Scream of Eagles: The Dramatic Account of the U.S. Navy's Top Gun Fighter Pilots and How They Took Back the Skies Over Vietnam

by Robert K. Wilcox

The
Become the most skilled, highly-trained, and deadliest
fighter pilots in the world.
The TOP GUN
In the darkest days of the Vietnam War, the U.S. Navy's kill ratio had fallen to 2:1 -- a deadly decline in pilot combat effectiveness. To improve the odds, a corps of hardened fighter pilots founded the Fighter Weapons School, a.k.a. TOP GUN. Utilizing actual enemy fighter planes in brutally realistic dogfights, the Top Gun instructors dueled their students and each other to achieve a lethal new level of fighting expertise. The training paid off. Combining the latest weaponry and technology, mental endurance, and razor-sharp instincts, the Top Gunners drove the Navy's kill ratio up to an astounding 12:1, dominating the skies over Vietnam.
This gripping account takes you inside the cockpit for an adventure more explosive than any fiction -- in a dramatic true story of the legendary military school that has created the most dangerous fighter pilots the world has ever seen.

Genres: Aviation, History, Military Fiction, War, Nonfiction, Military History

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1990

About the author

Robert K. Wilcox is a bestselling author, screenwriter, novelist and journalist. He specializes in mysteries and military history. He began his career as religion editor of the Miami News, winning the Supple Memorial Award as the best religion writer in the nation. He went on to write for the Miami Herald, New York Times and other major newspapers and magazines before becoming a television writer and story editor. He has written 10 books and specializes in political articles when not writing books. His next book is Target JFK: The spy who killed Kennedy?, to be published November 2016. He lives in Los Angeles. His website is: www.robertkwilcox.com

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fun. I wrote this book. It's the true story of how Topgun got started during the Vietnam War. Goodreads apparently doesn't have any way for me to put them on my page as authored - at least I can't find any way - so I'm doing this. I not only read the book. I wrote it! It's a tough and wily story about fighter pilots and how they had to relearn to dogfight. They won a great victory in the Vietnam War doing so. With the cutbacks on the F-22 these days it could happen again. I don't think it's right for me to rate the book so why not go to Amazon and see what others have given it: http://www.amazon.com/Scream-Eagles-D... If you decide to read it let me know what you think. Best to do that at my website: www.robertkwilcox.com

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ignore the silly Tom Cruise movie — this is the REAL story of Top Gun.

[Hans · Rating 4 out of 5]

Scream of Eagles tells the story of how the United States Navy succeeded to turn the tables on air combat over Vietnam. Losing many aircraft and pilots, while in return downing just a small number of MiG's, the USN had to find a way to make their actions more successful. As is well known, the US government did it's best to hinder its armed forces achieving their goals. Seriously hampering their freedom of operations, micro-managing the operations from the US, and allowing the enemy to regain its strength at the cost of US lives and materials.

Starting from scratch, USN pilots build up the tools to try and test a better way to fight the MiG's. It is fascinating to read how they all did this, but this success came with a loss of lives achieving the goal. Pilots had to relearn using the F-4 Phantom as a weapons system, fly it closer to its limits, work as a team, using other types of formations, and also learn when to knock of the fight and live another day. Part of this story is the use of 'purchased' MiG's to eploit its weaknesses and the strenght of the F-4.

Filled with lots of aerial dogfights, hair raising moments of terror, humor and more, this book makes for a good read. There are some errors in it, but none take away from the overall experience.

Recommended!

[John Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but too many errors

Interesting book on the need for and formation of Top Gun school. The work of those who founded the school is presented fairly well. However, there are a lot of errors with regards to flying information as to make reading these parts distracting at best. I'm not sure if it's poor writing or poor editing but it takes away from the overall enjoyment of the book

[Dave Baranek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vietnam air combat action and the personal stories of dedicated US Navy officers who transformed air combat training and aerial combat itself. Very well written, with a combination of exciting flying episodes (in Vietnam and the USA) and equally exciting personal stories.

[Jack Abbott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling tale of how the Navy Fighter Weapons School, Top Gun, came about. Strong on narrative of the dogfights, though more a dramatic account than an authoritative history. An overall good, fun read.

[Bruno Benvenuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scream Of Eagles

Awesome account of the birth of the Navy Fighters Weapons School aka Too Gun. In depth stories about all the characters involved

[Mikayla Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informational and interesting to read. Most likely will not read again.

[kevin moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

TOPGUN the movie was entertaining and factual enough for a public audience. This true story of the founding captures the 95% the movie could not hope to portray. And it's entertaining.

Sometimes in a large organization (Navy in this case) folks way down the line see a problem others don't (or won't) recognize - in this case, 'we're seeing too many of our friends being shot down unnecessarily'. They marshal the forces and turn their part of the org around. Could be a dull story, but not when you're talking about fighter aviation. This book captures the people and the drama in great fashion.

[Snakeman · Rating 4 out of 5]

How and why TOPGUN was set up and great descriptions of the results.

[Casey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not Finish

I just can’t get into this book. I was only able to read a few pages at a time. Took 2 weeks to read 70 pages.

[Hilmi Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sebuah buku yang mengisahkan sejarah penubuhan Fighter Weapons School Tentera Laut Amerika Syarikat (TLAS) atau turut lebih dikenali sebagai Top Gun. Buku ini turut membincangkan bagaimana pusat latihan ini membantu cabang udara TLAS mencapai kejayaan yang membanggakan di dalam peperangan udara ketika Perang Vietnam,terutamanya pada awal tahun 1970-an. Pusat latihan ini ditubuhkan selepas menilai prestasi buruk dari sudut 'kill ratio' cabang udara TLAS yang hanya mencapai 2:1 sahaja ketika menentang Tentera Udara Vietnam Utara (TUVU) pada tahun-tahun awal bermulanya Perang Vietnam pada tahun 1965. Melalui penubuhan Top Gun ini,dengan latihan yang diberikan,'kill ratio' telah berjaya dinaikkan kepada jumlah yang begitu membanggakan iaitu 12:1. Kejayaan ini dicapai dengan menggunakan pesawat F-4 Phantom II yang hanya memiliki peluru berpandu AIM-9 Sidewinder (untuk pertempuran jarak dekat) dan AIM-7 Sparrow (untuk pertempuran jarak sederhana). Pesawat ini tidak memiliki senjata meriam kecil. Melalui penekanan yang diberikan dari sudut Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) dan penilaian keupayaan pesawat F-4 dan MiG-17 dan MiG-21 (jenis pesawat tempur yang lazim digunakan oleh TUVU),Top Gun berjaya menghasilkan juruterbang-juruterbang dan Rear Intercept Officers (RIO) yang agresif dan cekap ketika bertempur rapat di udara yang juga dipanggil sebagai 'Dogfight'.
Walaupun ringkas dan tidak mempunyai halaman yang tebal,namun,penulis telah berjaya menyampaikannya dengan padat dan berkesan. Dengan hanya membahagikan buku ini kepada empat bahagian,adalah mudah untuk para pembaca memahami apa yang cuba disampaikan oleh penulis. Malah,gaya penceritaan buku ini juga bersifat agak santai dan agak mudah untuk difahami.
Namun begitu,buku ini juga sarat dengan jargon-jargon ketenteraan dan penerbangan (aviation) yang mungkin agak sukar untuk difahami kepada mereka yang tidak begitu meminati genre buku ketenteraan dan penerbangan.
Walaupun begitu,buku ini tetap menarik untuk dibaca. Malahan,buku ini turut bernilai kerana isi kandungan sejarahnya yang begitu penting sekali terutamanya kepada TLAS khususnya dan angkatan tentera Amerika Syarikat amnya. Buku ini patut dibaca oleh mereka yang meminati buku-buku yang berkaitan dengan hal-ehwal ketenteraan dan penerbangan. Insya-Allah. Jika panjang umur dan mempunyai kelapangan waktu,saya akan membaca buku ini sekali lagi pada 14 November 2015 untuk memperingati ulang tahun ke-50 Pertempuran Ia Drang yang mengorbankan banyak nyawa tentera AS dan TVU di dalam pertempuran pertama antara dua buah angkatan tentera ini.

[Lance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is oral history well-organized into the story of the development of the Navy Fighter Weapons School. It is not scholarly and the writer is not steeped in air combat history, but the story is told succinctly and with all the air-to-air thrills a reader would expect. Wilcox illustrates the reasons the Top Gun school was needed, introduces all the main players, follows the school's establishment, and then follows the graduates and instructors into battle over Vietnam. For those who want an exciting account of naval air combat over Vietnam, both before and after Top Gun, look no further.

[Andrew Mencel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wilcox has the unique ability to make your teeth grit, your heart race, and your mind become a movie screen as you read his books. Scream of Eagles puts you right there in the the midst of the action, as well as give an excellent first person account of the development of the Navy's Fighter Weapons School back in the early 70's, to late 80's. What makes Wilcox's writing different is the fact that everything you read, all the stories, are told to him by the very people that lived them. This book is best read before "Wings of Fury", as it takes place before the events that unfold in that book. This book, as well as many others written by Robert K. Wilcox are a must read for anyone interested in military aviation, and how it has come to be the most expensive, most coordinated and most deadly fighting force in America.

[Dustin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It did an excellent job of showing how badly American fighter pilots were doing in the early part of the Vietnam air war, and then chronicles the men whose ideas led to the rise of Top Gun. The last third of the book is great. You get stories from Top Gun graduates and instructors using their new skills and tactics in the later part of the Vietnam air war, and getting immediate results. I seriously could not stop reading it, and did the last 200 pages in one sitting, because the stories of the dog fights had me totally captivated. I was shamelessly living through the pilots at that point. If you want a good true life aviation story about American pilots rising to the challenge of fixing a broken fighting system, give this one a go. I'm glad I did.

[Bob Van Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who is curious about why and how the Navy's fighter pilot school "Top Gun" was created, this is the book. Wilcox does an outstanding job of describing dog fights like you were sitting in the fighter jet while it was happening.

[Tj Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lessons that can be applied to solving problems in any organization.

[Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a Navy Vietnam Vet that watched the jets flying missions I found the war stories interesting. Most the the other stuff about the creation of Top Gun school and party stories was just OK.