Reviews for Hundred Feet over Hell: Flying with the Men of the 220th Recon Airplane Company over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968-1969

The average rating for Hundred Feet over Hell: Flying with the Men of the 220th Recon Airplane Company over I Corps and the DMZ, Vietnam 1968-1969 based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-11-17 00:00:00 Linda Upham [ "Doc" said Happe. "Mustang said that was a good hit, good hit!" He centered his controls. Jet-black smoke capped the two thousand degree inferno to his left. The Bird Dog bucked when it passed the edge of a rising column of super-heated air, and Doc caught a whiff of the jellied gasoline. As the crater and its marines disappeared under the Cessna cowling, Indian's wingman was head-on toward him in a fifteen degree dive. "Dash 2, this is Catkiller, Do you have me in sight? Over" "That's affirm, Catkiller, I have you in sight" "Roger, Dash 2. The only way you're dropping this close to friendlies is on top of me. Let's go with one nape at twelve o'clock, twenty-five meters from Dash 1's hit. Your approach is good, you're cleared hot." "Roger, Catkiller. One Delta-9 at twelve o'clock, twenty-five meters, and dropping on your position. Dash 2 is in hot." The F-4 pilot released below three hundred feet and brought the control stick back in a climbing turn to the south. Doc broke to the right. More tracers rose from AK-47s. He had completed his turn and was watching Dash 1 heading toward him when the second flight of air reported inbound. "Catkiller 1-8, this is Hellborne 412. Over." "Stand by, 412. Dash 1, do you have Dash 2's hit?" "Affirmative, Catkiller." "Then let's go three o'clock, twenty-five meters, with one nape. Do you have me in sight?" "That's affirm." "Then you're cleared hot." Doc added the Hellborne call sign to his windscreen as the napalm's oily flame rolled over the enemy position. He looked over his shoulder at it. "Good hit, Dash 1!" he barked. Then to make clear that the next transmission was not for Lovebug: "Break, break. Hellborne 412, say your position." The marine A-4 Skyhawks were on the 120-degree radial, twenty-five miles from Dong Ha at eighteen thousand feet. Doc made a quick trigonometry calculation in his head. He needed to position them safely outside Lovebug's pattern but close enough to take over as soon as the F-4s were finished. "Roger, 412, proceed to the 350 at eight miles, Channel 109, descend and maintain ten thousand. I will call you shortly. Break, break. Lovebug Dash 2, do have me in sight?" "Affirmative, Catkiller." (hide spoiler)]

Review # 2 was written on 2010-03-16 00:00:00 Ivan Alarcon Jim Hooper has captured a slice of history that will unfortunately drift into obscurity in not too many years. The role of direct ground support for soldiers and marines in enemy contact on the ground, by slow flying, low flying, lightly armed Army aircraft. Hooper captured the 'pat your head and rub your tummy at the same time' physical skills necessary to just keep the aircraft aloft, while at the same time he shed some insight into the mental conditioning necessary to do the mission and not just turn around and fly for cover. Add figuring out artillery fire missions or bomb strikes for the jets to support the guys on the ground, at night, in the rain, and you might begin to see how difficult those jobs were. It was, pat your head, rub you tummy, juggle with both feet, talk on the radio, figure out the geometry of a fire mission and do all the above at the same time while someone was shooting very large bullets at you frequently. And Hooper managed to convey that to the reader eloquently in a narrative that spoke with several voices of the men that had been there and done that. This book is a must read for anyone interested in the history of the Vietnam War. It probably should be required reading for flight school and it definitely should be read by the families of those aviators who to this day have no idea what their loved ones did in the war. Thomas D. Cooke Captain 48th Assault Helicopter Co. 10th Combat Aviation Battalion REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM 1968-1969