NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive history of combat aviation and fighter aircraft, from World War I to present
INCLUDES 32 PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND 12 MAPS
Lords of the Sky is the “dramatic, fast-paced, and definitive" (Michael Korda) history of fighter pilots and aircraft and their extraordinary influence on modern warfare, masterfully written by "one of the most decorated pilots in Air Force history” (New York Post). A twenty-year USAF veteran who flew more than 150 combat missions and received multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses, Lt. Colonel Dan Hampton draws on his singular firsthand knowledge, as well as groundbreaking research in aviation archives and rare personal interviews with little-known heroes, including veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Hampton (the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot) reveals the stories behind history's most iconic aircraft and the aviators who piloted them: from the Sopwith Camel and Fokker Triplane to the Mitsubishi Zero, Supermarine Spitfire, German Bf 109, P-51 Mustang, Grumman Hellcat, F-4 Phantom, F-105 Thunderchief, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and beyond. In a seamless, sweeping narrative, Lords of the Sky is an extraordinary account of the most famous fighter planes and the brave and daring heroes who made them legend.
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“It is perhaps ironic that Dan Hampton’s excellent and very readable history of fighter pilots is appearing just as the use of drones seems likely to supplant them, but his book brings back to vivid life the unique and romantic role of the fighter pilot in all the wars of the past hundred years. Hampton writes with the verve, dash, and crisp authority of a man who has been a fighter pilot himself, and the result is a book that is at once dramatic, fast-paced, and definitive, a pleasure for everyone who loves reading about aviation, and the life-and-death drama of air combat.”
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Michael Korda, New York Times bestselling author of With Wings like Eagles