Have You Read? Viper Pilot: A Memoir of Air Combat

By Dan Hampton

Viper Pilot will become an instant aviation classic you’ll want to reread for many years to come. Dan Hampton’s memoir is a gripping, action-packed story about the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadron whose primary mission was to fly deep behind enemy lines to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles. This story takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster through the eyes of a F-16 Viper pilot as he skillfully evades incoming fire in a heart-racing adventure of cat-and-mouse.

The reader not only learns about the art of surface-to-air combat tactics, which is more deadly than direct air-to-air engagement, but also about aviation history through Hampton’s personal accounts of the 2003 invasion of Iraq as well as critical missions of the Gulf War. These aviation-hero recollections will make you sweat from the intense action sequences and keep you wanting more.—Reviewed by Capt. Jason Moll (Envoy Air)

This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of Air Line Pilot.