Customer Reviews

Phantom Over Vietnam: Fighter Pilot, USMC

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book covers the authors two tours of vietnam flying f-4s. The story is told on two levels, one being the personal development and maturing of a young fighter pilot world view regarding his feelings about what and why we were " there " in the first place and the second is a veritable flight manual of the f-4 phantom. Remarkably, he manages to hold our interest while describing the political climate and the way it changed so drastically during his second tour of vietnam, no mean feat when considering how many books on vietnam exist out there now(opposed to 1982 when major trotti wrote this. The real heart of this book is the f-4 and trotti gets you in the pilot seat like few others (lindberg comes to mind and of course pappy boyington) have done. trotti is a serious engineer type and his explanations of every phase of the mission are so detailed that you need to re-read some of it to keep it up front so to speak. nursing a wounded bird back as close to the sea as possible in an attempt to protect them from being captured by the north and calculating times and distances against a bad fuel leak and hydraulic system failure, finnaly ejecting moments before the plane "departs control" is told with restrained emotion and a dramatic tightness surprising in an "amatuer" author. this is a great book well worht the hunt required to find it via the net...5 stars Cal Caligiuri, Vacaville,Ca.

I read "Phantom Over Vietnam", the memoir of a Marine fighter pilot, before plunging into the mounds of similar books on the subject of the Vietnam Air War, both novel and memoir. Thus I couldn't appreciate how the book was unique. Most authors on the subject generalize the air war - the technology and tactics - while highlighting the overt civilian control of a war being fought based on political rather than military goals. While Trotti raises those issues, he never turns his book into an indictment on the Johnson administration, Rob McNamara's Defense Department "whiz-kids", or the liberals who others have blamed for undermining the war effort - concluding that the war was futile. The book follows Trotti from his arrival in Vietnam in the war's early and heady days, then notes the apparent changes when the optimism fades. After an interval spent training newer aviators stateside, Trotti returns for more. His descriptions of the flights are weighthed down by detail on such topics as the F-4 Phantom's mechanics, aero-navigation and airborne communications protocol (which is also a mystery to the author). But these burdens are probably intentional - Trotti isn't going for action. He does nothing to make himslef look heroic - what can you say about a guy who admits that his biggest fear isn't of missiles or MiG fighters, but of the power seats in his airplane (the author is not a tall man). One interesting aspect - unlike the cool and pristine airplanes in similar books, Trotti's jets are aged (and prematurely so) by the rigors of combat and flight. The most enduring images of the book, are those of a newly shipped F-4, with its fresh paint job, sharing ramp space with older jets with their paint blistered by supersonic air. It's not a book you'll read in one sitting, but it's not a book you'll read only once.

I have to admit I am biased - I flew with John Trotti on at least one flight as his RIO (backseater). And, naturally, I hoped to find someone had done a good job of describing life in a Marine Phantom, something I lived for 316 combat missions over North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. As the stars indicate, I think John did an excellent job.

True, it is not the book I would have written - aerial combat is intensely personal, always has been, and so every account, if it is honest and well written, will be different. Trotti has a little difficulty understanding why anyone would be a backseater (lack of 20/20 vision is a place to start, but being able to be in fighters is the big reason; again, my perspective rearing its head), but he has his fingers on the pulse of combat flying in Southeast Asia. The fatigue of both planes and men is seldom mentioned in most accounts of the air war and the cost was higher than most realize. The intensity of flying close air support in conditions where even seagulls preferred to walk is well described in this book.

Above all, it is a personal account, provided by a man who was a good observer of both himself and the world around him. For readers looking to make the dry accounts of the air war's political decisions and combat statistics real, then Trotti's book is the place to begin.

Trotti uses the exotic fighter pilot's language, but explains the meanings in context, so I know what's going on and can visualize every movement of the aircraft. As a Cub pilot, I can now picture the dynamics of jet flight, and combat technique in particular. I read portions of the first combat sequence to a former Phantom pilot, and he was shaken. "It was just like that," he said. I asked him why he hadn't told me. He said "I couldn't tell it like that." We are reading the rest of the book together, just a page or two at a time, and then we talk about it.

Phantom Over Vietnam is the story of a Marine fighter pilot in Vietnam; his two tours, the time he spent in the USA between the tours and his thoughts about the war which are changing as he logs missions. It is a very good book for the military aviation enthusiast. I gave it 4 stars because the numerous flashbacks and various other explanations present all over the book sometimes makes it hard to follow. Moreover, I think that the author could have concentrated more on the " cockpit stuff ". The epilogue, in which he evaluates his performance as a fighter pilot on a cost effective basis, is unique and quite interesting. I reccomend reading this book to anyone interested in military aviation or curious about what it was like to be a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

I bought the book in 1989 in a Californian bookshop and ever since I read parts of it, must have read it 50 times together with Jack Broughtons books. Some years ago I had contacts with John and he told me about his flights in a MIG21 and how tricky that plane was on landing (like an F100 or F104)and always wondered what has become of him. I was in the Dutch airforce myself and am still shocked how politicians till this day destroy professional soldiers with their stupid rules of engagement.
This book is a must for all people interested what really goes on in
an airwar and the aftermaths of it. Thank you John !

John Trotti tells hi story of flying in combat from the pilots perspective. His details of flying makes you almost feel like you are there with him. He also accounts on stupidity that command placed on fighter operations in Vietnam which of course diluted the efforts of the air war.You will feel the action and the dangers he face flying day to day into the flak and SAM's. After reading this book, you will realize how stupid we were to force these men to fight with their hands tied. Related to this book are two books by Col. Broughton. Thud Ridge and Going Downtown.

To a mechanic that works on fighter bomber jets, this book is a treat! John Trotti went overboard in describing the technical details of the "Phantom F-4", it's inner mechanisms, it's role in avionics, and the complicated flying tactics of a "Fighter-Bomber" pilot. To the uninitiated, this part of the book is laborious to read. To one reading this book for its historic contribution, Trotti's memoir is an invaluable timepiece interpreting nuances and innuendo about America's role in Vietnam rarely found elsewhere. Trotti unintentionally gave a scathing denouncement of America's role and will to win in the Vietnam debacle. Trotti was there in 1966 and flew missions right up to where Henry Kissinger successfully negotiated an end to America's role in the Vietnam War. Phantom Reflections: The Education of an American Fighter Pilot in Vietnam (Praeger Security International) The author gives an awesome description of the sheer power and exhilaration of sitting in a Phantom at breath-taking speeds while shooting and being shot at by hostile North Vietnamese forces, both ground-based S.A.M's i.e. "surface to air missiles" and aerial Russian-built M.I.G's.

Vicariously, this book gets you as close as can get as to what it is like to fly in a fighter-bomber while engaged in combat. Trotti, being a multiple-tour veteran towards the end of the war, wrote one of the few descriptions that exist about attacking North Vietnam's only deep water port, "Haipong." Palace Cobra: A Fighter Pilot in the Vietnam Air War Trotti elaborated: "The only targets we were allowed to hit were the transportation routes and the facilities away from the area (port of Haipong), storage areas and their anti-air defenses. Then, one day we were turned loose on Haipong's major power-generating station. Step by step, targets were added to the list and the size of the raids of the North grew apace. Phantom Reflections: An American Fighter Pilot in Vietnam (Stackpole Military History Series) Then, for no apparent reason, we would cease our strikes for weeks at a time. The official word was that it was to show our desire to achieve a negotiated settlement rather than a military one, but it seemed to us that these moratoriums came at a time that the defenses in the North showed signs of crumbling."

Trotti continued his account as follows: "As we would increase our level of activity, our losses would mount for a short period of time, level out and then drop off. Just about the time that we seemed to be able to strike targets with virtual impunity. 100 Missions North: A Fighter Pilot's Story of the Vietnam War Our raids would be curtailed for several weeks. When the strikes resumed, the enemy's air defenses were back in business, showing ready improvement as the conflict wore on".Obviously, if the U.S. pursued a similar tactic in bombing raids over Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, the war could have very possibly ended differently. War For the Hell of It : A Fighter Pilot's View of Vietnam Even more damning, Trotti wrote: "While my own beliefs were in the process of undergoing a fundamental change, my exasperation with the tactics of the antiwar activists and what I felt then (and now) to be a slanted coverage of the war prevented me from acknowledging a central truth in their allegations:that the war was immoral."

The following statement Trotti makes proves conclusively that many saw Vietnam as a training area, regardless of any casualties, for new weapons technology and other breakthroughs all tested in S.E. Asia: "It wasn't the war itself but the manner in which we waged it that constituted the sin, but that recognition was still several years in the future. Phantom in the River: Flight of Linfield Two Zero One Nonetheless, I was willing to accept as an alternative to the belief that Ho Chi Minh represented a danger to America that Vietnam was important to the experience level of a new generation of pilots, ensuring that there would be plenty of blooded pilots for the next war. Collision Over Vietnam: A Fighter Pilot's Story of Surviving the Arc Light One Tragedy This was a sneaky kind of callousness, because I didn't have to acknowledge that at best we were using other people and other turf for our live-ordinance exercises". Sadly, how do you explain that statement to the families who have slain relatives names etched on "The Wall" in Washington, D.C.?

Trotti wrote about the change in the American G.I's mentality after the Tet Offensive. He chillingly discussed his observation: "I sensed the mediocrity of the situation. It was if our troops were wallowing in molasses. "400 days and a wake up, baby" became the duty slogan for boots no more than hours off the plane (from the U.S. to Vietnam via Okinawa, Japan). Memories of a Fighter Pilot "Just make sure there's cold beer at the club". Trucks and jeeps with lolling drivers from the Americal (Division)_ cruised the main service road in an endless stream as if it were Main Street on Saturday night. Hundreds of soldiers with long hair and seedy fatigues lounged around outside the Americal PX smoking dope in blatant defiance of their officers and NCO's. "Bust me, you sucker," their postures said, "and see what kind of grenade comes through the door to your hootch." For the truly hard core patriotic ex W.W. II veteran commanding officer, it was hard to stomach Trotti's next observation.

Starting in 1968, Trotti wrote: Dope had become a major, perhaps the major factor in unit performance in Vietnam and provided the backdrop for the polarization at home. It was popular to refer to that polarization as being one of age, but the real polarization was a matter of which side of the dope fence one sat on-age was only a reference point, and a very poor one at that. In the same way that a generation of young men got turned onto cigarettes in W.W. I (because the government passed them out for free), another generation had turned on to dope in Vietnam because it was cheap, ubiquitous and "better than twiddling your thumbs, booby." Thud Ridge: F-105 Thunderchief missions over Vietnam It was "Vietnam status," and it made the rounds quickly as the vet hit the streets back home. For different reasons, both combat and support units were easy marks for dope. For the former it was the roller coaster ride between terror and boredom, while for the latter, it was boredom enhanced perhaps by a sense of shame. But whatever the cause, the results were the same."

Certainly, no one wanted to be the final soldier to take that last ride home from Vietnam in a refrigerated metallic casket. Diversion was one way of taking one's mind of that frightening possibility. Trotti wrote that it became excessive, to the point where he made the following commentary: "Only units thoroughly immersed in their work were reasonably immune to the siren call of cannabis (marijuana)." In conclusion, as long as the reader can tolerate periods of complex discussions regarding esoteric knowledge of how a Phantom fighter bomber is both built and how it operates, Trotti gives an excellent, in depth discussion of describing his take on America's futile pursuit of victory in the Vietnam War. Life on a Short Fuse: An American Fighter Pilot Reveals a Military Cover-up Responsible for More Than 20 Deaths and Unspeakable Torture Other covered subjects included are a close examination of how the draft negatively affected existing troops in Vietnam who volunteered and wanted to be there confronted with conscripted troops that were there against their own volition, strained race relations between black and white skinned troops, and finally, the failed attempt to turn the war effort directly over to the corrupt and incompetent South Vietnamese. This fiasco was a program Richard Nixon called "Vietnamization." Certainly, this is a remarkable story of the final years of the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of a seasoned fighter pilot. Despite the advanced avionics Trotti examines in "Phantom Over Vietnam," this is a very worthwhile memoir!

I read "Phantom Over Vietnam", the memoir of a Marine fighter pilot, before plunging into the mounds of similar books on the subject of the Vietnam Air War, both historical and fictional. Thus I couldn't appreciate how the book was unique. Most authors on the subject generalize the air war - the technology and tactics - while highlighting the overt civilian control of a war being fought based on political rather than military goals. Trotti raises those issues, but never turns his book into an indictment on the Johnson administration, Rob McNamara's Defense Department "whiz-kids", or the liberals who others have blamed for undermining the war effort by concluding the war un-winnable.

"Phantom" follows Trotti from his departure from America in the war's early and heady days, then notes the apparent changes when the optimism fades. At first, pilots had to campaign fiercely to get into a combat unit bound for Vietnam (the fear was that the war would be won before everybody has their chance for action). After an interval spent training newer aviators stateside, Trotti returns for more. His descriptions of the flights are weighted down by detail on such topics as the F-4 Phantom's mechanics, aero-navigation and airborne communications protocol (which is also a mystery to the author). But these burdens are probably intentional - Trotti isn't going for action. He does nothing to make himself look heroic, and even goes out of his way to slyly imply otherwise. (What can you say about a guy who admits that his biggest fear isn't of missiles or MiG fighters, but that the power seats in his airplane will fail in combat?; the author is not a tall man). While occupying himself with the draconian bureaucracies of military units in Vietnam tends to make the narrative dry, it also saves the book from being dated. We're spared VH1-styled babble about what it was like to be around in the Vietnam-war era, instead getting a birds eye view of life in a combat unit bound by yards of redtape, a situation we can expect remains with us today.

If anything, Trotti's book will be most memorable for his depiction of the aircraft themselves - unlike the cool and pristine airplanes in similar books, Trotti's jets are aged (and prematurely so) by the rigors of combat and flight. The most enduring images of the book, are those of a newly shipped F-4, with its fresh paint job, sharing ramp space with older jets with their paint blistered by supersonic air. It's not a book you'll read in one sitting, but it's not a book you'll read only once.

A straight-forward memoir that should be enjoyed by all fans of the Phabulous Phantom. You can almost feel the heat of the flightline and smell the hyd fluid again. ahhhh....