Customer Reviews
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5 out of 5 stars
By
Paul S. Turner
on
11-07-14
The real top guns
Would you consider the audio edition of Lords of the Sky Unabridged to be better than the print version?
Some books are better listened to than read. And this is one of those
What was one of the most memorable moments of Lords of the Sky Unabridged?
Wild weasels over Vietnam
What about John Pruden’s performance did you like?
A very good narrator
If you made a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
The very best of the best
Any additional comments?
A wonderful book
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful
5 out of 5 stars
By
Andy
on
12-09-14
Bandits at 6 o'clock
I really liked this book and would recommend it but in-line with some other reviews the content of the book was slightly different to what i anticipated. I expected a book purely concerned with fighters and the pilots who flew them but large chunks of text are taken up with historical notes on the campaigns behind the fights. While these are done well anyone will a good understand of the conflicts may find these sections frustrating.
The core material focusing on the planes and pilots was done very well with the admiration the author has for all the aviators shining through.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful
4 out of 5 stars
By
Znapel
on
31-07-14
Great history, but ending goes off-topic
Any additional comments?
I grabbed Lords of the Sky after having read Hampton's other excellent book Viper Pilot. Most of my knowledge of air combat is from WWII and later. Hampton's history of the very beginnings of military aviation and fighter combat was very interesting. It also provides a basis to show the sharp contrasts in just how quickly aviation matured. And how some things (the core of air combat) remained the same. I appreciated the author's telling of stories from more than just an American point of view.
If I had any qualms it would be that the post-Korea part of the story mostly involves Americans, SAMs, and Weasels. Given that Hampton was a USAF Weasel pilot this is not surprising. There's a good account of Weaseling in Viper Pilot and I found it very interesting. However, I think the focus here takes the story off-topic.
I was disappointed that harsh lessons of air combat in Vietnam and America's losing touch with ACM prior to it weren't really touched on. Neither was the creation of Red Flag and Top Gun. John Boyd and the theory of energy-manueverability weren't mentioned. The Air Force's air superiority fighter, the F-15, is mentioned only in passing, and its replacement the F-22 is also mentioned just once (as a multi-billion dollar, single-mission waste).
Those qualms aside it was a great all around book, with me learning something in every chapter. His stories do a good job of immersing you into combat in various eras. The narration was fantastic. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in air combat.
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6 of 6 people found this review helpful
4 out of 5 stars
By
danny lawrence
on
29-07-14
Outstanding history of the fighter pilot
This book weaves histories of the pilots, planes, tactics, weapons and personal stories together in an informative and entertaining way. John Pruden's narration was very good.
A very good book combined with a very good narration yields a very pleasurable listen.
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3 of 3 people found this review helpful