Fighter Pilot's Heaven
Flight Testing the Early Jets
Donald S. Lopez
- Fighter
- Pilot's
- Heaven
- presents
- the
- dramatic
- inside
- story
- of
- the
- American
- military's
- transition
- into
- the
- jet
- age,
- as
- told
- by
- a
- flyer
- whose
- life
- depended
- on
- its
- success.
- With
- colorful
- anecdotes
- about
- fellow
- pilots
- as
- well
- as
- precise
- technical
- information,
- Donald
- S.
- Lopez
- describes
- how
- it
- was
- to
- be
- “behind
- the
- stick”
- as
- a
- test
- pilot
- from
- 1945
- to
- 1950,
- when
- the
- U.S.
- military
- was
- shifting
- from
- war
- to
- peacetime
- operations
- and
- from
- propeller
- to
- jet
- aircraft.An
- ace
- pilot
- who
- had
- served
- with
- Gen.
- Claire
- Chennault's
- Flying
- Tiger
- Fighter
- Group,
- Lopez
- was
- assigned
- at
- the
- close
- of
- World
- War
- II
- to
- the
- elite
- Proof
- Test
- Group
- of
- the
- Air
- Proving
- Ground
- Command.
- Located
- at
- Eglin
- Field
- (later
- Eglin
- Air
- Force
- Base)
- in
- Florida,
- the
- group
- determined
- the
- operational
- suitability
- of
- Air
- Force
- weapons
- systems
- and
- aircraft
- and
- tested
- the
- first
- operational
- jet,
- the
- P-80
- Shooting
- Star.
- Jet
- fighters
- required
- new
- techniques,
- tactics,
- and
- weaponry.
- Lopez
- recounts
- historic
- test
- flights
- in
- the
- P-59,
- P-80,
- and
- P-84,
- among
- other
- planes,
- describing
- complex
- combat
- maneuvers,
- hair-raising
- landings
- in
- unusual
- positions,
- and
- disastrous
- crashes
- and
- near
- crashes.
- This
- memoir
- is
- peppered
- with
- lively
- accounts
- of
- many
- pilots
- and
- their
- colleagues,
- revealing
- how
- airmen
- coped
- with
- both
- exhilarating
- successes
- and
- sometimes
- tragic failures.
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