Climb into the cockpit of an 80-year aviation adventure, told by the bold character who lived it. More than the memoir of an aerobatic master born to fling his body through cloudbanks, Spitfire Wingman from Tennessee offers a unique bird's-eye perspective on events and personalities of WWII and the Cold War. His desire to fly fighters won him a stint as famed New Zealand ace Johnny Checketts' wingman. Personal encounters with Patton, Vandenberg, Yeager, Truman and Nixon are replayed with perception and wit. While jockeying P-40s, P-51s, and P-47s, he was privileged to see the war both from twenty thousand feet and as Staff Officer at 9th Air Force Headquarters in Brussels, where he watched 'the Brass' play chess with armies on two world fronts. A stripped-down Thunderbolt fighter-bomber became his personal 400-mph runabout. Beginning with fragile fabric-covered biplanes, the Colonel bears hands-on nostalgic witness to historic transformations steering manned flight from art toward automated science. Starting out as the Memphis 'Boy Wonder' who built his first airplane in 1933 by adapting a motorcycle engine, this gifted flyer takes you on an intimate inside journey from barnstormer to dog-fighter, to threading the Himalayan 'Hump,' to Berlin Airlift commander, then on to Presidential Squadron leader - finally becoming Chief Pilot of the Military Air Transport Service. Balancing dry humor with just enough technical detail to please aviation buffs, this self-revealing autobiography thunders on all twelve cylinders with sky-sweeping appeal. Dear Jim: Your autobiography is all I knew it would be once you got around to it! It has handed me a lotta laughs and much enjoyment. In the tradition of LeMay and Yeager, if a commander turned out to be a S.O.B., you said so. BRAVO! When I was with the Office of Air Force History, I interviewed so-o-o-o many top echelon retirees who insisted on bronzing everybody...I can relate to every chapter. Keep on pressing on. --Jim L. Delaney - Lebanon, Tennessee Dear Col. Haun: I have just finished reading your autobiography. I wanted to thank you for the memories. I have been flying for about ten years now and dream of flying the planes you have flown...It sounds like you had an exciting career. I would love to fly an old pre-war biplane. The beautiful lines of the fabric birds combined with the sounds of the "round" engines brings to life dreams of days gone by. Maybe one day I will get to meet you at an air show somewhere. Respectfully, Rod W. --Rod Wrakley - Dayton, Ohio To Jim Haun, the best pilot I ever knew. Sure would like to be there for your 89th birthday celebration, but don't think I can make it. The following weekend is the 12th Squadron reunion at Colorado Springs. There aren't many of us left who remember Godman Field...God bless. Affectionately, Johnny --John E. Florence - Orlando, Florida This second edition, in order to accomodate over 230 text-relevant photos and graphics, expands the format to 8.5 X 11 inches in a 5/8 inch thick perfectbound laminated softcover book. Produced after the author's death in 2001, this new edition adds Forward , Epilogue , and Appendix plus helpful editorial notes. "I was priveleged to start flying in 1929 in airplanes of, or very similar to, those of World War One vintage. Those old 'seat-of-the-pants' airplanes were flown solely by feel and attitude, which experience allowed me to fly many of the later types of vastly different performance without the luxury of a prior check-out, and certainly increased my life-span. Conversely, when I think of all my contemporaries who have long since 'bought the farm' for one reason or another, I must conclude that I either have had an excessive amount of pure luck, or else have a most vigilant Guardian Angel." James Robert Haun was born to a struggling Memphis, Tennessee lawyer and his wife on Sept. 21, 1911, the first of three children and only son. Because his mother died five days before his ninth birthday, young James - while being swapped among mid-south relatives - early learned self-reliance. Gifted with adventurous energy, by age 22 he had gone from Eagle Scout to Western Union bike messenger before working his way to Europe via hopped freight and tramp steamer - then (to his father's frustrated amazement) becoming a pilot and building his own airplane powered by a motorcycle engine! His remarkably varied Air Force career literally covered the globe and included personal encounters with Patton, Vandenberg, Truman, and Nixon. He flew fighters, bombers, and transports - rising to become Chief Pilot of MATS and Commander of the Presidential Squadron in Washington. After retirement in 1965 he built an EAA biplane in his garage, wowed audiences at local air shows in a Snoopy outfit, and instructed hundreds of students (many of whom now pilot for the airlines). He died April 2, 2001, loved by all who knew him. Used Book in Good Condition