Cheating Death: Combat Air Rescues in Vietnam and Laos

That was the pilots' creed. They flew low and slow, at treetop level, at night, in monsoons, and in point-blank range of enemy guns and missiles. They accepted missions no one else wanted, and they were the heroes other pilots prayed for when shot down. Flying the World War II–vintage Douglas A-1 Skyraider, a single-engine, propeller-driven relic in a war of "fast movers" -- that is, jets -- those intrepid Air Force pilots flew one of the most dangerous missions of the Vietnam War, helping rescue thousands of downed Air Force and Navy pilots.

With a flashback memory and a style all his own, former Air Force Captain George J. Marrett depicts some of the most compelling aerial combat of any war, rendering the people, places, and battles with a unique blend of warts-and-all clarity, heart-pounding passion, and mordant wit.

George J. Marrett flew 188 combat missions on the Douglas A-1 Skyraider in Vietnam and tested more than forty types of military aircraft in twenty-five years as a test pilot for the Air Force and Hughes Aircraft Company. He lives in California.