In this Book
- Phantom in the Sky: A Marine's Back-Seat View of the Vietnam War
- Book
- 2019
- Published by: University of North Texas Press
- Series: North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
summary
Phantom in the Sky is the story of a Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) in the back seat of the supersonic Phantom jet during the Vietnam War—a unique, tactical perspective of the “guy in back,” or GIB, absent from other published aviation accounts. During the time of Terry L. Thorsen’s service from 1966 to 1970, the RIO played an integral part in enemy aircraft interception and ordnance delivery. In Navy and Marine F-4 Phantom jets, the RIO was a second pair of eyes for the pilot, in charge of communications and navigation, and great to have during emergencies. Thorsen endured the tough Platoon Leaders Course at Quantico and barely earned a commission. He underwent aviation and intercept training while suffering airsickness issues—and still earned his wings. Thorsen joined the oldest and most decorated squadron in the Marine Corps, the VMFA-232 Red Devils in southern California, as it prepared for deployment to Vietnam. In combat, Thorsen felt angst when he saw the sky darken around him from anti-aircraft artillery explosions high above the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On his first close air support mission in support of ground troops (the majority of his Marine aviation missions), he witnessed tracers whiz by his canopy. On one harrowing sortie, he and his pilot purposely became the target to save an Army unit battling an enemy just a hundred feet away. On secret missions with secret weapons, they dove at anti-aircraft artillery muzzle flashes and flew as a low as fifty feet off the deck during close air support sorties, "scraping" the napalm off their plane. For one mission a friend survived a crash landing, but a training instructor vanished without a trace.
Table of Contents
Download Full Book
- Table of Contents
- pp. v-vi
- Chapter 1: Screwed
- pp. 1-6
- Chapter 2: Maggot Candidate
- pp. 7-18
- Chapter 3: A Marked Man
- pp. 19-22
- Chapter 4: Humping It
- pp. 23-29
- Chapter 5: Striking Gold
- pp. 30-32
- Chapter 6: Beaches and Banana School
- pp. 33-39
- Chapter 7: Launch the Nuggets
- pp. 40-46
- Chapter 8: Barf Bag Bonanza
- pp. 47-49
- Chapter 9: Roger, That’s Your Bogey
- pp. 50-59
- Chapter 10: Red Devil Duos
- pp. 60-73
- Chapter 12: The Devil Made Me Do It
- pp. 93-104
- Chapter 13: Green with Pride
- pp. 105-111
- Chapter 14: Baby, Light My Fire
- pp. 112-118
- Chapter 15: California Dreamin’
- pp. 119-137
- Chapter 16: Bombing Charlie to Hell
- pp. 138-164
- Chapter 17: Dash One’s in Hot
- pp. 165-197
- Chapter 18: War Is Hell
- pp. 198-216
- Chapter 19: Trading My Horns for Talons
- pp. 217-229
- Chapter 20: The Rumors Were True
- pp. 230-249
- Chapter 21: Fox One
- pp. 250-262
- Chapter 22: Mach 2
- pp. 263-268
- Chapter 23: Loving It
- pp. 269-276
- Chapter 24: Sayonara
- pp. 277-286
- Chapter 25: West Coast Finale
- pp. 287-295
- Marine Poem
- p. 303
- Appendix A: USMC History and Mission
- pp. 306-307
- Appendix D: VMFA-334 History
- pp. 310-311
- Appendix E: MAG-13 History
- pp. 312-313
- Bibliography
- p. 316
Additional Information
ISBN
9781574417623
Related ISBN(s)
9781574417548
MARC Record
OCLC
1090060899
Pages
400
Launched on MUSE
2019-03-27
Language
English
Open Access
No