Portion of 80th TFS First Deployment. Standing left to right: Bob Reichart, John Atkinson, Giles Gainer, Andy Olman, Larry Wilson, Gary Banks and Del Smith. Kneeling left to right: Phil Coll (ops officer), John Anderson (squadron commander), Art Mearns, and the author / THE FASCINATING TALE of a Vietnam fighter pilot who flew the American Air Force???s premier fighter-bomber in the most dangerous skies in the history of warfare has been told in a new book documenting the early years of the Vietnam War. Images from ???Thud Pilot??? by Victor Vizcarra show the ashen-faced author being helped away from a helicopter shortly after having to eject from his aircraft over the Vietnamese jungle, while others see various different combat pilots posing with their severely damaged aircraft after returning from duty. Further pictures show a huge Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun in action, demonstrating the scale of the threat faced by the pilots, with other images show some of the surface to air missiles that the air force had to face during combat / Fonthill Media / mediadrumworld.com