In common with some of us, author Tom Cleaver was introduced to aviation by his father at a young age. This has grown into a real love for aircraft and an interest in the people who flew these planes. Life then took him to becoming a screen writer where he learned how to tell a story and make it interesting.

Over the decades, he has interviewed a number of famous and near-famous pilots about their wartime experiences. Every pilot who has flown in combat has had a story to tell and could not have told a more interested and knowledgeable author. We are those who now benefit from this as Tom Cleaver has taken a number of those interviews and put them into one publication.

These interviews cover WWII, Korea, and Vietnam; and are not just American pilots as the view from the other side is equally as important and interesting.

The book covers a wide range of missions from Lamar Gillet, the only P-35 pilot to shoot down a Japanese fighter, to Vic Tatelman's B-25 mission to Rabaul, to Hubert Childress' F-5E recon Lightning mission over France in 1944, to Kyosti Karhila  a Finnish Hawk 75 ace, to Tom Hudner's Korean War Medal of Honor Corsair mission, to Ken Lee's MiG-17 kill while flying an OV-1.

That is just a taste of what is in the book. Other pilots' tales flying well known aircraft types including the P-40, B-24, P-47, Me-262, Spitfire, F-84 and others are covered; each one with a tale that will grab your attention and hold it.

Tom is a good friend of mine so you might think I am biased, but I have to say this is by far one of the best 'I was there' books that I have ever read; and I have read a lot.

Since this is an e-book, you do not have to pay a fortune to be able to download it and enjoy it at your leisure. The book is a real treat and you owe it to yourself to get this one.

Thanks to Tom Cleaver for the review book. You can get yours direct from
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005YR6JYK
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/books/e/2940013321069

October 2011

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