Low flying moonlit-covert missions over the Mekong in the tiny Helio Courier, airdrops into war-ravaged Vietnam from the C-123 Provider and testing out the "idiot's loop" from 200 feet at 400 knots in the North American F-100 Super Sabre are just a few of the every-day adventures Ron Sutphin recounts in this memoir spanning nearly three decades. Brig. Gen. Heinie Aderholt, USAF, (Ret.) called Ron "one of the greatest pilots in the history of aviation," rating him with Jimmie Doolittle, Bob Hoover, and Chuck Yeager.
Sadly, Ron was killed in a plane crash before he finished this fascinating story of his truly legendary life. So, it's been left to me to make certain his story is told, and in keeping with the spirit of my brother's high standards, I have not changed much in his book. I edited, to be sure, and finished a few stories, giving the reader some background in the way of research in endnotes and photos, necessarily from the WWII era, the 50s, and 60s. His career was impacted by, and, in a few instances subtly helped impact, several significant touchpoints in our nation's history.
Covert Skies accounts for only a portion of his long career in aviation, however. From a kid who just wanted to fly, he carved a path for himself, focused like a 20mm cannon on that singular goal, in the end, logging over 35,000 hours of flight. Amazingly, from combat pilot to test-pilot, to commercial aviator responsible for the welfare of many lives, this isn't a very long story. It's all too short, in fact, but every bit worth reading the adventures of this quiet, "totally fearless" aviator. Ron Sutphin is the brother I never knew-until now-and a larger-than-life American hero I've come to love. --CS Norwood
Pilots, veterans, Korean War veterans, Civil Air Transport (CAT), and Air America® families and friends will find this a fascinating read. If you love adventure, flight, and history through a pilot's eyes, this Large Print edition of Covert Skies belongs in your bookshelf.
Auflage
Large type / large print edition
Sprache
Editions-Typ
Produkt-Hinweis
Fadenheftung
Gewebe-Einband
Maße
Höhe: 260 mm
Breite: 183 mm
Dicke: 21 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
979-8-9884470-0-9 (9798988447009)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Klassifikation
Throughout his life, Capt. Ronald J. "Ron" Sutphin's passion was flying. He loved to fly and lived to fly. He spent his life studying flight and teaching countless others to fly. He flew any and every fixed-wing aircraft he could talk himself into, from the single-engine Cub to the twin-engine C-46 Curtiss Commando to the Douglas A-1 Skyraider. Ron flew STOL aircraft, fighter jets and supersonics, cargo transports and luxury airliners-he was a man for his time.Ron was a Marine first-one of the last to be known as the China Marines, as well as a naval aviator. He went to war as a combat pilot but traveled the world as a commercial pilot. As a combat pilot, he flew several sorties in the Korean War, arriving in Pyeongtaek only one month before the armistice was signed. As a civilian pilot, he flew Rhesus monkeys out of India for the Polio Foundation as well as flying SAR, humanitarian, and CIA covert operations in Indochina with CAT and Air America. He helped perfect the Helio Courier for Brigadier General Harry C. "Heine" Aderholt, the two remaining lifelong friends, each writing their own separate legends in covert aerial operations. He crashed in numerous airplanes only to walk or hobble away and fly again. He was shot down in his aircraft, evading the enemy for weeks, making his way through the treacherous Laotian jungles. From being stalked by a clouded leopard in the jungle to moonlit ops in Helios over the Mekong River, Covert Skies tells the true story of a man who lived for the adventure of flight.
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