Ironclaw: A Navy Carrier Pilot's War Experience on the USS Midway - Softcover

Baldwin, Sherman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1450212581 ISBN 13: 9781450212588

Publisher: iUniverse, 2010

Synopsis

"Fast-paced, exciting and informative, with a realism and authenticity that this old carrier aviator has not seen in a long, long time." -Admiral J. L. Holloway III, USN (Ret.), Chief of Naval Operations, 1974-78

"A fine Tom Clancy-style account...From the start, the reader is in the cockpit." -Kirkus Reviews

The book that straps you into the cockpit of one of the world's most exhilarating and dangerous occupations.

Slammed back into his ejection seat, catapulting from the heaving aircraft-carrier at 150 miles per hour in two seconds, he plunges into the darkness above the black waves. He is a rookie pilot on his first flight off the deck of the famed USS Midway, a "nugget" strapped in the electronics-crammed cockpit of one of the world's most expensive, sophisticated - and powerful - military machines. He is a member of the elite EA-6B Prowler squadron - call sign Ironclaw. And for Sherman Baldwin, a Yale grad turned navy carrier pilot on the eve of the Gulf War, the adventure has just begun.

Here is the real world of military aviation - a world far more exciting than the depiction in bestselling novels and popular Hollywood films. Baldwin records in white-knuckled prose what it's really like to make the grade as a navy carrier pilot: the high-stakes, high-pressure world of piloting multimillion-dollar aircraft, precision flying through enemy fire over hostile territory, and zero-tolerance aircraft landings in the dead of night, when one miscalculation could result in a fatal crash. He also offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the humor and camaraderie that bind these special individuals together, characters with nicknames like "Beast," "Chief Rat," and "Simba." From the mission-planning room to chaotic action of the carrier deck to emergency midair refuelings and the outbreak of the Gulf War, Baldwin captures the G forces of the world's steepest and most dangerous learning curve.

About this title

From Kirkus Reviews:

A vivid memoir of the 1991 Gulf War, of an air attack squadron called Ironclaw, and of the high-pressure life aboard the US carrier Midway. From the start, the reader is in the cockpit with Lieutenant Junior Grade Baldwin (who is currently pursuing an MBA at Harvard) and a three-man crew as, on the eve of war, his Prowler rolls off the flight deck toward the carrier catapults to be thrust from zero to 150 miles per hour in two seconds. One's body, Baldwin notes, never quite adapts to the severe strain of accelerating so fast. His first flight from the carrier is a training mission; he and his crew are supposed to seek out, jam, and destroy enemy radar used as a guide for SAM anti- aircraft missiles. When war comes, it will be a crucial task. Baldwin, qualified as a combat pilot after two and a half years of the toughest flight training, found himself looked down upon as a mere recruit in the fleet, where his every move was closely monitored by highly critical, seasoned officers. In this almost daily high-risk operation, where every man's life often depended on others, one mistake or a missed maintenance inspection could mean instant death to a flight crew. Landing-deck crews are pushed to the limit to avoid life-threatening fires and accidents in a swiftly moving, crowded area. Baldwin depicts the great spirit and close support of officers and enlisted men trying to achieve perfection in some tension-filled combat situations with a little-known enemy. Most missions were successful; not a single life or plane was lost. A fine, Tom Clancystyle account of shipmates under stress and who deserve the traditional Navy phrase, ``Well done.'' -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

From Publishers Weekly:

Baldwin was fresh out of pilot training as a lieutenant j.g. when, on Dec. 10, 1990, he was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Midway in the Persian Gulf. A skilled aviator, the young "nugget"?a pilot on his first sea cruise?nevertheless had much to learn before becoming proficient at carrier operations. The process would be short and intense: Operation Desert Shield had begun months earlier, and Baldwin, along with his shipmates, knew that the U.S. could go to war against Iraq at any time. When Operation Desert Storm was launched in January 1991, Baldwin found himself in the thick of the action. By then, he had logged numerous hours on carrier launches, aerial refueling and landings performed at night on the pitching deck of "the smallest carrier in the fleet." As related here, these tasks are as terrifying as the later wartime missions. Baldwin's account of his attempt to hook up to a refueling tanker in the dark, while running out of gas and hampered by nervous jitters, is among the most vivid in aviation literature. His running tale of his long-distance courtship of his wife is less engaging, but it doesn't hamper the appeal of this gritty and visceral memoir.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: iUniverse
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1450212581
• ISBN 13: 9781450212588
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328