Lions of the Sky

Lions of the Sky by Paco Chierici is a marvelous current day story of Navy pilots, specifically those that land on aircraft carriers, where the name “tailhook” comes from. I live in a Navy town, San Diego, and have had numerous conversations with Navy pilots. The idea of landing an airplane on the tossing deck of an aircraft carrier is dangerous and frightening, and everyone who has done it says so. There have been multiple deaths during training accidents that have occurred during the 40 years that I’ve lived here. Scary seems like an inadequate word, but that does not even include the notion of being shot at or taking a shot at a bandit, an enemy aircraft. I was lucky enough to attend a couple Tailhook conventions in Reno, and I was lucky enough to witness highly skilled pilots do their thing. And then, I was a guest on an adventure to Russia where I got to ride backseat in a MIG29 which did full combat maneuvers (although I never pulled more than 6.5 G’s compared to real fighter pilots who can handle 8 G’s). So, it was with considerable excitement and a little knowledge that I read this account of pilots being trained for this very activity, and then flying in combat.

Chierici created great characters, both men and women, some of whom were instructors, and others who were rookies or “nuggets.” The interplay between Lt. Sam “Slammer” Richardson, Keely “Quick” Silvers, Lexi “Dusty” Rhodes, “JT,” and others was very well written. Bright, ultracompetitive, egotistical, sexist, defensive – all so believable. Once the characters were created, the author created a dogfight scenario that was incredible. I was on the edge of my seat for the length of this “can’t put it down” novel. Think about the excitement that you felt when you saw the movie “Top Gun” for the first time. Without reservation, this one gets a 5/5 rating.