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Preface Say what you will about him: arrogant, cocky, boisterous, and a devil-may-care fool—the fighter pilot has earned his place in the sun. Across the span of nearly seventy years he has given his country some of its proudest moments and most cherished military traditions. But fame is short-lived. Nearly lost in history's dim past are those magnificent men in their flying machines—the very first fighter pilots—who, in the Great War of 1914-1918, chased the Hun flying circuses, including the Red Baron, from French skies. Almost forgotten are "the few" Royal Air Force fighter pilots who, in the Second World War, stood alone against the might of Hitler's German air armadas during the dark summer of 1940— and, in the words of Sir Winston Churchill, gave England "its finest hour." Gone from the hardstands of Duxford are the P-51s with their checkerboard noses that terrorized the finest fighter squadrons of the Luftwaffe. Also gone from the war-torn skies of Burma and China are the AVGs who, with their shark-jawed P-40s, chewed up the Japs and spit them out again. Dimly remembered is the 4th Fighter Group that gave Americans some of their few proud moments in the skies over Korea. How fresh in recall are the Air Commandos who valiantly struck the Viet Cong with their aging "Sky Raiders" in the rain- and blood-soaked valley called A-Shau? And how long will be remembered the "Thuds" over Route Pack Six and the flak-filled skies above Hanoi? So here's a "nickel on the grass" to you, my fighter pilot friends, for your spirit, enthusiasm, sacrifice, and courage—but most of all to your memory. Yours is a dying breed, and when you are gone, the world will be a lesser place. Even though I'm now an old, shot-up, ex-fighter pilot, I know it's xiv Preface far better to be a has-been than a never-was.I decided to record for posterity my war story and that of the fighter pilots I knew during the past several wars and decades. I realize, of course, that the past is for remembering, not for reliving; but some of you who read this account may recall similar events and memories of your own. ...

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