According to the book description of The Spirit of Attack: Fighter Pilot
Stories, "SCRAMBLE! In a couple of minutes my wingman and I would be
airborne on another adventure. Sometimes we intercepted an airliner, sometimes a
misplaced B-52 bomber, and sometimes Russian bombers probing our defenses;
Russian warships; MIG fighters; or "troops in contact" in Vietnam, calling for
napalm only yards from their positions. Twice it was UFOs - Unidentified Flying
Objects! This book is a series of short stories, supported by more than 90
photographs. The first part has my own stories; later stories were contributed
by my fellow pilots. The last story is from WW II of our P-38 fighters attacking
the Romanian oil fields and getting badly mauled by defending Romanian fighters
- and a Romanian pilot's view of the battle! "Only the spirit of attack borne in
a brave heart will bring success to any fighter aircraft, to matter how highly
developed the aircraft may be." That quote from Adolf Galland, an Ace of the
German Luftwaffe in WW II, was the motto of our 317th Fighter Interceptor
Squadron in Alaska. The fighter pilot is a hunter, and his quarry is the most
dangerous in the world - men who want to kill him! The best defense is a good
offense - ATTACK! The US Air Force had a program called "Every Man a Tiger". A
tiger does not kill impulsively or in anger, but plans his attack carefully and
strikes with cool ferocity. We were tigers! Fighter pilots tell stories around
the bar, but they seldom write them down. These stories were written by the
fighter pilots themselves! Come with me and hear of the beauty of flight, the
mortal danger of electrical power failure at night in a snowstorm, and the
thrill of attack with 20mm cannons firing right under your feet!"
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