Under the Radar and a Collection of Other Short Stories

These stories are fiction but they are based on my autobiography when I was a pilot in the Navy back in the 1950’s. I have changed the names to protect the privacy of the characters and where needed I made up some of the events that are described. Most of the essence of the stories is real. War really sucks and I wish our leaders could find a way to settle disputes without just killing each other.
The Cold War is the last war that the United States has won. It started at the end of World War II between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Many in the west thought the Soviets were trying to dominate the world with Communism so we created a national strategy of “massive retaliation”. If you bomb us with nukes, we will retaliate--with Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles carrying 100 megaton payloads and attack bombers from carriers-- flying low level to avoid radar and carrying a 100 KT nuclear bomb, five times the power the United States dropped on Hiroshima.
Every aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet had a detachment of attack planes capable of this delivery. This is the fictional story of Detachment Echo on the USS Bon Homme Richard, CVA 31 in 1958 and 1959. These five pilots were not the prestigious and glamorous pilots of the Blue Angels, Top Gun, or the early Astronauts. They are the work-horses of the Fleet on 24-hour alert prepared to launch should the President “ring the bell. “
Tom Murray, a rookie attack pilot, is one of five pilots, assigned to the Bonnie Dick, flying in bad weather, just over the ocean tops, and challenged to deliver an atomic bomb that might take his life and that of his crew. Many aviators did in fact give their lives in preparing for this ultimate mission. Leaving wives and young babies at home is a personal sacrifice that Tom and his buddies endure. But in between these fearsome events, the naval aviators have plenty of fun and plenty of conflict. You will grow to love and admire them as they persevere through their training and operations in the South China Sea.