Vulture's Row: Thirty Years in Naval Aviation [Hardcover]

Told in anecdotal form, Vulture\s Row tells a fascinating story about an important period covering nearly one half of the entire history of U.S. naval aviation. Vulture\s Row is an area dubbed by naval flyers, on the island structure of an aircraft carrier where pilots who aren\t flying can overlook carrier launchings and recoveries on the deck below. \nThis new book by acclaimed author Paul Gillcrist is a series of true stories about the U.S. Navy carrier aviation from the perspective of a Navy pilot who spent thirty-three years directly involved in that exciting profession. The book begins with a series of vignettes in the period of the mid-1950s when the U.S. Navy introduced swept wing, jet-powered fighters into the aircraft carrier navy, flying from straight-deck carriers whose flight decks were made of teak wood.\nThe thread of stories follows the author\s career in chronological sequence, in various venues throughout the Navy. There are accounts from his first carrier deployment to the western Pacific, followed by events as a weapons delivery instructor at the predecessor to TOPGUN in El Centro, California. Some of his experiences as a Navy pilot are recorded in a section about Patuxent River, Maryland, the Navy\s test center. Additional episodes include an unforgettable wing-walking flight. flying Japanese Zeros in the movie TORA!TORA!TORA! and the author\s subsequent tour of duty in Pentagon conducting proficiency flights from our nation\s capital.\nThere are also accounts of combat missions over Vietnam and the author\s experiences in both wing commander jobs, flying the F-4 Phantom II and the F-14 Tomcat. The last story is about his two flights, as a fifty-two year old Admiral, in the controversial F-20 Tigershark. These vignettes combine humor, hair-raising excitement and tragedy.\nRear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist, a U.S. Navy fighter pilot, served also as a test pilot and weapons delivery instructor, and actively flew from sixteen aircraft carriers for ló