The Delta

See my review on CADILLAC FLIGHT.

I have slowly been getting rid of most of my book collection as my wife and I downsize into ever smaller "empty nests," and I keep only those books that I truly enjoy. Space is at a premium, so I need to be pretty selective when deciding if a book is a keeper or not. The only problem I have concerning Marshall Harrison's writings is that he only got around to writing three books--two novels and a kind of documentary of his experience as a FAC flying over southeast Asia in the mid-'60s. I wish he had been able to write more, but since he didn't I plan on rereading the three books he did write a number of times.

Marshall Harrison flew many missions as a forward air controller flying a slow non-weaponed Cessna Birddog in the early days of the Vietnam conflict. His job was to fly low and slow over the jungle acting as bait to draw fire from enemy troops beneath the canopy, so he could then direct fire from artillery and/or the "fast movers" (jet fighter/bombers). He wrote a later novel, titled "A Lonely Kind of War" about his third tour of duty in Vietnam, doing the same job, but now flying a U-10 Bronco, which was faster, more powerful, and had a rack of rockets, which gave him a limited amount of ability to retaliate as well as marking targets. Both books are excellent and factual.

Flying that Bird Dog is something else.What a job!Early Vietnam War.

previously read the authors tales of his actual time in ov-10s in 'nam ( alonely kind of war)exciting--well described...his fictional account of 0-1 missions in 4 corps are quite unlike mine..(in '68).. accurately described landmarks add to credence. the description of the 'uminh forest" ---i'm from the great n'west..a forest is composed of TALL disciduous and e'greens in close quarters.. imagine my reaction on not sighting a 'forest' but a rag-tag collection of shrubbery--and not dense!!! a good tale of romance and adventure which may have been experienced by very few of the thousands of FACS !!!!! light-relaxing reading anyway!!

I have an interest in the Forward Air Controllers (FAC) of the Vietnam War.The author of this book, Marshall Harrison, is a highly decorated U.S. Air Force pilot who served TWO tours as a FAC in O-1 Bird Dogs and later the OV-10 Bronco.This is a book about duty, leadership and heroism and is a MUST READ for anybody who values those virtues.The author conveys all of these traits in a captivating writing style while being funny as hell at the same time.

Very good book, well written.

Best of the best rearding Vietnam airwar stories. Every page was intesresting and most were exciting. Finished the book in one long night.

Really good descriptions of what it must have been like to be a bird dog pilot. Arguably a bit of a simplistic boys own type adventure with a bit of adult activity thrown in, but you don't buy books like this for a literary challenge do you. I'd recommend it to anyone with an interest in the Vietnam war and this little written about niche of aviation.