Such Men As These - 9780306818516

The high-flying, heart-pounding exploits of United States Navy combat pilots during the Korean Warùheroes who inspired James Michener's classic, The Bridges at Toko-Ri

In 1951, James Michener went to Korea to report on a little-known aspect of America's stalemated war: Navy aviators. His research-inspired novel about these pilots became an overnight bestseller and perhaps the most widely read book ever written about aerial combat.

Using Michener's notes, author David Scars tracked down the actual pilots, many of them veterans of World War II, to tell their riveting true-life stories. Called back into service, many of these Navy pilots left behind young families and budding careers to risk their lives in perilous airborne combat above the cold mountains of Korea. From icy, windswept decks of aircraft carriers, they crossed a cold sea and treacherous mountain terrain to strike heavily defended Communist dams, bridges, and tunnels. During these pulse-pounding aerial strikes, there was often just one path in and one path out where well-entrenched North Korean anti-aircraft gunners waited to shoot them down.

Pilots who survived the enemy guns still had to return across the same cold sea to reach their carriers. Wounds or damage to their aircraft might force them to crash behind enemy lines or into near freezing water where survival time was measured in minutes. In either case, for rescue, they depended on the selfless heroics of helicopter pilots flying what was then a new, fragile, and largely untested craft. Enemy gunfire and turbulent seas took an enormous toll at least one carrier aviation squadron lost half its pilots during a month deployment.

Here are the true events and living heroes who inspired, and often surpassed, James Michener's fictional creations-men such as Jesse LeRoy Brown, the first African-American naval pilot, and Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut on the moon. Filled with action-packed combat accounts and unforgettable portraits, Such Men is These honors the pilots whose skill and sacrifice in the Korean War made epic history.