Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea

I have just finished reading this book, a topic I have been interested in ever since I first saw the film The Bridges at Toko-Ri. Let me say, first out of the box, that despite the title to this review, the book is definitely worth buying and reading if you have an interest in the Korean War or US Naval Aviation. I have an interest in both, so I naturally gravitated to this book.Unfortunately, the book is as choppy as a wintry Sea of Japan boat ride. Because the author tries so hard to keep parallel action going, he chops up his narrative so that the reader can be often frustrated by wanting to hear the end of the telling of an event only to then be thrown aside for another story and then yet another story! I know what the author is doing - he's trying to keep the reader interested and show what is happening at (nearly) the same time, BUT unfortunately many of the author's side "lurches" are completely unnecessary and instead disruptive to the flow of the story. I blame the editor(s) more than the author for this. Simply put, finish one narrative as much as you can before you move on to the next!I also blame the editors for not catching such silly mistakes as Mr. Sears calling Japan an "imperial empire" (p.96). Since when was an empire not "imperial"? (Okay, don't remind me of the Holy Roman Empire, which was not; but that's the exception.) Also, the mistake on page 324, where the author talks about "Thayer's blind landing on Jersey bounce" when it was really another pilot (Kenneth Schechter) who had made that crash landing. Thayer just helped coach him down. Sloppy editing, and there were other errors just like these. (Such as the first map near the frontispiece, which misspells the North Korean town of "Kapsan" as "Kaspan" instead.)But, overall, yes, this book is worth reading. Just be prepared to be whipsawed and to be treated to some "lite P.C." editorializing. Good solid writing, with occasional streaks of brilliant wording, but impaired by sloppy editing.

This was a really great book that covered an interesting bit of history, which is why it should be 3.5 and maybe pushing 3.9 on the star rating system. There are a few downers, first is the huge cast of people the author introduces, which you lose track of who is who after the author spent some chapters development on their background. While a couple of folks mentioned in the opening, some famous aviators and astronauts get passing mentions later in the book. Then the biggest fault is the lack of maps. The mention of towns, airfields and operating areas were prolific in the book; but without good maps you could be anywhere when the stories of pilot rescue or survival were mentioned. No frame of reference as to how dangerous an aircraft that has seconds to stay aloft is when the description of a town could place you over Trenton on the way to Philadelphia or deep over the mountains and the nearest civilization is a week hike south. So the lack of maps really frustrated me in reading this book. Finally, what kept it from being a four star was the typos. From names being misspelled in one paragraph and spelt right the next down to some designation of aircraft or units that were done right and wrong multiple times on the same page.That said this is a good book that tries to humanize the air war over Korea from the men who flew off the USN carriers. Most of them were reservists who either just missed being in WW2 or had served and when the post WW2 drawdown occurred wanted to keep flying but couldn't on active duty. If you are a history buff and have read anything of Naval Aviation after WW2 then some of these stories you have heard. From the Jesse L. Brown story and his wingman Tom Hudner who crash lands in the same mountains to save the first black aviator, to the use of torpedoes against a dam that the Chinese controlled, to the attempts to bomb the rail and roads and starve the Communist armies. Intermixed in these stories is the arrival of Michener an author of note who was working as a newspaper correspondent and spent almost a year on the Navy carriers getting stories. Some of which would form the bones of the novel Michener would later write. Also, mixed in this was the history of the Korean War. It's a good book if only to make more readable and accessible some of the stories that history buffs and drier history tomes have told of the U.S. Na y and it's Naval Aviators over the skies of Korea. This book ready humanized those folks stuck with both jets and props as the planes they would fly in those skies.

I found "Men Such as These" to be very well-written. However, as a member of fighter squadron VF-72, an F9F Panther jet squadron in CVG-7 aboard the BON HOMME RICHARD CV-31, Task Force 77, I was disappointed that there was no mention at all of our 7 month tour off Korea operating out of Yokosuka, Japan. Our ship and the CVG-7 squadrons played a significant role in naval operations during the war.BON HOMME RICHARD departed San Diego on 10 May for the Far East. She joined TF-77 off Korea on 29 May and launched her first air strikes 31 May. BON HOMME RICHARD continued operations with TF 77 until 20 November 1951. The carrier reached San Diego in mid-December 1951 and on 20 May 1952 was off again to the Far East.She joined TF 77 once more on 23 June 1952 and took part in the heavy strikes against the North Korean power complex (24-25 June) and the amphibious feint at Kojo (12-16 October). She continued operations against North Korean targets until 18 December 1952 and then steamed to San Francisco where she arrived 8 January 1953. Her classification was changed from CV 31 to CVA 31, 1 October 1952.Despite this omission, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of naval aviation in Korea.

Its better than 4 but not 5 stars. like the blurb says its the story of us navy pilots fighting over korea. its very entertaining and i enjoyed the early versions of combat search and rescue missions mentioned. They were brave men and the stories within convey this well. There are not that many books on korea and this is one of the better ones along with "to the last round" and max hastings korean war.

FIRST CLASS BOOK.

Tratta un argomento poco conosciuto all'interno di una guerra quasi sconosciuta.Segue moltissimi piloti, raccontando come siano diventati tali, cosa abbiano ottenuto o fatto in guerra e, purtroppo per molti, come siano caduti in battaglia.A tratti molto toccante, è una lettura che integra benissimo la libreria di qualsiasi appassionato della guerra di Corea.

Ce livre est vraiment un excellent livre.Je me suis régalé du début à la fin.Les destins parfois (souvent) tragiques de ces pilotes sont vraiment tres touchant.