Ten days before the D-day landings at Normandy, Lt. Henry Woodrum woke early to fly a combat mission that culminated in being shot down over the northern suburbs of Paris. Expected to be captured as he hung suspended in his parachute over Nazi-occupied France, Lt. Woodrum never lost hope—even as he realized the Germans were trying to kill him before he hit the ground. Lt. Woodrum’s thirty-fifth combat mission flying the Martin Marauder B-26 was supposed to last just a few hours, but it ended up continuing three months as he struggled to survive in war-torn France. In his fascinating war memoir, Woodrum shares his true account of how he managed to evade capture while being aided by the French Underground—some of whom paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to the downed American pilot. Walkout not only relays the incredible story of a young American behind enemy lines during pivotal months of World War II but also illustrates the quiet heroism displayed by American airmen and the French Resistance during an unforgettable time in history. “A true story of a B-26 pilot’s escape from the Nazis after bailing out over Paris. A must read!” —Col. William F. Nicol, USAFR, MC (Ret)
A USAF navigator’s candid, sharp-witted memoir of his Vietnam tours and his wide-ranging career: “A first rate read.” —Nick Brokhausen, author of We Few During Hank Zeybel’s first tour in Vietnam, he flew 772 C130 sorties as a navigator. He volunteered for a second tour, requesting assignment to B26s so he could “shoot back.” When B26s were removed from the inventory, he accepted a Spectre gunship crew slot, flying truck-busting missions over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In this book he describes the terror of flying through heavy AA fire over the trail, and the heroics of the pilots in bringing their crews through. Away from the war, he recalls leave back in the US, where his elderly father was bewildered by his war-hardened attitude and black sense of humor. Contextualizing his time with Spectre gunships, he compares his experiences with those of other airmen, like Phil Combies and Robin Olds, and his broader Air Force career—he joined upon graduating college in 1955 and his first operational assignment was as a B47 Stratojet navigator-bomber at Strategic Air Command—trained to drop thermonuclear bombs with precision. From 1957 to 1963, he logged over two thousand hours as a radar-bombardier in B47 Stratojets and B52 C-models. In this memoir of Vietnam, his Air Force career, and his second career as a journalist and writer, Zeybel’s admiration of the skill and bravery of pilots—many of whom who he depended on for his very survival—shines through his descriptions of combat missions and being “along for the ride.” “Simply riveting, impressively informative, and exceptionally well written.” —Midwest Book Review
Ten days before the D-day landings at Normandy, Lt. Henry Woodrum woke early to fly a combat mission that culminated in being shot down over the northern suburbs of Paris. Expected to be captured as he hung suspended in his parachute over Nazi-occupied France, Lt. Woodrum never lost hope—even as he realized the Germans were trying to kill him before he hit the ground. Lt. Woodrum’s thirty-fifth combat mission flying the Martin Marauder B-26 was supposed to last just a few hours, but it ended up continuing three months as he struggled to survive in war-torn France. In his fascinating war memoir, Woodrum shares his true account of how he managed to evade capture while being aided by the French Underground—some of whom paid the ultimate price for their loyalty to the downed American pilot. Walkout not only relays the incredible story of a young American behind enemy lines during pivotal months of World War II but also illustrates the quiet heroism displayed by American airmen and the French Resistance during an unforgettable time in history. “A true story of a B-26 pilot’s escape from the Nazis after bailing out over Paris. A must read!” —Col. William F. Nicol, USAFR, MC (Ret)
Mid-flight noncombat mishaps and blunders occur frequently in the USAF during training and utility flights--sometimes with the loss of life and regularly with the destruction of expensive aircraft. In one extreme case, a $2.2 billion B-2 Spirit bomber crashed soon after takeoff and was destroyed. The events surrounding such accidents are gathered by USAF investigators and a report is published for each case. The author has collected these reports, including some made available following FOI (Freedom of Information) requests to U.S. air bases, and rewritten them in language accessible to the general public. The causes--bird-strikes, joy-riding, unauthorized maneuvers, pilot disorientation, an unseen binoculars-case blocking the plane's joystick, unexpected moisture in an air-pressure gauge--are often surprising and, at times, horrifying.
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