Songs From A Distant Cockpit

A Compelling Read or the Perfect Gift... What it’s like to fly combat jets down between the trees. Whether you have ever flown a jet, or just wished to do so, and whether you served in Vietnam or just read about it, you will be riveted by this fast-paced and vivid account in prose and poetry that tells the story of a special breed of men. These were the hand-picked few who led death-defying lives as F-100 Super Sabre pilots. "Songs" tells the story of the "Hun Drivers" in war and peace, who flew low and fast between the trees with troops under fire day or night, or spent weeks away from home and family on nuclear alert, hoping that the red phone that signaled WW III would never ring. Their plane was called “The Widow Maker” for good reason, as you soon learn. Songs From A Distant Cockpit puts you in the cockpit and in among these single-seat, single-engine fighter pilots as they trained in the “most dangerous plane ever built.” It brings you along as they learned how to fly it, and how to survive in it, and the sudden risks and terrors that they faced often as they flew it. If you’ve ever wondered "What it's like to fly a close-air-support fighter bombers" in combat in Vietnam, or on other missions that pushed the ragged edges of the flight envelope, with Death an all-too-frequent wingman, then you’ll have a vivid understanding when you read "Songs." This highly acclaimed book uses on-the-scene, at-the-time prose and poetry in a blend said by historians to be unique in books about combat in its ability to capture the feelings and experiences shared by those who took pride in their ability to fly “the Hun.” These men were few in number, because, with rare exception, only top pilots could become F-100 Super Sabre pilots. Many were the sights they saw, the things they felt, and the terrors that visited so suddenly, when Death came calling−but left again as suddenly, without a "customer." What they, and the author, have most in common to this day is that they all enjoyed their "Songs" in distant cockpits, high above, or down so low, so fast, so far away, that only God could find them. Men and women from all walks of life are saying, "I couldn't put it down," and some add that parts of it "brought them to tears." So, satisfy your yearnings to fly because now it's time for YOU to get in that fighter cockpit and go flying through the bullets and down between the trees!

John J. Schulz is a retired news executive and former Voice of America foreign correspondent who also has been an Oxford scholar, National War College professor (1989-91), editor of Arms Control Today magazine and Associate Director, The Arms Control Association (1992-95) and, in college, a prize-winning poet and varsity quarterback. In 1967-8 he flew 275 missions as an F-100 fighter pilot in Vietnam. His combat decorations included the Silver Star, three Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Vietnamese Gallantry Crosses and several single-mission Air Medals. His M-Phil (1979) and D-Phil. (1981) degrees in international relations are from Oxford University in England. From 1989-91, he was a Professor of National Security Studies at the National War College in Washington, after being a student there in 1985-86. In 1995, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus of the University of Montana. In his 13 years at Boston University (1995-2009), he was a department chair for three years and later, Dean of the College of Communication for three more. In 2001 he was the first recipient of the "Professor of the Year" award given by the fraternities and sororities at B.U. His booklet, "Please Don't Do That, A Pocket Guide for Good Writing" (2008) was the top-selling publication at Marquette Books in 2009.