Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 [Hardcover]

Andrew C. A. Jampoler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2003

In the tradition of great tales of men against the sea, this story offers a compelling look at courage and commitment in the face of certain tragedy. It is a powerful blend of human drama and real-life naval operations, but unlike most books in the genre, its heroes are airmen not seamen, and most survived their ordeal. Published on the twentieth-fifth anniversary of Alfa Foxtrot 586's fatal mission as a tribute to those lost, the account was written by a naval aviator who has flown the same aircraft on the same mission from the same air base. The aircraft is a P-3 Orion on station during a sensitive mission off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the north Pacific. The time is mid-day on 26 October 1978. Andy Jampoler takes readers into the cockpit of the turboprop as a propeller malfunction turns into an engine fire, eventually forcing Jerry Grigsby to ditch his patrol plane into the empty, mountainous seas west of the Aleutian Islands. His fourteen crewmembers, strapped in their seats, expect the worst--and get it. The aircraft goes down in just ninety seconds, taking one of the three rafts with it. A second raft, terribly overcrowded, soon begins to leak.

The flight crew's desperate battle to survive is told with the authority, drama, and sensitivity that only someone with the author's background could provide. He draws on interviews with survivors, searchers, and even the master of the Soviet fishing trawler that saved the living and recovered the bodies of the dead. He also draws on recordings of radio communications, messages in the files of the state and defense departments, and the patrol squadron's own investigation of the ditching. Everyone who likes survival epics and enjoys reading sea and air adventures will be entertained by this engrossing true story. 240 pages. 11 photographs. 5 line drawings. 3 maps. Notes. Bibliography. Hardcover. 6 x 9 inches.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...an engaging and readable book." -- Alaska History, Spring/Fall 2003

"Andrew Jampoler... has spun a memorable tale... overall'Adak' is an adventure story to rival the best you've ever read." -- Daniel Ford, The Wall Street Journal, May 16, 2003

About the Author

Andrew C. A. Jampoler is a retired naval aviator and former commanding officer of Patrol Squadron 19 and of Naval Air Station Moffett Field. Since retirement he has worked for the aerospace industry. His articles and essays have appeared in Proceedings magazine and elsewhere. He lives in Leesburg, Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: US Naval Institute Press (May 31, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591144124
• ISBN-13: 978-1591144120
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #437,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew Jampoler lives in the Lost Corner of Loudoun County, Virginia, with his wife, Susan, a professional geographer, and their two golden retrievers. They have married children in Pennsylvania and Iowa. He is an alumnus of Columbia College and the School of International and Public Affairs, both of Columbia University, in New York City, and of the U.S. State Department Foreign Service Institute's School of Language Study. During more than twenty years on active duty with the U.S. Navy Jampoler commanded a land-based maritime patrol aircraft squadron and a naval air station. Later he was a senior sales and marketing executive in the international aerospace industry.

Jampoler has been writing full time for nearly ten years. He has just finished Horrible Shipwreck!, a book about the wreck of His Majesty's Transport Amphitrite, a bark driven aground in a furious storm September 1833 a half mile off Boulogne-sur-mer, France. Amphitrite was transporting female convicts from Woolwich, England to Botany Bay, New South Wales. One hundred eight women, twelve children, and thirteen of the crew--all but three aboard--drowned when her captain refused assistance from shore, fearing the possibility that some of the prisoners would escape and that he would be held responsible. "I never saw so many fine and beautiful bodies," wrote a mournful observer walking the beach the next day, "Some of the women were almost perfectly made." Fifteen years ago the wreck was identified as the subject of English painter J. M. W. Turner's unfinished 1835 masterpiece, "Fire at Sea." The book will be published this December by the Naval Institute Press.

His first book, Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586, is the true story of a navy patrol aircraft ditching in the North Pacific Ocean in October 1978. A review in May 2003 in the Wall Street Journal described the book as "an adventure story to rival the best you've ever read." "Adak" later won Jampoler recognition as the Press's "author of the year." The crew's story based on this book has been the subject of television specials in Russia and Japan.

His next book, Sailors in the Holy Land: the 1848 American Expedition to the Dead Sea and the Search for Sodom and Gomorrah, is the story of the U.S. Navy's small boat expedition down the River Jordan and across the Dead Sea in mid-19th century. Nathaniel Philbrick, author of the award-winning Sea of Glory, described the book in 2005 as telling "the fascinating story of one of the most improbable operations ever mounted by the U.S. Navy... a meticulously researched account."

The Last Lincoln Conspirator: John Surratt's Flight from the Gallows, his third book, tells the remarkable story of John Harrison Surratt. Finally captured in Egypt eighteen months after his mother's execution on the same charge, Surratt was last person to go on trial for his role in John Wilkes Booth's plot to assassinate President Lincoln, and the only one to escape conviction.

Jampoler also writes for periodicals. One of his articles in "Naval History," about Lieutenant Emory Taunt, U.S. Navy, and the 1885 American expedition up the Congo River, was recognized by the magazine's publisher as its best piece of writing during 2006. Jampoler has given illustrated presentations about the subjects of his books and articles to audiences at the Library of Congress, the National Archives, in museums and embassies, at book stores, and aboard cruise ships.

For three weeks beginning the third week of August 2011 Jampoler will be on Africa's Congo River in an outboard motor boat with his son, going from Kisangani to Banana Point, on the Atlantic. The trip downriver is part of his research for the next book, tentatively titled "Congo, the Short Life and Miserable Death in 1891 of Lieutenant Emory Taunt, USN, on Equatorial Africa's Great River." Publication is scheduled by the Naval Institute Press for 2013.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Navy's Perfect Storm, May 28, 2003

By 

Henry J Hendrix II (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 (Hardcover)

This is a superb book about the heroism of a Navy patrol plane crew that goes down in the midst of a raging north Pacific storm, and the men who dare the elements to rescue them. A well know story within naval aviation, it is thrilling to read this riveting account, and it is great to know that many others will have the opportunity to learn this tragic yet uplifting tale. I first heard this story from one of the survivors who visited my squadron many years ago, and it dramaticly affected the way I look at my job. I recommend it to everyone.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These guys are heroes....., April 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 (Hardcover)

As the son of a Navy P-3 (and sea plane) pilot and former CO of VP-9, this book hit very close to home for me. The story is well-written and extremely emotional, at least to anyone who has ever had a loved one fly in harm's way. When you're a kid, and your Dad flies Navy planes for a living, you never really consider the risks and dangers. This true story demonstrates what these men faced on a daily basis and shows how their endless training and attention to detail was essential to their survival. You wouldn't expect a Navy flyer turned author to write a tear jerker, but that is certainly what Andy Jampoler has done, at least for me. Thinking back on all those flights, all those deployments, all those "close" calls with engine failure, and realizing that it could have been my family welcoming back a box instead of a father, there simply is no way not to shed a tear of both sorrow and thanks. The men of PD-2 were heroes in the traditional sense; they did their jobs in the face of incredible danger, some losing their lives in the process. But for me, what this book really shows is that tragedy doesn't make heroes. For every Jerry Grigsby, Ed Caylor and John Ball, there were thousands of other Navy officers and men who were just a much heroes. In this time of war, it's important to remember that.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very readable, June 10, 2003

By 

Jonathan C. Feller (New Rochelle, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Adak: The Rescue of Alfa Foxtrot 586 (Hardcover)

I read this very exciting account of the rescue of these flyers in two sittings. Capt. Jampoler brings the story to life by presenting, "Finding of Facts," from the official investigation and then tells us the details in a very readable way. Jampoler also brings humor into this heroic story. He explains that the Navy does not train flyers to use survival suits in freezing water because it is akin to "practice bleeding."