Hot Shots, edited by Jennie Ethell Chancey and William Forstchen

Hot Shots: An Oral History of the Air Force Combat Pilots of the Korean War, edited by Jennie Ethell Chancey and William Forstchen
HarperCollins, 2000
140 pages, no index, a few b&w photos scattered throughout the text

Description
Known as the "Forgotten War" the Korean War heralded a new era of warfare-one where countries from around the world struggled over the fate of a relatively small peninsula jutting into the Sea of Japan. Between 1950 and 1953, more than fifty thousand Americans gave their lives in pursuit of democracy for the Korean people.

The Korean War was also the proving ground for post-World War II aviation, when the first generation of jet aircraft took to the skies to tangle in deadly combat. It was the battlefield for Sabres and MiGs, American Hot Shots and Communist Honchos. And more than ever before, control of the skies meant victory or failure in the ground war raging below.

Now, fifty years after the war's outbreak, Hot Shots captures the voices of the original top guns, the pilots who flew Mustangs, Sabres and Shooting Stars and confronted a superior number of enemy aircraft.

Among the men who tell their stories are Lieutenant Colonel Duane E. "Bud" Biteman, one of the first fliers in the war; Lieutenant General Frederick "Boots" Blesse, a double ace who led efforts to refine tactical training for the new jet pilots; Colonel Cecil Foster, who fought in one of the longest running air-to-air jet encounters; and Colonel Harold Fischer, a double ace flier who was captured behind enemy lines and held as a POW until 1955, two years after the official end of the war.

Editors Chancey and Forstchen combine these compelling firsthand accounts with dozens of never-before-published photographs of air force pilots at work, as well as a history of the major events of the war. Hot Shots brings to vivid life the risk, dedication and bravery of these forgotten heroes.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
1. Origins of the War
2. First Contact
3. New Pilots and Old
4. Going North and the Chinese Counterpunch
5. Bugging Out
6. Pushing Back
7. Shot Down
8. A New Kind of War
9. The New Paradigm
10. 1951: The Long War Begins
11. Evolving Tactics ad the Need for Training
12. 1952: Still a Hard Fight
13. Honchos and Jumping the Border
14. 1953: Winding Down
15. The Long Exile
16. Ending

_________
A new book is added every Wednesday
News posted as it occurs