When Thunder Rolled
by Ed Rasimus
List Price:
Our Price: $4.15
You Save: $3.84 (48%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $2.10 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ed RasimusEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-09-28
ISBN: 0891418547
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Presidio Press
Book Reviews of When Thunder Rolled
Book Review: So THAT is how it was...
Summary: 5 Stars
Ed Rasimus shares a warts-and-all description of life as a fighter pilot. This is not the classic scarf and goggles "fighter pilot" image from World War II. Instead, Rasimus flew the powerful F-105 Thunderchief in Vietnam in 1966 almost exclusively on ground attack missions, a role for which the plane was at best fitfully adapted. And at the same time, it was a job to which newly-minted pilots adapted or simply succumbed to death or capture.
This is one pilot's description of transistor-age aerial combat, before the era of "smart bombs" that (in theory, at least) allow fewer planes to deliver a lesser but more accurate ordnance load. Despite the emergence of some electronic gadgets, fighter pilots in 1966 still relied on a good measure of dead reckoning, which meant that more pilots and more bombs needed to get a lot closer to their targets to achieve a desired level of destruction. But by definition, this put the pilots much closer to the enemy's defenses.
Yet the pilots, all aware of this brutal calculus, committed to performing a tally of 100 such missions. Rasimus explains how he managed to honor this commitment. He also alludes to hurdles posed by the rules of warfare and the military's bureaucratic fabric that put lives at risk-- policies both wittingly and unwittingly implemented by Air Force personnel at all levels.
That Rasimus survived to write this memoir is itself astonishing. Talk about multitasking! The F-105 pilot's attention was consumed by gauges, communications, computations, and all manner of electronic gear. No wonder so many F-105s fell prey to missles, flak, and even obsolete NVAF MiG-17s. If you read this book and and THEN meet the author, be prepared to talk about any other subject, because this book clearly explains "what it was like" to go to war over Vietnam in the F-105.
Summary of When Thunder Rolled
?YOU CAN ALMOST SMELL THE JET FUEL AND GUNPOWDER. You attack the world?s fiercest defenses at 500 knots and share the ultimate thrill of hurling yourself against almost impossible odds?and winning.?JACK BROUGHTON, author of Thud Ridge
Ed Rasimus straps the reader into the cockpit of an F-105 Thunderchief fighter-bomber in his engaging account of the Rolling Thunder campaign in the skies over North Vietnam. Between 1965 and 1968, more than 330 F-105s were lost?the highest loss rate in Southeast Asia?and many pilots were killed, captured, and wounded because of the Air Force?s disastrous tactics. The descriptions of Rasimus?s one hundred missions, some of the most dangerous of the conflict, will satisfy anyone addicted to vivid, heart-stopping aerial combat, as will the details of his transformation from a young man paralyzed with self-doubt into a battle-hardened veteran. His unique perspective, candid analysis, and the sheer power of his narrative rank his memoir with the finest, most entertaining of the war.
?A story that reflects the bravery of the men who flew over enemy territory in a perilous time.?
?The Baltimore Chronicle
?[A] MODERN-DAY RED BADGE OF COURAGE .?
?JOHN DARRELL SHERWOOD, author of Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience
Look for these remarkable stories of American courage in the Vietnam war
DOWN SOUTH
One Tour in Vietnam
by William H. Hardwick
LOST IN TRANSLATION
Vietnam: A Combat Advisor?s Story
by Martin J. Dockery
MEDIC!
The Story of a Conscientious Objector in the Vietnam War
by Ben Sherman
WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE . . . AND YOUNG
Ia Drang: The Battle that Changed the War in Vietnam
by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway
Vietnam Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Vietnam Books
The Sacred Willow: Four Generations in the Life of a Vietnamese Familyby Duong Van Mai Elliott
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1999-04-08; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $13.89
Price in other shops:
The Facts of Life: Science and the Abortion Controversyby Harold J. Morowitz, James Trefil
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1994-08-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.83
Price in other shops:
Seven Firefights in Vietnamby John A. Cash
Dept. of the Army; Published: 1998-05-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $39.00
American Power and the New Mandarins (Pelican)by Noam Chomsky
Penguin USA (P); Published: 1969-10-25; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Guns Up!by Johnnie Clark
Presidio Press; Published: 2002-01-02; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.29
Price in other shops:
The Unwanted: A Memoirby Kien Nguyen, Klen Nguyen
Back Bay Books; Published: 2001-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.99
Price in other shops:
Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnamby Nguyen Cao Ky
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2003-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
Stealth Patrol: The Making of a Vietnam Ranger, 1968-70by Bill Shanahan, John P. Brackin
Da Capo Press; Published: 2003-10-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $26.00
Chickenhawkby Robert Mason
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2005-03-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.65
Price in other shops:
100 Missions North/ a Fighter Pilot's Story of the Vietnam Warby Kenneth H. Bell
Brassey's Inc; Published: 1993-04; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Dayby Robert Coram
Back Bay Books; Published: 2008-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.10
Price in other shops:
Clashes: Air Combat over North Vietnam, 1965-1972by Marshall L., III Michell
Naval Institute Press; Published: 2007-03-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $13.92
Price in other shops:
The Eleven Days of Christmas: America's Last Vietnam Battleby Marshall L lii Michel
Encounter Books; Published: 2001-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops:
Once A Fighter Pilotby Jerry Cook
McGraw-Hill Professional; Published: 2002-04-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.66
Price in other shops:
Thud Ridge: F-105 Thunderchief missions over Vietnamby Jack Broughton
Crecy Publishing; Published: 2006-11-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.45
Price in other shops:
100 Missions North: A Fighter Pilot's Story of the Vietnam Warby Ken Bell
Potomac Books Inc.; Published: 2003-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.68
Price in other shops:
Bury Us Upside Down: The Misty Pilots and the Secret Battle for the Ho Chi Minh Trailby Rick Newman, Don Shepperd
Presidio Press; Published: 2007-02-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.21
Price in other shops:
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of Warby Robert Coram
Back Bay Books; Published: 2004-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Palace Cobra: A Fighter Pilot in the Vietnam Air Warby Ed Rasimus
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 2007-08-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.44
Price in other shops:
Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Oldsby Christina Olds, Ed Rasimus, Robin Olds
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2011-05-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.99
Price in other shops: