Dan Hampton

One of the most decorated F-16 pilots in American history, who was one of the “Wild Weasels”--a select cadre of gutsy fighters who flew into hostile territory first to draw enemy fire--shares gripping stories of rescue missions and combat, and what it takes to become the best of the best. 100,000 first printing.

A Memoir of Air Combat

Viper Pilot

"On the rainy morning of May 20, 1927, a little-known American pilot named Charles A. Lindbergh climbed into his single-engine monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis, and prepared to take off from a small airfield on Long Island, New York. Despite his inexperience--the twenty-five-year-old Lindbergh had never before flown over open water--he was determined to win the $25,000 Orteig Prize promised since 1919 to the first pilot to fly nonstop between New York and Paris, a terrifying adventure that had already claimed six men's lives. Ahead of him lay a 3,600-mile solo journey across the vast north Atlantic and into the unknown; his survival rested on his skill, courage, and an unassuming little aircraft with no front window. Only 500 people showed up to see him off. Thirty-three and a half hours later, a crowd of more than 100,000 mobbed the Spirit as the audacious young American touched down in Paris, having acheived the seemingly impossible. Overnight, as he navigated by the stars through storms across the featureless ocean, news of his attempt had circled the globe, making him an international celebrity by the time he reached Europe" -- provided by publisher.

Charles Lindbergh's daring and immortal 1927 transatlantic crossing

The flight

The Astonishing World War II Saga of One Man's Defiance and Indomitable Spirit

Valor : the Astonishing World War II Saga of One Man's Defiance and Indomitable Spirit

The Enduring Mystery Behind the Legendary Doolittle Raid over Tokyo

Vanishing Act

The Astonishing Aerial Ambush That Changed World War II

Operation Vengeance

Iron Ring

"The New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot and retired USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton offers the first comprehensive popular history of combat aviation--a unique, entertaining, and action-packed look at the aces of the air and their machines, from the Red Baron and his triplane in World War I to today's technologically expert flying warriors in supersonic jets."--

fighter pilots and air combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16

Lords of the sky

Get inside the cockpit with Dan Hampton, the military’s most decorated F-16 pilot, in this enhanced e-book edition of Viper Pilot. Exclusive to this edition are 11 video interviews, where Hampton talks candidly about his time as a Wild Weasel and about the fighter jet that kept him alive through so many dangerous skirmishes. In addition, an interactive “first-person” cockpit diagram lets you get deeper into the action, providing a visual companion to the book that leaves you feeling like you’re sitting in the iconic F-16 itself. 151 combat missions 21 hard kills on surface-to-air-missile sites 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor 1 Purple Heart Sure to rank as one of the greatest aviation memoirs ever written, Viper Pilot is an Air Force legend's thrilling eyewitness account of modern air warfare. From 1986 to 2006, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton was a leading member of the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is recognized as the most dangerous job in modern air combat. Weasels are the first planes sent into a war zone, flying deep behind enemy lines purposely seeking to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. They must skillfully evade being shot down—and then return to destroy the threats, thereby making the skies safe for everyone else to follow. Today these vital missions are more hazardous than direct air-to-air engagement with enemy aircraft. Hampton's record number of strikes on high-value targets make him the most lethal F-16 Wild Weasel pilot in American history. This is his remarkable story. Taught to fly at an early age by his father, Hampton logged twenty years and 608 combat hours in the world's most iconic fighter jet: the F-16 "Fighting Falcon," or "Viper" as its pilots call it. Hampton spearheaded the 2003 invasion of Iraq, leading the first flight of fighters over the border en route to strike Baghdad. In the war that followed, he engaged in a series of brilliantly executed missions that earned him three Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor; he notably saved a U.S. Marine unit from certain death by taking out the surrounding enemy forces near Nasiriyah. Two years earlier, on 9/11, Hampton's father was inside the Pentagon when it was attacked; with his dad's fate unknown, Hampton was scrambled into American skies and given the unprecedented orders to shoot down any unidentified aircraft. Hampton also flew critical missions in the first Gulf War, served on the Air Combat Command staff during the Kosovo War, and was injured in the 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist attack. With manned missions rapidly giving way to remote-controlled UAV drones, Viper Pilot may be the last memoir by a true hero of the skies. Gripping and irreverently humorous, it is an unforgettable look into the closed world of fighter pilots and modern air combat. Please note that due to the large file size of these special features this enhanced e-book may take longer to download then a standard e-book.

Viper Pilot (Enhanced Edition)

From the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot and USAF F-16 legend Dan Hampton, The Mercenary follows the rogue American gun-for-hire known only as the Sandman. A former military officer haunted by a personal tragedy in his past, the Sandman embarks on a quest for revenge that pits him against friend and country and leads him straight to the heart of the American military establishment.

A Novel

The Mercenary

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The definitive history of combat aviation and fighter aircraft, from World War I to present INCLUDES 32 PAGES OF PHOTOGRAPHS AND 12 MAPS Lords of the Sky is the “dramatic, fast-paced, and definitive" (Michael Korda) history of fighter pilots and aircraft and their extraordinary influence on modern warfare, masterfully written by "one of the most decorated pilots in Air Force history” (New York Post). A twenty-year USAF veteran who flew more than 150 combat missions and received multiple Distinguished Flying Crosses, Lt. Colonel Dan Hampton draws on his singular firsthand knowledge, as well as groundbreaking research in aviation archives and rare personal interviews with little-known heroes, including veterans of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Hampton (the New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot) reveals the stories behind history's most iconic aircraft and the aviators who piloted them: from the Sopwith Camel and Fokker Triplane to the Mitsubishi Zero, Supermarine Spitfire, German Bf 109, P-51 Mustang, Grumman Hellcat, F-4 Phantom, F-105 Thunderchief, F-16 Falcon, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and beyond. In a seamless, sweeping narrative, Lords of the Sky is an extraordinary account of the most famous fighter planes and the brave and daring heroes who made them legend.

Fighter Pilots and Air Combat, from the Red Baron to the F-16

Lords of the Sky

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • At the end of World War II, a band of aces gathered in the Mojave Desert on a Top Secret quest to break the sound barrier–nicknamed "The Demon" by pilots. The true story of what happened in those skies has never been told. Speed. In 1947, it represented the difference between victory and annihilation. After Hiroshima, the ability to deliver a nuclear device to its target faster than one’s enemy became the singular obsession of American war planners. And so, in the earliest days of the Cold War, a highly classified program was conducted on a desolate air base in California’s Mojave Desert. Its aim: to push the envelope of flight to new frontiers. There gathered an extraordinary band of pilots, including Second World War aces Chuck Yeager and George Welch, who risked their lives flying experimental aircraft to reach Mach 1, the so-called sound barrier, which pilots called “the demon.” Shrouding the program in secrecy, the US military reluctantly revealed that the “barrier” had been broken two months later, after the story was leaked to the press. The full truth has never been fully revealed—until now. Chasing the Demon, from decorated fighter pilot and acclaimed aviation historian Dan Hampton, tells, for the first time, the extraordinary true story of mankind’s quest for Mach 1. Here, of course, is twenty-four-year-old Captain Chuck Yeager, who made history flying the futuristic Bell X-1 faster than the speed of sound on October 14, 1947. Officially Yeager was the first to achieve supersonic flight, but drawing on new interviews with survivors of the program, including Yeager’s former commander, as well as declassified files, Hampton presents evidence that a fellow American—George Welch, a daring fighter pilot who shot down a remarkable sixteen enemy aircraft during the Pacific War—met the demon first, though he was not favored to wear the laurels, as he was now a civilian test pilot and was not flying the Bell X-1. Chasing the Demon sets the race between Yeager and Welch in the context of aviation history, so that the reader can learn and appreciate their accomplishments as never before.

A Secret History of the Quest for the Sound Barrier, and the Band of American Aces Who Conquered It

Chasing the Demon

Valor is the magnificent story of a genuine American hero who survived the fall of the Philippines and brutal captivity under the Japanese, from New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton. Lieutenant William Frederick “Bill” Harris was 25 years old when captured by Japanese forces during the Battle of Corregidor in May 1942. This son of a decorated Marine general escaped from hell on earth by swimming eight hours through a shark-infested bay; but his harrowing ordeal had just begun. Shipwrecked on the southern coast of the Philippines, he was sheltered by a Filipino aristocrat, engaged in guerilla fighting, and eventually set off through hostile waters to China. After 29 days of misadventures and violent storms, Harris and his crew limped into a friendly fishing village in the southern Philippines. Evading and fighting for months, he embarked on another agonizing voyage to Australia, but was betrayed by treacherous islanders and handed over to the Japanese. Held for two years in the notorious Ofuna prisoner-of-war camp outside Yokohama, Harris was continuously starved, tortured, and beaten, but he never surrendered. Teaching himself Japanese, he eavesdropped on the guards and created secret codes to communicate with fellow prisoners. After liberation on August 30, 1945, Bill represented American Marine POWs during the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay before joining his father and flying to a home he had not seen in four years. Valor is a riveting new look at the Pacific War. Through military documents, personal photos, and an unpublished memoir provided by his daughter, Harris’ experiences are dramatically revealed through his own words in the expert hands of bestselling author and retired fighter pilot Dan Hampton. This is the stunning and captivating true story of an American hero.

Valor

Toho deštivého rána 20. května 1927 se málo známý Američan jménem Charles A. Lindbergh vyšplhal do svého jednomotorového jednoplošníku The Spirit of St. Louis a připravoval se ke vzletu z malého letiště na Long Islandu ve státě New York, pevně rozhodnutý získat Orteigovu cenu ve výši 25 000 dolarů, která byla v roce 1919 přislíbena prvnímu pilotovi, který bez mezipřistání uskuteční přelet mezi New Yorkem a Paříží. Na jeho start se přišlo podívat jen 500 lidí. O třicet tři a půl hodin později, když dosedl v Paříži a dosáhl zdánlivě nemožného, vzal jeho letoun The Spirit of St. Louis útokem více než stotisícový dav. Kniha, která přináší poutavý a unikátní popis odvážného přeletu Charlese Lindbergha přes Atlantik, pochází z pera „jednoho z nejvíce vyznamenaných pilotů v historii letectva“. Je napsaná stylem „přímo z kokpitu“ a opírá se o primární zdroje, jako byly Lindberghův osobní deník, rodinné dopisy nebo nevyužité letecké archivní materiály. „Barvité. ... Nabízí pohled na celý let přímo z kokpitu. Tato perspektiva ve stylu „jste tam také“ spolehlivě evokuje napětí, riziko a dovednosti od okamžiku, kdy Lindbergh vzlétl z Roosevelt Field, přeletěl pobřeží Newfoundlandu a směřoval sám do noci nad převalujícími se vlnami.“ (Kirkus Reviews) Podplukovník (v záloze) Dan Hampton odlétal během své dvacetileté kariéry (1986–2006) u Letectva Spojených států amerických celkem 151 bojových misí. Za službu ve válce v Iráku, kosovském konfliktu a válce v Zálivu obdržel pplk. Hampton Záslužný letecký kříž za chrabrost, Purpurové srdce, osm leteckých medailí Za chrabrost, pět medailí Za zásluhy a mnoho dalších ocenění. Je absolventem USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS) a USAF Special Operations School. Jako analytik často hostoval v CNN, Fox News a MSNBC, kde diskutoval o zahraničních věcech, vojenském letectví a problematice zpravodajství, publikoval v Aviation History, Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine, Vietnam magazine Airpower magazine a napsal několik prací na taktické úrovni se stupněm utajení pro USAF Weapons Review. Je autorem bestsellerů Viper Pilot a Rytíři nebes.

Charles Lindbergh: Transatlantický let

At the height of the Cold War, America's most elite aviators bravely volunteered for a covert program aimed at eliminating an impossible new threat. Half never returned. All became legends. From New York Times bestselling author Dan Hampton comes one of the most extraordinary untold stories of aviation history. Vietnam, 1965: On July 24 a USAF F-4 Phantom jet was suddenly blown from the sky by a mysterious and lethal weapon—a Soviet SA-2 surface-to-air missile (SAM), launched by Russian "advisors" to North Vietnam. Three days later, six F-105 Thunderchiefs were brought down trying to avenge the Phantom. More tragic losses followed, establishing the enemy's SAMs as the deadliest anti-aircraft threat in history and dramatically turning the tables of Cold War air superiority in favor of Soviet technology. Stunned and desperately searching for answers, the Pentagon ordered a top secret program called Wild Weasel I to counter the SAM problem—fast. So it came to be that a small group of maverick fighter pilots and Electronic Warfare Officers volunteered to fly behind enemy lines and into the teeth of the threat. To most it seemed a suicide mission—but they beat the door down to join. Those who survived the 50 percent casualty rate would revolutionize warfare forever. "You gotta be sh*#@ing me!" This immortal phrase was uttered by Captain Jack Donovan when the Wild Weasel concept was first explained to him. "You want me to fly in the back of a little tiny fighter aircraft with a crazy fighter pilot who thinks he's invincible, home in on a SAM site in North Vietnam, and shoot it before it shoots me?" Based on unprecedented firsthand interviews with Wild Weasel veterans and previously unseen personal papers and declassified documents from both sides of the conflict, as well as Dan Hampton's own experience as a highly decorated F-16 Wild Weasel pilot, The Hunter Killers is a gripping, cockpit-level chronicle of the first-generation Weasels, the remarkable band of aviators who faced head-on the advanced Soviet missile technology that was decimating fellow American pilots over the skies of Vietnam.

The Extraordinary Story of the First Wild Weasels, the Band of Maverick Aviators Who Flew the Most Dangerous Missions of the Vietnam War

The Hunter Killers

SKUTEČNÉ PŘÍBĚHY PŘÁTELSTVÍ, HRDINSTVÍ A OBĚTOVÁNÍ PŘÍSLUŠNÍKŮ U.S. NAVY SEAL Vietnam, rok 1965. Jeden z letounů F-4 Phantom amerického letectva byl 24. července sražen k zemi záhadnou a smrtící zbraní – sovětskou střelou SA-2 typu země-vzduch, odpálenou ruskými „poradci“ působícími v Severním Vietnamu. O tři dny později bylo sestřeleno šest letounů F-105 Thunderchief, pokoušejících se pomstít ztracený phantom. Následovaly další tragické ztráty, které z nepřátelských protiletadlových řízených střel udělaly největší protiletadlovou hrozbu v dějinách a dramatickým způsobem zvrátily zápas o leteckou převahu, vedený v době studené války, ve prospěch sovětské techniky. Ohromený Pentagon, zoufale hledající odpovědi na vyvstalé otázky, nařídil realizaci přísně tajného programu nazvaného Wild Weasel I (Divoká lasička I), jehož úkolem bylo reagovat na nebezpečí nové zbraně v nejkratší možné době. Do tajného programu se dobrovolně a s odvahou přihlásil výkvět elitních amerických letců. Polovina z nich se nikdy domů nevrátila; všichni se stali legendami. Autor Dan Hampton, jehož dřívější knihy se objevily v prestižním výběru bestsellerů New York Times, předkládá čtenářům dosud neznámý příběh z dějin letectví o první generaci Divokých lasiček – letcích, kteří se postavili tváří v tvář vyspělé sovětské raketové technologii, decimující řady jejich spolubojovníků, amerických pilotů létajících na vietnamském nebi.

Dan Hampton

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