In Memory; Hillaire du Berrier, Fred Gage, Ray Hanna

Author: Charles Lunsford

Rarely have I encountered a book that has left me in dread of reaching the end. To escape within its pages to a more amiable world of droning engines and hit of Glenn Miller became a refuge few books are able to offer.

A Classic suspense author or even a best seller couldn't write this book better, his penmanship grabs you where few writers are able to reach. He describes his desire to fly like so many of us in those tender years of youth. His first day in the Air Force certainly evokes certain passions again. The general underlying chaos of military service and the camaraderie missed in today's cutthroat world is amply highlighted on.

Charles Lunsford is one of the last of a breed that provided flying with a link to the past. He was a Radio Operator and a Pilot's best friend in the sky until his replacement by silicone chips, making a Captain's job today even more solitary. Charles was an aircrew member in the unglamorous world of Combat Cargo in the 1950s. Air Traffic Control was then not a microphone and a frequency, but rather the arcane environment of dots and dashes and keen observance. His job was with the 12th Troop Carrier Squadron, 60th Troop Carrier Wing, based at Dreux, Normandy. Serving in the Air Force of the prop-wash days, he was positioned on the flight deck of an aircraft seldom mentioned anymore, the venerable C-119. Loaded with the classic equipment of aviation and communication, better known as the "Flying Boxcar". Because of its special design, it was able to encompass nearly every item the Army had on the ground. With a career of 25 years it last appeared in Vietnam known as AC-119K "Stingers" with offense capacity. Charles lived in the twilight zone of military aviation that carried Radio Operators, while getting to know Europe, Africa and the Middle East by its' runways, colorful currency and unflattering weather.

Charles had an office and home on the flight deck. It was from this vantage point he was able to observe then a more placid world at his feet. The mixture of humour and panic will insist this book travel with you, like Charles did with his pilots. And when you reach the end, shut the engines down, switch off the lights and clean up the cockpit for the last time, Charles will have given you a great journey.
 

Buy it !

Capt. James van Etten