Special thanks to the National Museum of the Air Force in Dayton, Ohio and especially to archivist Brett Stolle for his invaluable assistance in helping me research the museum’s data and photo collections.
Special thanks to the Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida and the volunteer staff of the Emil Buehler Library for their assistance in locating files and photos.
I am grateful to the Department of the Air Force and the Department of the Navy, including the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Alabama and the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, DC, for their commitment to enhancing public access to official photographic and documentary materials concerning the Vietnam War.
I would also like to extend my appreciation to those Vietnam aviators I consulted for assistance with questions about technical and operational details, notably those “River Rats” Stan Goldstein and Howard Plunkett of the Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association.
Deep appreciation to all the writers and researchers before me, who have contributed to the large—and growing—body of literature on the air war in Vietnam; much of which I have consulted for this book. Special recognition is given to Chris Hobson’s Vietnam Air Losses, John Morrocco’s Rain of Fire, Elizabeth Hartsook and Stuart Slade’s Air War Vietnam Plans and Operations, Marshall Michel’s The 11 Days of Christmas, and Karl Eschmann’s Linebacker (perhaps the most definitive, detailed account of Linebacker II), which are indispensable reference works for anyone delving into the final years of the air war in Vietnam. Lien-Hang Nguyen’s book, Hanoi’s War, provides an interesting counterpoint from the North Vietnamese perspective and is well worth reading.
Finally, to all the men who flew in or supported Operation Linebacker I & II in 1972. You had a difficult job to do at a trying time in American history, but you did it with the highest degree of dedication and professionalism.