Fast Movers

Rating:
Summary: Poor History...
Review: Having waded through the author's previous work on Korean fighter pilots, it was with some hesitation that I read this book. In effect, it is a continuation of his explication of the "flight suit culture" of military aviators and how they fly and fight. It is also a semi-psychological profile of jet aviators. Having been through Navy flight training, I can attest first hand to the status of jet aviators in the services. I was particularly dismayed by the almost complete lack of acknowledgement of the Navy light attack community, the A4s and A7s. I say "almost" because the story of Mike Estocin, an A4 pilot of VA-192 who won the Medal of Honor posthumously, is told as an adjunct to the story of F8 driver and Mig killer John Nichols. That this is a sort of history is undeniable. It tells of the US involvement in the Vietnam war and the horrid mismanagement of it. The trouble is that it is so anecdotal that it appears that only those oral accounts that support the author's point of view are included. Some aviators of the era come off very badly in the stories told and others seem almost fictionally perfect. Some of the prose is melodramatic in the extreme as if writing the facts alone wouldn't be exciting enough. This is, too, almost exclusively an Air Force book and because of that, balance is lacking. Of course, the book is short, but to leave out the fact that the Navy had an ace too is incomprehensible. I was interested to find the background of thriller novelist Tom Wilson in the book; he was a Wild Weasel backseater, which accounts for the accuracy in his early books. The section on the POWs was, again, a reinforcement of the author's perception of flight suit culture. While interesting, that section was nothing new and has been better done in other works.

All in all, less pretension and simply telling the aviators' stories with minimal explication would have made a better history book. What this means is that the definitive history of flight ops in Vietnam has yet to be written. Hopefully this book will stir someone to do it right.

Rating:
Summary: Poor history
Review: I have read several books of this type and though this one provides quite specific details, they turn out to be quite different from other books. Sometimes I feel like the author making new stuff for the fun of the readers (for example the battle of the air force on May 10 1972). Another thing is that this one purely tells stories rather making deep analysis about the airwar, the formations, and technical issues. Better spend your money on "Clashes" of Marshal L. Michel III.

Rating:
Summary: An Author Who Didn't Check the Facts
Review: I read this book because my father is a retired Air Force fighter pilot and Vietnam veteran. Imagine my shock when I found myself reading about him on page 52. I telephoned him immediately because he was mentioned in a negative light. As I quoted the passage about him and others he lived with and fought with to him over the phone -- he remembered the days events in a completely different manner. "Tax's" rememberance of the Kep Airfield incident wasn't factual. Sounds like he had some axes to grind. What a bunch of sour grapes he spouts. If this recount is so glaring wrong I can only imagine how many others also are. The first rule of jounalism is to check and then recheck the facts. How many other men were slammed without being able to respond or defend themselves? The author never called my father. Bet he didn't call anyone else portrayed in these heresay conversations. I couldn't believe a word that was written after page 52. You shouldn't either.

Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended for military buffs and historians.
Review: In Fast Movers: Jet Pilots And The Vietnam Experience, John Sherwood focuses on fourteen jet fighter pilots, one at a time, to guide the reader through each phase of the Vietnam War air campaigns. Together, these lively and impassioned individual struggles demonstrate and document the difference that a single courageous pilot could (and often did) make. Fast Movers describes the thrill of the hunt, the suffering captivity in the Vietnam POW camps, the off-duty and aerial combat experiences that made up the totality of the combat jet pilot experience. Fast Movers is highly recommended reading for military buffs and historians.

Rating:
Summary: Kudos to Dr. Sherwood for a wonderful book.
Review: JD Sherwood has completed the work I most wanted. It seems to me a clear, concise, and thoroughly accurate treatment of a difficult and -- to date - much ignored subject. These brave flyers deserved this study!

That Sherwood has presented a cultural and social account lends a strong credance to the work. The interviews are the fundament upon which Sherwood has based "Fast Movers". Therefore, the book is accurate in detail and spirit.

Rating:
Summary: Poor history
Review: Official Air Force books told us on typical operational history: units, battles,.. facts, figures. John Sherwood looks at the fighter pilots life, their flying skills and attitudes. He draws from memories or interviews with some Air Force pilots including such famous figures as Olds, Ritchie.. John Sherwood opens a new perspective on the air war in SEA. He brings you from operation room to the cockpit and back on the airbase with the after hours activities: Officers Club , and sometime he adds a touch of female companionship. John Sherwood has written an excellent book on the social life of fighter pilots during the Vietnam war. This book is a must for any SEA conflict student.

Rating:
Summary: a new look at the air war in SEA
Review: Official Air Force books told us on typical operational history: units, battles,.. facts, figures. John Sherwood looks at the fighter pilots life, their flying skills and attitudes. He draws from memories or interviews with some Air Force pilots including such famous figures as Olds, Ritchie.. John Sherwood opens a new perspective on the air war in SEA. He brings you from operation room to the cockpit and back on the airbase with the after hours activities: Officers Club , and sometime he adds a touch of female companionship. John Sherwood has written an excellent book on the social life of fighter pilots during the Vietnam war. This book is a must for any SEA conflict student.

Rating:
Summary: Well Worth The Read
Review: Sherwood's gripping account of fighter pilots in the Vietnam War is one of the most insightful and well-written accounts of that bloody conflict I have ever read. Growing up listening to my father's tales of life as a ground crewman at Da Nang in '68, I could well imagine plight of the brave men featured in "Fast Movers." Sherwood does honor to those men who fought in that unappreciated war, while capturing the spirit of their comradery and the pain of their suffering.

No account of warfare can be without controversy, and to be sure, "Fast Movers" will raise some. Memories fade and personal accounts are shaped by the passage of time-- especially those of combat veterans. The author can only do his best to cross-check facts with others who were there. If minor discrepancies in the oral history arise, we can only accept that such is the nature of the media. From this reader's perspective, I can only say that this account rang as true to me as the memories of my father's experiences were to him.