If you met Ron Carlson, CEO of a Chicago-based architectural firm, you wouldn't necessarily think of him as the daredevil type. But Ron's life has been a series of death-defying exploits. Into the Unknown: True Stories of a Pilot Cheating Death chronicles a few of Ron's most brazen endeavors, from flying to the high Arctic and being stalked by polar bears to bailing out of an old World War II bomber before it crashes.Ron undertakes the adventures in these tales to satisfy ...

SNAKES, VIPERS, CROCS, SHARKS, AND THE VCWith 257 combat missions in Vietnam under his belt, Gary Smith is a living witness to the realities of Naval Special Warfare. He worked with some of the toughest and most highly motivated men in the world, executing missions in the murderous terrain of Rung Sat Special Zone and Dung Island. The key to their success: go where no ordinary soldier would go and no VC would expect them.Though death reigned as king in the jungles of Vietnam,...

"[An] intimate account of a Forward Air Controller working with the Special Forces on their secret operations in South Vietnam and Laos . . . Don't miss it!" (John Prados, author of Storm Over Leyte).Originally published in 1991, this classic work has now been revised and updated with additional photos. It is the story of how, in Vietnam, an elite group of Air Force pilots fought a secret air war in Cessna 0-2 and OV-10 Bronco prop planes—flying as low as t...

When the fishing vessel La Conte sinks suddenly at night in one-hundred-mile-per-hour winds and record ninety-foot seas during a savage storm in January 1998, her five crewmen are left to drift without a life raft in the freezing Alaskan waters and survive as best they can.One hundred fifty miles away, in Sitka, Alaska, an H-60 Jayhawk helicopter lifts off from America's most remote Coast Guard base in the hopes of tracking down an anonymous Mayday signal. A fisherman's worst nightm...

A memoir of heroism, comradeship, danger, and laughter aboard a Vietnam patrol craft, as a small crew grew into a seasoned combat team. Includes photos.During the Vietnam War, 3500 officers and men served in the Swift Boat program in a fleet of 130 boats with no armor plating. The boats patrolled the coast and rivers of South Vietnam, facing deadly combat, intense lightning firefights, storms, and many hidden dangers.This action-packed account by the Office...

Readers of Flying the Alaska Wild marveled at Mort Mason's true tales of braving the elements at the extremes in a Piper Super Cub. But the bush pilot, adventurer, and raconteur was just beginning, and in this book he revisits his most memorable moments of flying by the seat of his pants through blizzards and white-outs, on assignments at times hazardous and sometimes simply whacky, always with a sense of humor and due respect for the limitless wilds of Alaska beneath his wings. The world ...

The compelling real-life adventure from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Coonts—now available as an ebookBestselling author Stephen Coonts’s stirring ode to aviation: a revealing account of his three months spent exploring small-town America from the skiesStephen Coonts spent the summer of 1991 cruising above rivers, farms, mountains, and swamps in the Cannibal Queen, his restored 1942 Boeing-Stearman open cockpit...

A rare inside look at the thrilling world of smokejumpers, the airborne firefighters who parachute into the most remote and rugged areas of the United States, confronting the growing threat of nature's blazes.Forest and wildland fires are growing larger, more numerous, and deadlier every year — record drought conditions, decades of forestry mismanagement, and the increasing encroachment of residential housing into the wilderness have combined to create a powder keg...

The young adult adaptation of the epic memoir of an Alaskan pararescue jumper, Special Forces Operator, and decorated war hero."That Others May Live" is a mantra that defines the fearless men of Alaska's 212th Pararescue Unit, the PJs, one of the most elite military forces on the planet. Whether they are rescuing citizens injured and freezing in the Alaskan wilderness or saving wounded Rangers and SEALS in blazing firefights at war, the PJs are some of the least kno...

Based on audiotapes he recorded during the war and sent home to his family, Randy ZahnÆs Snake Pilot recounts his experiences flying AH-1 Cobra helicopters during the Vietnam War. First deployed in Vietnam in 1967 and loaded with a formidable arsenal of weaponry, the Cobra was the first helicopter designed from inception as an attack aircraft. It dramatically changed the nature of the war in Vietnam by offering the Army, for the first time, its own powerful and highly accurate weapons ...

It has been 37 years and I still cannot forget. Even more interesting is why I find it difficult to adequately put these thoughts and emotions on paper. I have tried more than once, but the words do not do justice to how I feel. Is it because I am trying to forget or trying not to remember?Three short stories, approx. 10,000 words, tell of the author's experiences as a member of the Brown Water Navy, Mobile Riverine Force, in the Mekong Delta Region of the Republic of Vietnam in 19...

From a squad car and fire truck to a supersonic airliner and stealth ship, All About Drawing Cool Cars, Fast Planes & Military Machines is filled with all things fueled for action. Kids will spend hours completing the easy-to-follow step-by-step drawing projects in this 80-page lesson-packed book. Each drawing project begins with simple shapes and then slowly develops into a true-to-life picture of an aircraft, watercraft, or land vehicle. Not only will children learn how to draw ...