Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience

by John Darrell Sherwood

Official navy historian John Sherwood offers an authoritative social history of the air war, focused around fourteen of these aviators—from legends like Robin Olds, Steve Ritchie, and John Nichols to lesser-known but equally heroic fighters like Roger Lerseth and Ted Sienecki.The war in the skies above Vietnam still stands as the longest our nation has ever fought. For fourteen years American pilots dropped bombs on the Southeast Asian countryside—eventually more than eight million tons of them. In doing so, they lost over 8,588 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. They did not win the war. Ironically, Vietnam, though one of our least popular wars, produced one of the most effective groups of warriors our nation has ever seen—men of dedication, professionalism, and courage. Sherwood draws on nearly three hundred interviews to tell stories of great pilots and great planes in the words of the men themselves. Fliers recall jets such as McDonnell Douglas's famous F-4 Phantom, "a Corvette with wings"; the F-05 Thunderchief, the workhorse of the war; the F-8 Crusader, the last of the gun fighters; and the block-nosed but revolutionary A-6 Intruder with its fully computerized attack systems, terrain mapping radar, and digital all-weather navigation system. Fast Movers offers fascinating portraits—based on Sherwood's interviews and declassified naval archives—of Vietnam's POWs. Pilots lucky enough to suffer only broken bones and burns from the violence of 1960s-era Martin-Baker ejection seats struggled to find honorable ways to negotiate half-decade-long periods in captivity. Passive resistance, like Commander Jeremiah Denton's famous blinking of TORTURE in Morse Code, was sometimes successful, often brutally reprised. Against all odds, the pilots spawned a culture of success in the midst of failure, frustration, and devastation. Fast Movers captures a hidden and crucial story of America's least successful war.

Genres: Military History, Military Fiction, History

336 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 23, 2000

Reviews

[Michael Burnam-Fink · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast Movers is a solid biographical survey of jet pilots during the Vietnam War. Sherwood is a real historian (PhD, official US Navy historian) and had plenty of access to major figures, such as Robin Olds and Ed Rasimus.

The thesis of the book is fairly conventional. The high tech apparatus of American airpower was horrifically mismanaged during the Vietnam War, hampered by the political restrictions of Rolling Thunder, the technical limits of 1960s-era electronics which promised more than they could deliver, and systematic failures in training and personnel policy. Despite these barriers, individual aviators achieved significant successes, following their own culture of fighter pilot aggressiveness. Essentially non-political (lol, perhaps lmao), pilots flew for the sheer joy of it, for the ultimate test manly virtue, and to "let it all hang out" by flying into danger in the service of their fellow pilots.

Col. Robin Olds is the most famous pilot of the Vietnam War. As commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, he organized and lead Operation Bolo, a ruse which saw F-4s flying F-105 bomber paths and using F-105 callsigns and electronics, which lured PVNAF MiGs into an ambush. Olds' command style was of absolute equality with his men. He'd close the bar down, earn their respect by being the best aviator, and damn higher command. Olds is negative contrasted with Navy Commander Roger Sheets, who lead Vulture Flight of A-6s on many high stakes missions, including the mining of Haiphong harbor, which was coordinated with Nixon's speech on the matter. Sheets formed a lackluster Marine aviation squadron into one of the best, showing the importance of command culture, but he also knew how to maintain the distance of leadership and keep his chain of command up happy.

The chapters on the prisoner of war experience are illuminating. Perhaps even more illuminating is the womanizing. Sherwood and his subjects are frank on the topic that the best part of a South East Asia deployment is the easy access to and high quality of prostitutes, something not exactly in line with modern culture, particularly the Evangelical Christian Nationalist freakshow that is the modern USAF.

As a short book, Fast Movers provides a solid overview to more focused memoirs, like Olds' and Rasimus' works, or Bury Us Upside Down on forward air controllers. While it synthesizes the field and tells some good stories, it doesn't do much to advance scholarship. More seriously, I think it overfocuses on fighter to fighter combat over bombing runs and especially close air support in South Vietnam. While Sherwood is honest about the many flaws in the airpower system: notably Air Force pilots flew 100 mission tours, Navy pilots flew for the duration and till burnout; the Rapid Robin component of Rolling Thunder prioritized sortie count over combat effectiveness or safety; and the Air Force's air-to-air combat training was basically absent until 1972, there is a lot more to criticize which the book doesn't cover. History is always a matter of choices, but there are more interesting things to say about airpower in the Vietnam War.

[Calvyn]

Who were they? Why did they fly? Sherwood delves into the simple complexity of the answer to the question -- what motivated the men who flew missions during the Vietnam War -- by focusing on a handful of them.

(at 219)
...it was not simply the addictive effect of combat which led these men to conclude that this war, viewed by most Americans civilians and military as a tragedy, was one of the most positive experiences of their lives. Very few aviators "gave a damn" about the fate of south Vietnam or the rise of communism in Southeast Asia. In fact, most felt that nothing over there was "worth one American life." But that's not why these men fought...the Vietnam war offered fast movers the best available opportunity to test their unique skills, live up to their reputations as Naval, Air force, and Marine aviators, and partake in a challenging struggle with a like-minded brotherhood of comrades. Not everyone could do what these men did, nor could just anyone join their special fraternity...

(at 220)
Many historians have stressed that the American armed forces are a people's military and if the people lose faith in a war, so too will our armed forces. The air war over Vietnam offers a different conclusion. An elite group of military professionals like the fast movers will go and fight wherever they are lawfully ordered, regardless of what public opinion polls say. The challenge of war, combined with the pride of enjoying a uniquely high status within the military culture, is all the motivation they need.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Sherwood is looking to help the reader understand the the American jet pilots, aviators, and backseaters of Vietnam - what motivated them, how they navigated the Vietnam air war, and the challenges they faced.
His chapters are broken down by jet aircraft type - F4, F8, A6, F105, with an additional chapter looking at the POW experience for pilots and aviators.
Sherwood looks at how the pilots and aviators found motivation despite the fact that the war did not have broad popular support, especially in the last years. He also looks at how combat leaders Robin Olds (leading from the front; making more sensible tactical decisions) and Roger Sheets (building rapport between Marines and the US Navy) were able to effectively lead units.
Sherwood also looks at the challenges many of the pilots and aviators faced - reconciling the conflicting emotions and pull of trying to become the first ace of Vietnam War, what role alcohol played, relationships with superiors.
A good book on Vietnam era aviation with good insights.

[Theophilus (Theo) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent descriptions of the motivations and actions of modern day gunfighters who flew jet fighters in the Vietnam War. In the tradition of the old American west these men from the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, these men strapped themselves into their supersonic steeds and sought out an opponent to test their skills in a deadly duel in the sky.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tremendously insightful into the world my dad lived in as a pilot in Vietnam.

[Stuart Bobb · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a different angle on the Vietnam War and one I wasn't familiar with. I learned a lot and I think it did a nice job of covering a lot of personalities and the context in which they fought their air war. It would probably appeal more to those with a greater interest in air craft and fighter pilots than myself. I don't consider the writing to be exceptional, but the author's work is decent.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating look at Vietnam War fighter pilots. Woefully small number of enemy planes destroyed for effort put in, at a huge cost. These guys were crazy going to work every day in a frightening environment. Their "downtime" recreation reflected their live fast, die young style.

[Tom Nolan]

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