Search results for ""Author Paul T. Gillcrist""

Told in anecdotal form, Vulture's Row tells a fascinating story about an important period covering nearly one half of the entire history of U.S. naval aviation. "Vulture's Row" is an area dubbed by naval flyers, on the island structure of an aircraft carrier where pilots who aren't flying can overlook carrier launchings and recoveries on the deck below. This new book by acclaimed author Paul Gillcrist is a series of true stories about the U.S. Navy carrier aviation from the perspective of a Navy pilot who spent thirty-three years directly involved in that exciting profession. The book begins with a series of vignettes in the period of the mid-1950s when the U.S. Navy introduced swept wing, jet-powered fighters into the aircraft carrier navy, flying from straight-deck carriers whose flight decks were made of teak wood. The thread of stories follows the author's career in chronological sequence, in various venues throughout the Navy. There are accounts from his first carrier deployment to the western Pacific, followed by events as a weapons delivery instructor at the predecessor to TOPGUN in El Centro, California. Some of his experiences as a Navy pilot are recorded in a section about Patuxent River, Maryland, the Navy's test center. Additional episodes include an unforgettable wing-walking flight. flying Japanese Zeros in the movie TORA!TORA!TORA! and the author's subsequent tour of duty in Pentagon conducting proficiency flights from our nation's capital. There are also accounts of combat missions over Vietnam and the author's experiences in both wing commander jobs, flying the F-4 Phantom II and the F-14 Tomcat. The last story is about his two flights, as a fifty-two year old Admiral, in the controversial F-20 Tigershark. These vignettes combine humor, hair-raising excitement and tragedy. Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot, served also as a test pilot and weapons delivery instructor, and actively flew from sixteen aircraft carriers for over twenty-seven years. The author writes with authority as a former fighter squadron commanding officer who recorded 167 combat missions over Vietnam flying the F-8 Crusader. Subsequently, he commanded a carrier air wing and finally served, the rank of Rear Admiral, as the wing commander for all pacific Fleet fighter squadrons. His pilot's logbook includes over 6,000 hours, in seventy-one different types of aircraft from 1952 to 1981. He retired in 1985 as Assistant Deputy Chief of Naval Operations(air Warfare). He is also the author of TOMCAT!The Grumman F-14 Story, and CRUSADER! Last of the Gunfighters(both titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

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Once known as the "Last of the Gunfighters", the Vought F-8 Crusader has since become a legend in the histories of the U.S. and French navies, as well as a scourge in the skies over North Vietnam in the late 1960s! CRUSADER! is a vital oral history of one of the most controversial fighter planes in carrier aviation. A key to the authenticity of this story are the author's personal interviews with sixteen of the seventeen living Crusader pilots who became MiG killers in the Vietnam air war. His analysis of their aerial engagements over North Vietnam from 1965 to 1973 contains some startling surprises, as well as a validation of many of the tactical lessons learned from World War II and Korea. CRUSADER! also contains personal accounts by F-8 speed record holders such as U.S. Marine Corps Major (now Senator) John Glenn and Captains Bob Dose and "Duke" Windsor. Other aviation records held by the Crusader, (not so enviable) are told, in anecdotal form, for the first time by the author, an F-8 driver and participant in some of them! Colorful, and sometimes humorous, accounts of events involving the F-8 and "Crusader Drivers" abound in this chronicle of carrier aviation covering the three decades when this remarkable airplane was an important element of the U.S. Navy's carrier strike forces. Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist commanded a fleet Crusader squadron, then a carrier air wing and finally, as a flag officer, became wing commander for all Pacific Fleet fighter squadrons. During his fleet squadron command he completed three carrier deployments to the Tonkin Gulf and flew 167 combat missions in the Crusader for which he was awarded seventeen combat decorations. The author of FEET WET, Reflections of a Carrier Pilot (1990) and TOMCAT, The Grumman F-14 Story (1994), Admiral Gillcrist is well qualified to write the story of the Crusader!

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Paul Gillcrist was a navy carrier pilot for almost thirty years, from the early days, of flying propeller planes from straight deck carriers, to the days of high-tech, lethal "teen" jets and supercarriers. In his remarkable career - from "nugget", to competent jet aviator, to test pilot, to Vietnam fighter pilot, to air wing commander, to head of "Fightertown, USA," Gillcrist flew the F-8 Crusader, F-4 Phantom, F-14 Tomcat, and a myriad of other tactical aircraft. He took part in the Navy\s transition to jet aircraft, when accident rates were high and many feared that jets would not be able to operate in the harsh, demanding environment of "blue water ops." Gillcrist saw the introduction of critical innovations - the angled deck, steam catapult, optical landing system - that saved carrier jet aviation from extinction. Few aviators have had such varied and fascinating experiences, and few could write about them with such eloquence. Available now in a new hard cover reprint edition, Feet Wet (aviator talk for reaching the safety of water) is a chronicle of adventure, heroism, courage, and humor, with some of the most exciting passages ever written on flying. From his magical first flight - the sheer exstasy of being airborne, to the heart-pounding excitement of his first night "trap," the terror of ejecting from a test plane spinning out of control, to dodging SAMs and jousting with MiGs over Hanoi - Gillcrist takes the reader into his world and vividly conveys what all pilots live for - the tremendous "high" of all-out flying. As part of his absorbing stories. Gillcrist shares technical information on carrier aviation; the reader sees, step-by-step, how an airplane is launched, and then trapped again on a small deck aboard a moving ship - this, the most dificult feat in aviation. Paul gillcrist retired in 1985 after a 33-year career as a naval aviator. He commanded a fighter squadron, a carrier air wing, a major jet base, and as a flag officer, the Pacific Fleet fighter wing. He flew 167 combat missions in three Vietnam combat deployments, for which he was awarded seventeen combat decorations. Paul Gillcrist is also the author of Tomcat! The Grumman F-14 Story, Crusader! Last of the Gunfighters, and Vulture\s Row: Thirty Years in Naval Aviation (all three titles are available from Schiffer Publishing Ltd.).

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TOMCAT! The Gurmman F-14 Story is an exciting oral history of the most versatile air supremacy fighter in the world . . . much of it written from the vantage point of the airplane's cockpit! Told in an anecdotal format, this new book is richly marbled with the salt air of fleet experience. Perhaps the F-14 program's greatest success is its overwhelming acceptance by the youngsters in the fleet. Anecdotes about the Tomcat legend abound . . . expecially in the chapters devoted to its employment by the fleet in the oceans of the world. Of particular interest are the chapters dealing with the sale of Tomcats to Iran and the subsequent integration of the airplane into Iran's armed forces. On-the-scene eye witness accounts provide a unique perspective of this fascinating aspect of the Tomcat story. TOMCAT! contains over 150 photographs, most in color and never bfore published, and most of them taken by Tomcat aircrews with hand-held cameras. These provide a fascinating backdrop for the oral history contained in the book. This is not a garden variety history about an airplane. It is a sometimes heart-stopping stroy of how a controversial airplane finally made it into the hearts and minds of the fleet . . . after stumbling at the starting gates of an outmoded defense acquisition system. It is the story of the best air supremacy fighter in the world! Rear Admiral Paul Gillcrist, USN (Retired), commanded a fleet fighter squadron on three carrier combat deployments to the Tonkin Gulf during which he flew 167 combat missions over Vietnam. For these he was awarded seventeen combat decorations. In his thirty-three year flying career as a fleet pilot and Navy test pilot as well, he flew 71 different U.S. and foreign tactical airplanes including the U.S. Air Force's F-104, F-105, F-106, F-15, F-16, YF-17 and F-20. He flew the Navy's F-4, F-5, F-8, F-11, F-14 and F/A-18 as well as several key foreign tactical airplanes. During his carrier flying career, which spanned an amazing twenty-seven years, he commanded a fighter squadron, a carrier air wing and was the wing commander for all Pacific Fleet fighter squadrons. He flew from sixteen carriers, and in his last flying assignment accumulated over four hundred flight hours in the Tomcat culminating, at age 51, in becoming the first flag officer to land the Tomcat on an aircraft carrier - the U.S.S. KITTYHAWK on 21 October 1980. The author of FEET WET, Reflections of a Carrier Pilot, Admiral Gillcrist is eminently qualified to write the F-14 story!

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