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Colonel Walter J. Boyne, USAF (ret.),
is the “former director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, enlisted as a private in
the United States Air Force in 1951 and retired in 1974 as a Colonel with more than 5,000 hours in a score of different aircraft,
from a Piper Cub to a B-52. He has written fifty books and hundreds of articles on aviation subjects and is one of only a
few authors to have had both fiction and nonfiction books on The New York Times bestseller lists. His nonfiction books include
The Smithsonian Book of Flight, The Leading Edge, Weapons of Desert Storm, and Boeing B-52: A Documentary History; his fiction
books include The Wild Blue (with Steven Thompson), Trophy for Eagles, Dawn Over Kitty Hawk, and a trilogy on the history
of jet aviation that includes Roaring Thunder, Supersonic Thunder and Hypersonic Thunder.
He has appeared on hundreds of television
programs, and hosted and narrated two television series based on his books. The first was a 5 part series. The second was
an 18 part series that appeared on PBS, based on his book Clash of Wings: World War II in the Air. (Somewhat mutilated by
its cutting, editing and re-narration, it also appears on television under another name.) As a part of his television endeavors,
Boyne co-founded Wingspan, the Air & Space Channel, which debuted successfully on the air prior to being purchased by
the Discovery Channel.”
Among Colonel Walter J. Boyne’s
books are: Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the U.S. Air Force, 1947-2007; Roaring Thunder: A Novel of the Jet
Age; Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers; Classic Aircraft; Supersonic Thunder: A Novel of the Jet Age;
The Aircraft Treasures of Silver Hill; Operation Iraqi Freedom: What Went Right, What Went Wrong, and Why; Trophy for Eagles;
Power Behind the Wheel; Eagles at War; World War II Aircraft: Great American Fighter Planes of the Second World War; The Leading
Edge; The Yom Kippur War: And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel; Air Warfare: An Encyclopedia; Clash of Wings World War
II in the Air; and, The Smithsonian Book of Flight.
Among the books co-authored by
Colonel Walter J. Boyne are: The Wild Blue: The Novel of the U.S. Air Force; Weapons of Desert Storm; Rising Tide:
The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War; and, he is also an editor of such books
as Today's Best Military Writing: The Finest Articles on the Past, Present, and Future of the U.S. Military.
According to the book description of
Beyond the Wild Blue: A History of the U.S. Air Force, 1947-2007, “The second edition of Beyond
the Wild Blue, an update of the popular history originally released in 1997, is a fascinating look at sixty turbulent years
of Air Force history. From the prop-driven armada of World War II to the most advanced Stealth weaponry, from pioneers like
General Henry "Hap" Arnold to glorious conquests in the Gulf War, Beyond the Wild Blue is a high-flying study of
the triumphs (and failures) of leadership and technology.In three new chapters, Walter Boyne covers an eventful ten years,
including 9/11, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the second Gulf War, describing in detail the technological advancements
that led to highly efficient airstrikes in Iraq. He also takes stock of the Air Force's doctrine and
mission statements as this unique sector of the military grapples with an ever-changing world.”
Publisher’s Weekly said of Roaring
Thunder: A Novel of the Jet Age, “Best known for his numerous first-class nonfiction aviation histories,
Boyne has also produced aviation sagas (such as Roaring Thunder), and here inaugurates a trilogy with mixed success. Vance
Shannon and his twin sons, Tom and Harry, are big shots in the American aircraft world: all three men do stints as flying
aces and as brilliant engineers, working with the likes of Boeing and Lockheed to develop new jet technology. From 1955 to
1973, Vance and his sons participate in the development of the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes, supersonic transports and Learjets,
as well as missile and satellite technology. Events like the Sputnik launching, the Cuban missile crisis, the invention of
the Polaroid Land Camera and the Volkswagen car craze all play in, as do figures like a former Nazi thug, a mistress who spies
for French intelligence and POWs in Vietnam. The aviation history and tech talk are sparkling, but the plot is an anemic mix
of family saga, corporate politics and various forms of espionage.”
According to the book description
of Supersonic Thunder: A Novel of the Jet Age, “from the first flight of the U-2 to the flashing
speed of the famous SR-71 Blackbird, Supersonic Thunder is a portrait of the jet as it comes of age. Aviation
genius is personified in famous engineers such as Kelly Johnson and Ben Rich and in test pilots like Tony LeVier and Tex Johnson
in this fast moving story of military and commercial jet aviation. Under the guidance of test pilot and engineer, Vance Shannon, the
reader is present at every major event in jet aviation in the 1960s and 1970s. As the ever-changing industry begins to speed
up beyond Vance’s grasp, he turns to his two sons, Tom and Harry, to keep the family business on the cutting edge. Though
they’ve followed in their fathers’ footsteps for many years, the stress from trying to stay ahead of the curve
is destroying their families--as well as fueling a long hidden rivalry between the two brothers.
As the Shannon family struggles
with their personal and professional lives, Supersonic Thunder reveals the great leaps of the aviation industry during this
astonishing era, from Gary Powers’ U-2 shoot down to the first flight of the Russian Supersonic Transport.
With historic and dramatic detail, we are taken behind the scenes, revealing the motivations of top Russian, English,
and American designers as they push the limits of engines and airframes and confront the difficulties of the pursuit of Mach
2.0 speeds. From the luxury of the 747 to the
abject despair of a cell in the Hanoi Hilton, Supersonic Thunder tells the real story of this amazing chapter of jet aviation
in terms of the men and women who lived and died to make it a part of our everyday life.”
Publisher’s Weekly said of Operation
Iraqi Freedom: What Went Right, What Went Wrong, and Why, “This hastily assembled after-action report
illustrates the pitfalls of writing military history before the dust has settled. A big one is that, lacking the necessary
time to discern the forest from the trees, the author's narrative remains a clutter of disconnected events, organized
into somewhat arbitrary three or four day increments covering mostly the period up to the fall of Baghdad. Boyne (Weapons
of Desert Storm; On Clash of Titans)is a retired Air Force colonel, and his bird's-eye-view account sometimes relegates
the Army to the task of flushing the Iraqi defenders into the open to be detected and annihilated by "Olympian"
air power. The resulting turkey-shoot, he feels, vindicates the American military's futuristic "Revolution in Military
Affairs" doctrine, combining omniscient satellite and aerial surveillance systems, precision-guided bombs and missiles,
and elite special forces, the whole organized by all-encompassing computer and communications networks. In Boyne's estimate,
what went right was the high-tech, computerized hardware; what went wrong was mostly the occasional shortage of it (especially
modernized helicopters, tankers and transport planes); and the war's unsung heroes are Pentagon procurement officials,
whose decades-long struggle to defend big-ticket weapons systems like the B-1 bomber and the AWACS radar plane against media
nay-sayers and Congressional cost-cutters he recounts at length. Embedded in the jumble of acronyms and military jargon is
a wealth of data, including a 65-page appendix listing the technical specifications of every plane, ship and tank in the war.
But Boyne's starry-eyed vision of what gold-plated weaponry can achieve seems a premature lesson to draw from a conflict
that's far from over.”
According to the book description
of The Yom Kippur War: And the Airlift Strike That Saved Israel, “It's usually called
the Yom Kippur War. Or sometimes the October War. The players that surround it are familiar: Sadat and Mubarak, Meir and Sharon,
Nixon and Kissinger, Brezhnev and Dobyrnin. It was a war that brought Arab and Jew into vicious conflict. A war in which Israel
almost unleashed her nuclear arsenal and set two superpowers on a treacherous course of nuclear escalation. And a war that eventually brought peace. But a
peace fraught with delicate tensions, disputed borders, and a legacy of further bloodshed. The Two O'Clock War is a spellbinding
chronicle of the international chess game that was played out in October 1973. It is a story of diplomacy and military might
that accounts for many of the dilemmas faced in the present-day Middle East.
This is a war that Israel never
thought was possible. Surprised by the fury and excellent execution of the Arab onslaught, and perhaps more than a little
complacent, Israel suddenly found itself on the point of losing a war because of a lack of ammunition, planes and tanks. The
United States, after much vacillation, finally elected to help Israel, beginning a tremendous airlift (code name: Operation
Nickel Grass) which incurred the wrath of the Arab states, and their sponsor, the Soviet Union. Fortunately the airlift came just in time for Israeli ground
forces to stabilize their positions and eventually turn the tide in the Sinai and Golan Heights. And it was all made possible
by an operation that dwarfed the Berlin Airlift and the Soviets' simultaneous efforts in Egypt and Syria. The Two O'Clock
War is bound to become the definitive history of a war that quite literally approached Armageddon.”
According to the book description of
Rising Tide: The Untold Story of the Russian Submarines that Fought the Cold War, “Of all
the secrets the Soviet Union kept, none were more closely guarded than those involving their submarines. Now, for the first
time, here is the complete, dramatic story of the Soviet side of these secretive operations during the Cold War. Drawing on
newly available archives, as well as interviews with a dozen former Soviet commanders-access never before granted to Western
researchers- this gripping narrative shows that confrontations between nuclear-armed subs were far more dangerous than ever
thought. With 16 pages of never-before-seen photos, Rising Tide sheds new light on the darkest secrets of the Cold War.”
The MOAA said of Dawn Over
Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers, “We know who invented the airplane: Wilbur and Orville Wright.
Lost in history are the names of those who, in the closing years of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th, shared
the passion to develop the first powered aircraft. Some spent fortunes chasing that dream. Some spent their lives. Boyne's
historical novel relives it all.”
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