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Sailing to Pago Pago
And Other Stories
By Robert Gillcrist
The reader deserves some explanation for this diverse collection of short stories. The collection is of groups of stories in rough chronological order. The first group is about family and oral history. Other groups are of the Service, Alaska, Cuba, the construction business, Hospice work, and old friends. I have fictionalized many of the pieces in the collection. Thus, Seamus is a fictional character, but the family knows who played the part. This device may seem odd, but too much can be revealed when standing and reading before writing workshops.
Another source of concern is accuracy. In a recent conversation, I was corrected by a friend who I had portrayed in a story,. His explanation stunned me. Indeed, I had inadvertently transferred Colyer into a story of a practical joke played fifty years ago. Any such inaccuracies are not intentional. However, my memory is clear on some events. It was not Dickie Bates, who shot me in the leg, and it was definitely an ice truck, not a UPS truck, that featured in another piece. Sometimes I think of life as Rashomon. After all the years, does it really matter who played which part?
Order Sailing to Pago Pago from Amazon
Ghost Boat
(Unpublished)
By Dan Gillcrist
There are few, if any, published works about that final fear of the submariner:
lonely death in the depths of the sea. Yet it remains a reality, an indisputable fact
to which there can be no witnesses, only silent waves over a deep and cold grave.
This short story is therefore a work of fiction, told from the perspective of a submariner
who lived with that quiet ubiquitous fear during his years as a torpedo-man.
Read Ghost Boat here. or download the story in MS Word format.
Of Municipal Bondage
By Dan Gillcrist
From the jacket
This is a humorous, fictional story about the zany, colorful, profane and politically incorrect characters that gravitated to the fertile ground of the municipal bond business during the 70s and 80s. It centers on the Texas bond community, particularly in Houston, with a number of forays to Wall Street...muni brokers more closely resembled alumni of the witness protection program.
An Nasher
The Asp
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist (Ret.)
The author's second novel about a conspiracy initiated by disenchanted former Soviet
leaders with Moammar Khadaffi against the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediteranean. The climax is a huge "furball" between Libyan fighters and U.S. Navy F-14s.
Order An Nasher: The Asp from iUniverse.com (available in hardback for $25.95 plus shipping)
Sea Legs
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist (Ret.)
The third of a trilogy about U. S. Naval Aviation in the latter half of the 20th century. A series
of vignettes mostly about carrier aviation all taken from the author's personal experiences as a nugget pilot,
squadron commander, air wing commander and finally as the functional wing commander of all Pacific Fleet fighter
squadrons. Good reading because it puts the reader in the cockpit.
Order Sea Legs now from iUniverse.com (available in hardback for $28.95 plus shipping)
COBRA
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist (Ret.)
A first novel about one of the first female F-14 pilots in the U.S. Navy. Her voyage through
the flight training system and into the fleet is climaxed by an aerial engagement in the Sea of Japan with North
Korean fighters with catastrophic consequences.
Order COBRA now from 1stbooks.com (available in hardback for $27.50 plus shipping)
Feet Wet
Reflections of a Carrier Pilot
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist
From the dust cover
Feet Wet is a chronicle of adventure, heroism, courage, and humor, with some
of the most exciting passages ever written on flying.
Gillcrist's descriptions are so real that they make your pulse race and your
palms get sweaty. From his magical first flight -- the sheer ecstasy of
being airborne, to the heart pounding excitement of his first night "trap,"
the terror of ejecting from a test plane spinning out of control, to dodging SAMs
and jousting with MiGs over Hanoi -- Gillcrist takes the reader into his world and
vividly conveys what all pilots live for -- the tremendous "high" of all-out flying.
Order Feet Wet now from Barnes and Noble.
THE MESS COOK
(Unpublished)
By Dan Gillcrist
There are few, if any, published works about that final fear of the submariner:
lonely death in the depths of the sea. Yet it remains a reality, an indisputable fact
to which there can be no witnesses, only silent waves over a deep and cold grave.
This short story is therefore a work of fiction, told from the perspective of a submariner
who lived with that quiet ubiquitous fear during his years as a torpedo-man.
Read The Mess Cook here.
CRUSADER!
Last of the Gunfighters
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist
From the dust cover
Once known as the "Last of the Gunfighters," the Vought F-8 Crusader has since
become a legend in the histories of the U.S. and French navies, as well as the
scourge of the skies over North Vietnam in the late 1960s!
CRUSADER! is a vital oral history of one of the most controversial fighter planes
in carrier aviation. A key to the authenticity of this story are the author's personal
interviews with sixteen of the seventeen living Crusader pilots who became MiG killers
in the air war over Vietnam. His analysis of their aerial engagements over North
Vietnam from 1965 to 1973 contains some startling surprises as well as validation of many of
the tactical lessons learned from World War II and Korea.
CRUSADER! also contains personal accounts of F-8 speed record holders such as U.S. Marine Corps Major (now Senator)
John Glenn, and Captains Bob Dose and "Duke" Windsor. Other aviation records
held by the Crusader, (not so enviable) are told, in anecdotal form, for the first
time by the author, an F-8 driver and participant in some of them!
Order CRUSADER! now from Barnes and Noble.
TOMCAT!
The Grumman F-14 Story
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist
From the dust cover
TOMCAT! The Grumman F-14 Story is an exciting oral history of the most versatile air supremacy
fighter in the world... much of it written fomr the vantage point of the cockpit!
Told in anecdotal format, this new book is richly marble with the salt air of fleet
experience. Perhaps the F-14 program's greatest success is its overwhelming acceptance
by young pilots in the fleet. Anecdotes about the Tomcat legend abound...especially in
the chapters devoted to its employment by the fleet in the oceans of the world...
TOMCAT! contains over 150 photographs, most in color and never before published, and
many of them taken by Tomcat aircrews with hand-held cameras. These provide a fascinating
visual record for the oral history contained in the book.
This is not a garden variety history about an airplane. It is a sometimes heart-stopping story of
how a controversial airplane finally made it into the hearts and minds of the fleet...after
stumbling out of the starting gats of an out-moded defense acquisition system. It is the story of
the best air supremacy fighter in the world!
Order TOMCAT! now from Barnes and Noble
VULTURE'S ROW
Thirty Years in Naval Aviation
By Rear Admiral Paul T. Gillcrist
From the dust cover
Vulture's Row tells a fascinating story about an important period covering nearly one half
of the entire history of U.S. naval aviation. "Vulture's Row" is an area dubbed by
naval flyers on the forecastle of an aircraft carrier where pilots can overlook carrier
landings on the deck below.
This new book by acclaimed author Paul Gillcrist is a series of true stories about U.S. Navy
carrier aviation from the perspective of a Navy pilot who spent thirty-three years directly
involved in that exciting profession. The book begins with a series of vignettes in the
period of the mid-1950s when the U.S. Navy introduced swept wing, jet-powered fighters in the
aircraft carrier's navy -- flying from straight-deck carriers whose flight decks were made
of teak wood...
These vignettes combine humor, hair-raising excitement and tragedy while the author pursued
a long career as a carrier pilot.
Order VULTURE'S ROW now from Barnes and Noble.
DEADLY WINDFALL
A Novel
By Paul T. Gillcrist
From the dust cover
A retired U.S. Navy captain becomes an inadvertent witness to the
hasty hiding of a cache of drug cartel money by felons being pursued by police
in Los Angeles. The captain is a recent widower who has just lost his retirement
job with a defense contractor and is, at the moment, without purpose and motivation.
As a consequence, he makes an impulsive decision to keep the money;
and goes on the run. This is the story of his flight from his pursuers.
Order DEADLY WINDFALL now from Barnes and Noble
"ENCORE"
By Paul T. Gillcrist
Rising prices of weapons systems drives the U.S. Defense Department,
in 2007, to reduce the cost of its people in an experiment, called
"Bold Venture" under
the aegis of the National Institute of Health. Using experimental
wonder drugs, the program aims to extend the useful life of tactical
aviators.
Four retired U.S. Navy fighter pilots volunteer to evaluate these
drugs which have been shown to delay, and even reverse, the aging process.
Initial tests show such success that phase two of the experiment
begins; putting the aviators back into the cockpit of tactical airplanes,
new F-14Ds.
The hormonal effects of these drugs causes the volunteers' wives to threaten
to withdraw their husbands’ from the project unless they are included. Authorities
reluctantly agree and the "Grey Eagles" deploy on a carrier where
an "incident" with
North Korean Air Force fighters in the Sea of Japan ends with startling
results.
Order "ENCORE" now from Barnes and Noble.
REDEMPTION
A Novel
By Paul Gillcrist
Two young, spirited and irrepressible U.S. Navy lieutenants (junior grade) have recently reported to an F/A-18 Hornet fleet squadron stationed aboard U.S.S. Guadalcanal (CVN-78) deployed in combat operations in the Adriatic Sea. Recognizing the need for a firm hand during their training, the squadron Commanding Officer places the responsibility for their care and upbringing squarely in the hands of the squadron operations officer. The training of the two screw-ups takes high priority in the squadron’s deployment training plans.
On a night combat mission, these two inexperienced aviators unintentionally end up being launched together. Their assigned combat air patrol sector puts them into heavy weather. They are directed to
descend to an altitude which would keep them in clear visibility conditions. During their descent, in close formation, one of the planes is struck by lightning, causing a complete loss of electrical power.
During the few moments following the strike they collide, are damaged and become
separated. Neither of the damaged airplanes is able to remain airborne and descend
toward the ocean. One pilot ejects, survives water entry in his parachute safely
and eventually washes ashore in his one-man life raft. During his night in the
water he survives an attempt by an Albanian patrol boat to machine gun him in
his life raft.
The other pilot is unable to eject from his damaged airplane, survives a night water ditching and floats ashore on the same hostile shore. Neither knows the circumstances of the other.
In an exciting nine day evasion episode, the two pilots join up and elude their pursuers. During these nine days, the U.S. Navy carrier battle group commander makes several attempts at their rescue using a SEAL team and the battle group’s assigned submarine.
In one rescue attempt the team manages to rescue one of the aviators only to learn of the other’s capture by a group of rebel insurgents. In a second attempt the SEAL team rescues the second aviator only to find themselves in the middle of a night fire fight just off the Albanian coast between an Albanian patrol boat, a U.S. Navy amphibious hover craft and a flight of V-22s. The two squadron problem aviators return to the carrier as different young men, forever changed by their experiences.
In an exciting epilogue the two aviators receive awards and a field promotion by the President of the United States; and go on to productive and happy careers.
Order REDEMPTION now from Barnes and Noble
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