Lords of the Sky: Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, From the Red Baron to the F-16 (90 page)

American-designed and -built aircraft, 186, 356–360

Americans in RAF, 215

attack on Pearl Harbor, 260–261, 293, 309–313, 321–327

ball bearing production, 355–356

breaks Japanese military code, 337

at Casablanca Conference, 354

D-Day (Operation Overlord), 363–365

declaration of war on Japan, 327

entry in World War II, 353–354

flying ace, 407

production, 353–354, 355

sanctions against Japan, 318–319

Usaramo,
SS, 155

Utah,
USS, 323, 326

V

Valley Forge,
USS, 388, 390

Vandenberg, Hoyt, 395

Vanderbilt, William, 105

Verdun, Battle of, 66

vertical fight aerial maneuver, 99–100

vertical velocity indicator, 458

“Vic” aircraft fighting formation, 193, 200, 235, 320

Vickers machine gun, 22–23, 97, 130, 136, 145, 150

Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, 353

Victoria Cross, 43, 68, 89, 132, 133, 137, 238

Viet Cong, 434, 469

Viet Minh, 427, 428, 429, 431, 432

Vietnam People’s Air Force, 461–462

Vietnam War, 419–449, 459–474

Dien Bien Phu, 430–431

France in, 427–431

Gulf of Tonkin incident, 436, 464

Hanoi Hilton (Hoa Lo Prison), 426

Operation Bolo, 462–463

Operation Farm Gate, 433

Operation Linebacker, 473

Operation Niagara, 470

Operation Ranch Hand, 433

Operation Rolling Thunder, 437–439

partitioning of Vietnam, 431–432

prisoners of war, 426, 438, 457

protective reactive flights into Vietnam, 471–472

route pack division of Vietnam, 439–440

U.S. involvement in, 423–424, 425, 432–439

Vietnamese National Air Force, 466

Viper fighter aircraft, F-16, 487–495, 505–508, 520–531

von Bethmann Hollweg, Theobold, 92

von Bock, Fedor, 184, 287–288

von Cramon-Taubadel, Hans-Jürgen, 297

von Hindenburg, Paul, 49, 50, 92

von Manstein, Erich, 299

von Manteuffel, Hasso, 366

von Richthofen, Bolko, 125

von Richthofen, Lothar, 77, 87, 88, 98, 133, 140, 299, 300

von Richthofen, Manfred (“Red Baron”), 38, 64–65, 77–78, 98

Boelcke’s pupil, 33, 41

command of JG 1, 107

death of, 119–125, 126

dogfights, 40, 45–46, 69, 111

Flying Circus, 67, 87, 107–108, 120

machine gun design by, 23

plane preferred by, 128

von Rundstedt, Gerd, 183

von Schleich, Eduard (“Black Knight”), 133

von Schlieffen, Alfred, 17

von Stackelberg, Karl, 192

Voss, Werner, 63–64, 65, 77, 86, 98–103, 111

Vought Corsair floatplanes, 162

Vought F-4U Corsair fighter aircraft, 392–393

W

Wake Island, 326, 327–330, 399

Waldron, John, 341–342

War Department, U.S., 22

War Office, British, 70, 71, 72

Ward,
USS, 323

Washington Naval Treaty, 319

Watson, Dorothy, 157

Watson-Watt, Robert, 216–218

weaponry, aircraft

cannons, 167, 228, 230, 260, 271, 277, 278, 294, 406, 458

on Dewoitine D-520, 186

during invasion of Kuwait, 510–515

on F-16 Viper, 506

on F-86 Sabre, 406–407

flamethrowers, 43

during the Great War, 21–26, 34–35, 59–62, 83, 84, 97, 129

on Me 262 Schwalbe, 362–363

mounting weapons, 24–25

nuclear weapons, 458

on P-51A, 359

Soviet-German training on post–World War I weapons, 154

technological advances in, 519

torpedo bombers, 252–253

See also
aerial gunnery; machine guns

weight, aircraft, 13

Welch, George, 310–311, 312, 313, 324, 405

welded wing airplane formation, 193

West Point.
See
United States Military Academy at West Point

West Virginia,
USS, 323, 326

Western Desert Air Force (WDAF), 269

Western Desert Force (Egypt), 251

Weston, R. F., 124

wheel formation, 272

Wheeler Army Airfield, Hawaii, 310, 312, 313, 322, 324

Whisner, Willie, 410

Whittle, Frank, 403

Wild Weasel aircraft, 443–445, 450, 454–459, 505

Wilhelm II, Kaiser, 28, 30, 33, 34, 35–36, 76, 92, 138

Wilson, Robert, 39

Wilson, Woodrow, 50, 134, 176

Wimperis, Harry, 216

wing design, aircraft

cantilever wings, 128, 165

early, 13, 57

gull-wing, 177, 179, 392

laminar flow wing, 358

semi-elliptical, 260

Spitfire, 226

swept wing, 405–406

wing-mounted guns, 228, 257, 266

wing loading, 13

wing warping, 11

Winslow, Alan, 130

Wintgens, Kurt, 26–27, 34

Woldenga, Bernhard, 261

Wolff, Kurt, 77, 98

women pilots, 279–280, 281, 288–289, 291, 294, 296, 297–298, 302–303, 305–308

Wood, M. H., 77

World War I (Great War), 1–140, 176, 187, 188

aerodromes, 42, 51–54, 79, 135

Arras offensive, 93–94

Battle of Jutland, 66, 67

Battle of Menin Road, 110–111

Battle of Messines, 109–110

Battle of Passchendaele, 110, 112

beginning of, 14–16

Bloody April, 1917/Battle of Arras, 65–77, 82, 90–91

British aviators in, 42–46, 52, 62

death of von Richthofen (“Red Baron”), 119–125

defensive fortifications, 50–51

design and construction of aircraft during, 56–62

effects of 1916 on, 46–48

end of, 138–140, 143

flight training schools, 54–56, 95–97

food supplies during, 51, 52–53

Hindenburg Line, 50, 66, 75, 95, 110, 134

mobilization for, 16–20

Operation Alberich, 50

Operation Blücher-Yorck, 130

Operation Georgette, 119, 126–127, 128, 130

Operation Gneisenau, 131

Operation Marne-Reims, 131

Operation Michael, 113–118, 127, 130

pilot life expectancy during, 32, 91

Siegfried-Stellung Line, 50

Somme offensive, 37–38, 46, 47

stereotypical flyers during, 27–28

U.S. enters, 49, 103–105

year of the fighter pilot, 1917–1918, 92–125

See also
aircraft; fighter pilots

World War II, 175–369

the Blitz, 240–241

Battle for France, 181–199, 203–204, 232

Battle of Britain, 189, 235–245

Battle of Corregidor, 333–334

Battle of El Alamein, 269–274

Battle of Midway, 268, 337, 338–345

Battle of Moscow, 287–294

Battle of the Coral Sea, 333–334

beginning of, 175–176

bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 367–368

Channel battles, 221–223, 231–232

D-Day (Operation Overlord), 363–365

Doolittle raid, 265, 331–333

Dunkirk evacuation (Operation Dynamo), 196–197, 199–204, 207

end of, 367–369

Operation Ariel, 206–207

Operation Barbarossa, 256, 297, 365

Operation Citadel, 303–305

Operation Crusader, 260

Operation Cycle, 206

Operation Fridericus, 265, 295–296, 331

Operation Judgment, 252–253

Operation Market Garden, 347–352, 364

Operation Sealion, 208, 221–222, 233, 241, 251

Operation Torch, 353

Operation Typhoon, 287–288

Operation Uranus, 298–299

Pearl Harbor attack, 260–261, 293, 309–313, 321–327

prisoner executions, 201

Tobruk, 254–268

See also
aircraft; fighter pilots; Luftwaffe

Wrangel, Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich, 147

Wright, Allan, 204

Wright Cyclone engine, 159

Wright Flyer, 13

Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 9, 11–12, 13

Y

Yak-1 fighter aircraft, 277–279, 283, 294, 296, 306, 308

Yak-9 fighter aircraft, 402

Yamamoto, Isoroku, 317, 333, 336–337, 338, 344, 345

Yegorova, Anna, 291

Yom Kippur War, 479–481, 483, 484

Yorktown,
USS, 327, 333, 334, 338–339, 342, 343, 344, 345

Young, Howard, 324, 325

Yousef, Baki, 479

Ypres, Battles of, 18–19, 94–95, 110, 112

Yubari,
Japanese cruiser, 328

Z

Zeitzler, Kurt, 299, 300

Zeppelins, 24, 42, 220

Zero fighter aircraft, Mitsubishi A6M, 309, 335–336, 340, 341, 342

Zerstörer fighter design, twin-engine, 197

Zhukov, Georgy, 292, 302

Zimmermann Telegram, 1917, 66

Zuikaku,
Japanese carrier, 319, 333, 334

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) DAN HAMPTON
flew 151 combat missions during his twenty years (1986–2006) in the United States Air Force. For his service in the Iraq War, Kosovo conflict, and first Gulf War, Col. Hampton received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor, a Purple Heart, eight Air Medals with Valor, five Meritorious Service Medals, and numerous other citations. He is a graduate of the USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS), and USAF Special Operations School. Hampton was named his squadron’s Instructor Pilot of the Year six times and pioneered air-combat tactics that are now standard. A graduate of Texas A&M University, he has published in
Aviation History,
the
Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine,
and
Airpower
magazine, and written several classified tactical works for the
USAF Weapons Review
. He is the author of the
New York Times
bestseller
Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat
and a novel,
The Mercenary
.

Visit
www.AuthorTracker.com
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ALSO BY DAN HAMPTON

NONFICTION

Viper Pilot

FICTION

The Mercenary

CREDITS

Cover design by Richard L. Aquan

Cover painting:
Semper Fi Sky
by John Shaw

Chapter-opening illustrations of aircraft copyright William I. Boucher (www.wwiaviation.com)

Author photograph courtesy of the author

COPYRIGHT

LORDS OF THE SKY
. Copyright © 2014 by Ascalon, LLC. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.