Roger Ball!: The Odyssey of John Monroe "Hawk" Smith Navy Fighter Pilot Book

"Roger Ball!" doesn't just take you into the fighter pilot's cockpit as so many fine books about aviation have done. This book puts the reader inside the skin of one of the Navy's true characters. John Monroe "Hawk" Smith.

-Leighton Warren Smith Admiral, U.S. Navy (Retired)

Roger Ball! is the personal story of John Monroe "Hawk" Smith's esteemed career as a U.S. Navy fighter pilot from 1963 to 1993. Author Donald E. Auten provides a forceful account of the rollicking fun of deployment, the challenges of leadership, and the adrenaline rush of air-combat maneuvering. But life as a carrier pilot has a dark and frightening side too .

Suddenly, everything caught up with them at once. The ball dropped to the bottom of the lens, the LSO screamed for more power .Hawk strained to see the ball but caught only a momentary glimpse of a cherry red ball lying on the bottom of the lens accompanied by brilliantly flashing wave off lights.

KAWHOMPPHH!!! The Phantom came aboard with all the grace of a pallet of bricks. The impact caged his eyeballs and shot a spike of pain through his spinal column. They hit hard-harder than Hawk thought anything could hit without ending up in the hanger deck forty feet below.