Hornet 33: Memoir of a Combat Helicopter Pilot in Vietnam

by Ed Denny

Overview

Combat helicopter pilots in the Vietnam War flew each mission facing the possibility of imminent death. Begun as a series of attempted letters to the Department of Veterans Affairs, this compelling memoir of an aircraft commander in the 116th Assault Helicopter Company--"The Hornets"--relates his experience of the war in frank detail.

From supporting the 25th Infantry Division's invasion of Cambodia, to flying the lead aircraft in the 101st Airmobile Division's pivotal Operation Lam Son 719 invasion of Laos to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail at LZ Hope, the author recounts the traumatic events of his service from March 1970 to March 1971.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476666099
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers
Publication date:	10/21/2016
Pages:	296
Sales rank:	656,817
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late Ed Denny was a retired architect. He lived in Denton, Texas.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Maps x &
Preface
 1. Whiskey Shots, Playing Slots, Coin Toss
 2. Getting Shot At: Just Take It
 3. White-Knuckle Formation Flying
 4.  Mental Degeneration into Looney Land
 5. New Guy Extra Duties
 6. Helicopters on the Moon, Nixon’s Cambodia, First Day
 7. More New Guy Extra Duties
 8. The Guard Towers, Being Insane
 9. Dead, First Day, First Minutes
10. Flight Hours Clerk
11. ACs Flew Left Seat: Hello, Americal Division
12. Shoot at a Hornet, You Die
13. New Platoon Leader Temporary
14. Kham Duc Briefing, Letters Home
15. AC Transition, Final Ride, Dennis Plumber
16. Sappers at Kham Duc
17. The Jeep and Larry Hood’s First Day as AC
18. Death, Don’t Come Knocking: Serna and Larraga
19. Leon Richards, the ­Snake-Eater, Was Gone Like Smoke
20. IP School
21. First Check Rides
22. Death Comes to the Hornets Again: Koch
23. R&R Was Coming Soon, Concussion Grenade
24. Flying Graves Registration
25. Attempted Murder: The Fragging
26. R&R Hawaii: Hot Sun Outside, Freezing Inside
27. Flares All Night
28. Cut Me, Cut Me, Go Ahead
29. Hood’s Check Ride, Screaming Woman
30. Aviation Safety Officer School—Captain Salmond
31. Medals for All the Wrong Reasons
32. Gunship Body Count: Like a Deer Tied to the Fender
33. NVA Marching Down the Open Road
34. Good Vibrations, South Vietnamese Pilot
35. Out at Hawk Hill, After Midnight
36. Stealing Food Over the Holidays
37. The Khe Sanh Series: Quang Tri Rockets
38. CO Office, CW2 Denny
39. The Khe Sanh Series: Largest Armada
40. Watching the ­Fly-By from the Deck
41. Nurse in White Satin
42. The Khe Sanh Series: ­Machete-Man
43. Jet Airliner: Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, to Fort Lewis, Washington, USA
44. Jet Airliner: Denver Airport, I’ll Be Home Tonight, Baby
45. My Wife, Our Apartment, Back in the World
Index

Editorial Reviews

[Denny] did and saw things that far exceeded normal levels of fighting, suffering, and killing, and describes many gory scenes.... Ed Denny has a way with words, using fresh similes and metaphors, few clichés, and conveying a sense of awe and wonder. The book tightly held my attention from start to finish.”—The VVA Veteran; “pulls no punches...a well-organized series of memoirs of both combat operations and base camp incidents both humorous and tragic...a significant contribution to the written history of America’s Vietnam experience...the specifics of combat flying are incredibly detailed.”—On Point.

From the Publisher