Fighter Pilot’s Heaven

---

s

If you’re a pilot, or want to be, Donald S. Lopez’s Fighter Pilot’s Heaven lives up to its title.  It’s a dynamite read.

In the late 1940s, Lopez spent almost six years at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida as a test pilot evaluating aircraft for their suitability as fighters and bombers.  During that period, he flew most of the combat aircraft in the US Air Force’s arsenal, including the military’s first jets.  Lopez assessed guns, bomb sights, navigation instruments, radar, combat tactics and much more. 

He didn’t shy away from describing in some detail airplanes’ flight characteristics or the execution and results of his tests.  But very seldom does he bog you down with too many details.  His style is conversational and interspersed with just enough personal non-flying stories—almost as if you’re having a beer with him after a long day on the flightline. 

Most of us will seldom have an opportunity to fly one of these military aircraft.  But Lopez almost puts you in the pilot’s seat as he vividly conveys what it’s like to fly these old birds.

Lopez wrote several books based on his experiences, not only as a test pilot, but also as a World War II fighter pilot and the Deputy Director of the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum. 

If aviation holds little interest for you, this may not be your book.  Still, Lopez is such an engaging writer, you may wish to try some of his other works.  But if you are an aviation buff, Fighter Pilot’s Heaven will likely be a book you’ll need for your library.

---

Quotes

[Re: The reunion of the 75th Fighter Squadron]   Our hotel bill was a bit higher than anticipated because one of our less-intelligent members, nicknamed the Talking Dog in China, poured a pitcher of drinks into a piano and threw a small table out a fifteenth-floor window.  (It landed in an alley and didn’t kill anyone.  If it had, it would have been his first victory.)

---

---

---