps because the writer is an unknown, or because the subject is too rarified, or because the book doesn't have enough full page glossy pictures to warrant shelf space at the big chain big stores.
Coming from author Dirk Tordoff, Mercy Pilot - the Joe Crosson Story is just such a book. The publisher is a specialty house, Epicenter Press, which focuses on "Alaska Book Adventures" and offers about a half dozen books on flying in the far north.
The cover of Mercy Pilot promises, "This is a wonderful story about one of the world's aviation pioneers, a courageous and skilled pilot, an Alaska hero." And the book delivers on that promise, right from page one.
As pilots, we all know just what it takes to fly the stunning and dangerous landscape of Alaska. This book takes us back to the 1920s and 1930s, long before modern GPS navigation, reliable airplanes, and satellite weather. It chronicles the life of Joe Crosson, an Alaskan bush pilot pioneer and his pilot sister, Marvel, who flew in competitions against the likes of Amelia Earhart, Vera Walker, and "Pancho" Barnes, and his wife, Lillian Osborne.
The book takes you across the then uncharted Brooks Range, riding with Joe when he became the first pilot to land on a glacier, sails you down to Antarctica, flies you across the Siberian winter, and even takes you along on his flight to retrieve the bodies of Wiley Post and Will Rogers, Jr. Along the way, you'll fly with Joe in his Fokker F.III, Super Swallow, Waco 9, Sikorsky S-43 Flying Boat, Republic Seabee and Lockheed Vega.
Simply a brilliant book and well worth the read!