Customer Reviews

A Cold War Legacy, A Tribute to Strategic Air Command, 1946-1992

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This book is about the best coverage of Strategic Air Command (SAC) that I have came across. It covers many little known avenues of SAC that includes the C-119's and C-124's, to name a couple. Of course the mainstays of SAC, the B-47, B-52, B-58 as well as the KC-97 and KC-135 are well covered. Alwyn Lloyd made sure the reader also understands the role of KB-29P and other players in the early evolution of inflight refueling is understood and how their role was played in making SAC the formidable force it was. This book makes a 20 year veteran of SAC very proud to have been a small part of the story.

I am very pleased to have purchased this history of SAC, having served in it during the Vietnam war. I am impressed with the tremendous amount of detail presented by the author. This brings back many vivid memories of the constant state of readiness the crews and bases were required to maintain. This extremely powerful deterrent to nuclear war will hopefully be someday better understood by the general population and appreciated accordingly.

While I spent thirty years as a pilot in the Air Force, I was never asigned to SAC, but my association with SAC crew members helped me to know some facts about SAC and it's mission. But it took this book to really bring home to me what an important element they were in keeping the peace during the crucial years of the Cold War. The book also contains pictures of crew members that I knew from my years in the Air Force. It also has a terrific history of SAC bomber, fighter, and missile development from before WWI thru the deactivation Of SAC in 1992. The bios of the SAC commanders are interesting to me because, having been in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam, I served with many of these officers in their early careers. Any one the least bit interested in aircraft will find it difficult to put this book down till they finish it. Today's younger generation of Air Force pilots would appreciate what took place to bring them to their present place in the Air Force. The SAC crews were the forerunners of a great fighting force that is today's modern Air Force. It is a book that will become a necessary reference book for those who want to refer back to a great period in our aviation history. It will have a permanent place on my living room table.

Lloyd's work is obviously a product of love. Its accomplishments are several and stellar, particularly for one intrigued by the evolution of SAC and its abundant turnover of planes, missiles, and other technology. It is a superb technological research statement.

However, it is not without its flaws, some significant. First, it reads like a PERT or GANT chart, lacking narrative links and lead-ins. Second, it sometimes carries the distinct taste of cut-and-paste; e.g. the first-person plural "we" in "Running the Gauntlet" (pg 591) appears to be an unattributed reproduction of a mission report, not a product of a historian's third-person perspective. Third, the book needs better editing, some of it militarily basic: e.g. "court marshal" (vice "court martial") (pg 555). Fourth, its occasional partisan ramblings detract from its objectivity: e.g. "the Communist Manifesto was directed at toppling the west and they infilitrated our media, halls of academia, and government" (pg 254) (maybe McCarthy paranoia is the real Cold War Legacy!). Fifth, there is no exploration of the ever-tightening, symbiotic links between SAC retired personnel and the aerospace industry. Sixth, seminal background is typically brushed over: e.g. the vicious debate over the B-1 bomber is reduced to a conclusory President Carter "was terminating the B-1 program, citing cost effectiveness" (pg 509).

That conclusory approach to the B-1 and similarly to other issues resulted in the biggest demerit of this work: Lloyd forgot SAC was manned by little people, that is to say, people other than CINCSACs. Apart from the occasional mention names of servicemen or officers who (insert Lloyd's conclusory sentence) 'did something', the machine rules the book. There are few personal service stories; no anecdotes about SAC characters large or small; no wives' stories about the stress of their husbands' being on alert; too few tales of pranks, etc. In my opinion, the only palpable human touch to the book will be that of the reader turning the page. Lloyd's omission makes this work less than comprehensive.

As a technological history of SAC, the book exceeds expectations and should easily withstand future, competing technological surveys. However, SAC's flying aluminum skeleton moved because of sinewy human flesh and fibre. Lloyd's work sadly allows the technological machine to eradicate the human one.

As a member of the bits & pieces left in the wake of SAC's demise, I really do wish for a return of the Strategic Air Command. Mr. Turner's book is amazing with its list of organization charts, test programs, operational missions, and is a SAC-buff's dream.

One of the reviewer's comments mentioned that the book was lacking in "heart," meaning human stories and anecdotes about time in SAC. Yeah, the book is missing that, but as an organizational guide and "yellow pages" I wouldn't expect to find love stories or "So... there I was." I wanted the weapons and the chronologies and the patches... and that's exactly what Turner's book delivers.

Don't make LeMay rise from the grave from your ignorance of SAC... buy this book...

In this monumental book, the late Al Lloyd describes seeing the TWA ramp at St. Louis IAP filled with armed B-47s dispersed there during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bits of authenticating detail like that and the astonishing amount of well researched, fascinating narrative about SAC more than makes up for the occasional continuity and editing shortcomings of this book.

This is a perfect companion to the DVD of A Gathering of Eagles, if only it existed!

If you got this far looking for a gift for a SAC vet or an Air Force history enthusiast, look no further. If SAC is your bag, A Cold War Legacy is terrific, truly a genuine tribute to SAC and a credit to Lloyd, whose books on C-119s and B-47s are also highly recommended.

This book is just awesome.Words alone can't discribe how wonderful this book is.It tells you everything about Strategic Air Command and then some.If you want to learn about the history of SAC then if i where you get this book.There are a few misprints but the book comes with a paper outlining what was misprinted other wise a kickass book.

I bought this for my dad, who was a SAC commander in the 60's-80's. He knew a number of the people in the book, and learned quite a bit about SAC that he didn't already know. This is perfect for SAC and air force buffs.

This book is very dry reading, but it does contain some good stories. The errata sheets provided note a misspelling, but still failed to properly spell the latter word in "court martial". The plural of this term is "courts martial". A few days ago, I spoke with the IBEW Business Rep who covers most of the contract employees at Shemya. All the operating buildings are equipped with freezers, kitchens etc., since no one is allowed outdoors when the wind starts blowing the remnants of the WWII-era buildings away. A shop steward there assured me that there's still "a woman behind every tree." For the son of a KC-97 and KC-135 navigator, this was a worthy read.

A complete history of the Strategic Air Command is long overdue. As a twelve year veteran of it, four years in the 22nd Bomb Wing (B-47), and eight more in the 55th Strategic Reconnasance Wng (RB-47H),I really looked forward to reading Mr.Lloyd's book. Many good things, but for the most part a major disapointment. Some great photographs and details of the early years in SAC, but despite the errata sheet, typographical errors, mislabed photo's and tales of a B-50 with 1,440,000hp really ruined the book for me. I have Mr. Lloyds book on the B-47 and it is excellant. I know this work covers a very broad subject, but better editing and proof reading would have perhaps helped.