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Phoenix 13: Americal Division Artillery Air Section Helicopters in Vietnam
“An informative and colorful memoir about the role that observation helicopters played during the Vietnam War . . . Phoenix 13 delivers.” —The VVA VeteranA collection of war stories closely based on the author’s experiences flying scout/observation helicopters in Vietnam. Storytelling was a daily evening occurrence for the solo scout pilots. These stories, called “TINS,” an irreverent pilot acronym for “this is no shit,” allowed the solo pilots to learn from each other’s experiences and mistakes. The TINS within this collection reveal the brotherhood that developed between pilots and their crew chiefs in combat. The solo pilots relied on their courage, swapping stories and a bit of luck to survive.“A compelling collection of Vietnam helicopter true stories about the aviators in Americal Division’s Artillery Aviation Section in ’68 and ’69. Flying alone, the scout pilots told their exploits to each other daily to learn and to survive from their collective experiences. Hazardous missions are intermixed with occasional humorous details of their off-duty shenanigans. The stories describe the brotherhood that develops between soldiers during combat. From these stories, the author, a decorated former Army aviator, describes his journey through Armor school, flight school and Vietnam.” —General Tommy Franks (Ret), Former Commander in Chief, United States Central Command “A very enjoyable read. Those of us who were there will thoroughly enjoy it, and those who weren’t will learn more about what we did in Vietnam.” —The VHPA Aviator
177 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 4, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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November 17, 2020Phoenix 13 is an exciting, well written collection of stories from Darryl James during his time in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. His stories show how quickly a routine, planned flight can change over to a white knuckle adventure stressing the pilot and his aircraft to their limits.
November 30, 2022
I have read a lot of books abou the Vietnam War, and I was really looking forward to reading about the Americal Division's artillery scouts part of that war.
This book isn't about that.
In fact, the unit and the war is almost incidental to the book.
Instead, what you get are a few stories about the general flying of passengers and supplies here and there, 1 single mention of a LRRP insertion, and a whole lot of talk about what it was like around Ky Ha and the people in the unit. The book was simply a lot of talking about flying and personal interactions and things of that nature while almost purposely evading what it is the unit did.
These are stories you hear at reunions or at the bar... "Remember when so and so was goofing off and ended up in the river???" "Remember when so and so stole ___ and got in trouble?"
Barely any even hint about the missions... nothing about scouting, or what their artillery observers did, or anything in that nature.
This isn't Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills or Easy Target by Tom Smith or Ace by Rex Gooch or AeroScouts by Charles Holley.
This book really shouldn't even be a book, it's a collection of short stories of people being people in a particularly dangerous environment that would have been great for a reunion newsletter or website.
It also takes a bit to wrap your head around the fact that he speaks about himself, the central character in most of the stories, in the third person. "The Lieutenant....." "The Cadet...." "Captain James...." There was absolutely no need for that, and it is jarring in the first part of the book until he starts to tell stories of others.
All in all, it was well written, mildly entertaining and funny, but generally of no value outside of that unless you know him or the people in the book. As one reviewer said, this is not about blood n guts, which is true, but you'll also hear that they spent hours and hours flying missions without any actual understanding of what those missions were or what the purpose was for Div Arty Air except to transport a couple of passengers.
I'm giving it 3 stars because you can't do 2.5.
This book isn't about that.
In fact, the unit and the war is almost incidental to the book.
Instead, what you get are a few stories about the general flying of passengers and supplies here and there, 1 single mention of a LRRP insertion, and a whole lot of talk about what it was like around Ky Ha and the people in the unit. The book was simply a lot of talking about flying and personal interactions and things of that nature while almost purposely evading what it is the unit did.
These are stories you hear at reunions or at the bar... "Remember when so and so was goofing off and ended up in the river???" "Remember when so and so stole ___ and got in trouble?"
Barely any even hint about the missions... nothing about scouting, or what their artillery observers did, or anything in that nature.
This isn't Low Level Hell by Hugh Mills or Easy Target by Tom Smith or Ace by Rex Gooch or AeroScouts by Charles Holley.
This book really shouldn't even be a book, it's a collection of short stories of people being people in a particularly dangerous environment that would have been great for a reunion newsletter or website.
It also takes a bit to wrap your head around the fact that he speaks about himself, the central character in most of the stories, in the third person. "The Lieutenant....." "The Cadet...." "Captain James...." There was absolutely no need for that, and it is jarring in the first part of the book until he starts to tell stories of others.
All in all, it was well written, mildly entertaining and funny, but generally of no value outside of that unless you know him or the people in the book. As one reviewer said, this is not about blood n guts, which is true, but you'll also hear that they spent hours and hours flying missions without any actual understanding of what those missions were or what the purpose was for Div Arty Air except to transport a couple of passengers.
I'm giving it 3 stars because you can't do 2.5.
October 18, 2021
The Real Helicopter War
Absolutely accurate information told the humor and love of pilots in combat. You can’t make these stories up. I was flying HUEYs in Viet Nam during this time period.
Ken Carlton 191AHC Dong Tam 69
Absolutely accurate information told the humor and love of pilots in combat. You can’t make these stories up. I was flying HUEYs in Viet Nam during this time period.
Ken Carlton 191AHC Dong Tam 69
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews