Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq

Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq
by Jay Stout

Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq
List Price: $17.00
Our Price: $9.22
You Save: $7.78 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.93 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


(Click here)
Buy this book at online book store in your country
Canada | UK | Germany | France

Book Summary Information

Author: Jay Stout
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-12-26
ISBN: 0891418717
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Presidio Press

Book Reviews of Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq

Book Review: Excellent book - Highly recommended
Summary: 5 Stars

Former fighter pilot Stout does an excellent job with this book. Based upon his knowledge of Marine attack capabilities and his personal relationships with most of the Marine aviators mentioned in this book, Stout puts you right in the cockpit and "down-in-the-weeds" with the grunts being supported by Marine air assets. Whether the action involves Cobra attack helicopters, F/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harriers, or EA-6B Prowlers, Stout has you right in the thick of things. His interaction throughout the book between air assets and forward air controllers is excellent and provides a seldom seen insight into how these teams interact during the intense ferocity of battle. He also does an excellent job of describing the emotion that is felt by Marines when their fellow grunts are lost either in the air or on the ground. This book is a must for any individual with interest in Marine air activity during the Gulf War. Highly recommended and insightful.

Summary of Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Marine Corps? ground campaign up the Tigris and Euphrates was notable for speed and aggressiveness unparalleled in military history. Little has been written, however, of the air support that guaranteed the drive?s success. Paving the way for the rush to Baghdad was ?the hammer from above??in the form of attack helicopters, jet fighters, transport, and other support aircraft. Now a former Marine fighter pilot shares the gripping never-before-told stories of the Marines who helped bring to an end the regime of Saddam Hussein.

As Jay Stout reveals, the air war had actually been in the planning stages ever since the victory of Operation Desert Storm, twelve years earlier. But when Operation Iraqi Freedom officially commenced on March 20, 2003, the Marine Corps entered the fight with an aviation arm at its smallest since before World War II. Still, with the motto ?Speed Equals Success,? the separate air and ground units acted as a team to get the job done.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with the men and women who flew the harrowing missions, Hammer from Above reveals how pilots and their machines were tested to the limits of endurance, venturing well beyond what they were trained and designed to do. Stout takes us into the cockpits, revealing what it was like to fly these intense combat operations for up to eighteen hours at a time and to face incredible volumes of fire that literally shredded aircraft in midair during battles like that over An Nasiriyah .

With its dynamic descriptions of perilous flights and bombing runs, Hammer from Above is a worthy tribute to the men and women who flew and maintained the aircraft that so inspired their brothers in arms and terrified the enemy.


From the Hardcover edition.

Asia Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Asia Books
All the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror ImageAll the Shah's Men: An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terror
by Stephen Kinzer
Wiley; Published: 2008-01-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops: $14.95
The Atomic Bazaar: The Rise of the Nuclear Poor ImageThe Atomic Bazaar: The Rise of the Nuclear Poor
by William Langewiesche
Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.21
Price in other shops: $22.00
The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War ImageThe Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War
by James Bradley
Little, Brown and Company; Published: 2009-11-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops: $29.99
China: Empire of Living Symbols ImageChina: Empire of Living Symbols
by Cecilia Lindqvist
Da Capo Press; Published: 2008-05-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops: $25.00
China: Empire of Living Symbols ImageChina: Empire of Living Symbols
by Cecilia Lindqvist
Addison-Wesley; Published: 1991-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $33.00
Price in other shops: $39.90
What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa ImageWhat Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa
by Mr. David E. Murphy
Yale University Press; Published: 2006-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.17
Price in other shops: $20.00
Sky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History ImageSky Train: Tibetan Women on the Edge of History
by Canyon Sam
University of Washington Press; Published: 2009-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.50
Price in other shops: $24.95
In Light of India ImageIn Light of India
by Octavio Paz
Mariner Books; Published: 1998-04-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Laws of Manu (Penguin Classics) ImageThe Laws of Manu (Penguin Classics)
by Anonymous
Penguin Books; Published: 1991-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $34.95
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II ImageThe Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II
by Iris Chang
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1998-11-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops: $16.00
Similar Books and other products
Topgun Days: Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks ImageTopgun Days: Dogfighting, Cheating Death, and Hollywood Glory as One of America's Best Fighter Jocks
by Dave "Bio" Baranek
Skyhorse Publishing; Published: 2010-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $15.79
Price in other shops: $24.95
Vipers in the Storm: Diary of a Gulf War Fighter Pilot ImageVipers in the Storm: Diary of a Gulf War Fighter Pilot
by Keith Rosenkranz
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 2002-04-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.67
Price in other shops: $19.95
The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey ImageThe Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey
by Richard Whittle
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2010-04-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.93
Price in other shops: $27.00
A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan ImageA Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan
by Michael Franzak
Pocket Books; Published: 2011-06-28; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.40
Price in other shops: $7.99
Strike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War (The Warriors) ImageStrike Eagle: Flying the F-15E in the Gulf War (The Warriors)
by William L. Smallwood
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2005-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.06
Price in other shops: $8.95
Apache: Inside the Cockpit of the World's Most Deadly Fighting Machine ImageApache: Inside the Cockpit of the World's Most Deadly Fighting Machine
by Ed Macy
Grove Press; Published: 2010-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.45
Price in other shops: $15.95
Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (Potomac Books' The Warriors series) ImageWarthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War (Potomac Books' The Warriors series)
by William L. Smallwood
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2005-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.13
Price in other shops: $8.95
A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan ImageA Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan
by Michael Franzak
Threshold Editions; Published: 2010-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.64
Price in other shops: $26.00
Hornets Over Kuwait ImageHornets Over Kuwait
by Jay A. Stout
US Naval Institute Press; Published: 1997-05; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $29.99
Price in other shops: $34.95
A Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan ImageA Nightmare's Prayer: A Marine Harrier Pilot's War in Afghanistan
by Michael Franzak
Threshold Editions; Published: 2010-06-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.21
Price in other shops: $26.00
Book store. Illustrated catalog of books on different categories