Customer Reviews

B*U*F*F (Big Ugly Fat F*****)

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Lothar Maier's autobiographical novel, B*U*F*F, is excellent. I was hooked by the sample offered by Kindle. Maier is really telling his life story in the character of Rudi Mauser, a B-52 pilot. The story is more told than spoken by the characters. Maier has a great writer's voice and this tale is indeed in the telling. As Rudi's life is followed from upstate New York, to the National Guard during the Korean War, to Aviation Cadet training, B-47s and then B-52s, he has terrific adventures and does very well with the ladies. Maier puts all of this against a telling of what the Air Force and the Strategic Air Command were like back then, and why. He has found just the right touch in this regard. B*U*F*F is not a text book or a history lesson, but it is all there along with some very cool stories of flying incidents that must be true. You'll never again wonder what it was like to fly an endless nuclear mission in a B-52, to spend in a week in a molehole, or to fly in a B-52 against the enemy in Vietnam from Guam, Okinawa or Thailand. I think the book is self-published. Congratulations to the author for great job.

This is one thoroughly enjoyable read. Although non-fiction, it is pretty darn close to the real life events of your B-52 bomber crew as they make their way out of crew training through ARC Light missions in Vietnam. The author is a former BUF driver and it is pretty evident that he takes his reading audience down his own memory lane. In fact, this book is probably non-fiction, with certain parts embellished to make it look like fiction (the womanizing, drinking, and the crew's shootdown at the end). However, the embellished parts really were full of humor and had a sense of sobriety to them when viewed from the strains of flying that affected this crew. Levity in the face of adversity! The author has managed to write 400 pages without any speedbumps in the book; each chapter was as energetic as its previous one. In other words...this was an enjoyable read and hard to put down.

I was attracted to this book to learn about my Dad's service in the B-47 and B-52. He also did the same stuff as the author (flew B-47's at Castle, transitioned to B-52's at Castle, and flew Arc Light from Kadena). This book exceeded my expectations. The humor, emotion, and technical aspects of the daily life of a crew are all laid out here although some activities are tongue-in-cheek. The author is a great wordsmith and writes in a very active style that makes for an enjoyable read. I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in SAC and the Vietnam War, and the B-52!

This book really brought back some memories having flown B-52s 1966-86, including 221 ArcLight missions. Many inaccuracies, but nevertheless, a very good read.