On 03 Feb 2004 15:05:04 GMT, (Pechs1) wrote:

If it's not too much trouble, a list of VietNam air war books you would
recommend...thanks in advance-
P. C. Chisholm
CDR, USN(ret.)
Old Phart Phormer Phantom, Turkey, Viper, Scooter and Combat Buckeye Phlyer

Naturally, "When Thunder Rolled"!!!

Seriously, the question would have to be if you are seeking historical
data or memoirs.

In the historical side, I like John Sherwood's oral history, "Fast
Movers" although some folks panned it on Amazon saying it didn't deal
with enough USN stuff. I think there's a lot of A-4, A-7, A-6
coverage.

Marshall Michel's "Clashes" covers the MiG engagements, but is flawed
in that he doesn't name participants and only uses call-sign for
engagements. If you are familiar, you can discern Olds, Richie,
Cunningham, Madden and others.

His second work, "Eleven Days of Christmas" is excellent. It really
highlights the bureaucratic snafus of SAC vs USAF on the Linebacker II
campaign as well as giving the NVN perspective of the battle.

Wayne Thompson's "To Hanoi and Back" may be the best overview of the
entire air war over NVN.

Jeff Ethell's "One Day in a Long War" which details the activity of
May 10, 1972, the start of Linebacker is great. You get the AF attack
on Doumer Bridge and Cunningham's three kills and bailout all in one
book.

A great reference is Chris Hobson's "Vietnam Air Losses" which
chronologically lists all the fixed wing losses of the entire war with
names, tail numbers and a short account of the loss.

Zalin Grant's "Over the Beach" is a great USN book about operations
from Oriskany. John Nichols "On Yankee Station" is also excellent.

Some books I didn't like a
Broughton's "Going Downtown", but "Thud Ridge" is pretty good.
Ken Bell's "100 Missions North".
John Trotti's "Phantom Over Vietnam"
Karl Eschmann's "Linebacker"
Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8