The Hunter Killers

April 13, 2015
Hampton (Viper Pilot), a former U.S. Air Force pilot, offers an incongruous mixture of an in-the-cockpit air combat chronicle entwined with a detailed and opinionated analysis of the Vietnam War. The air-combat sections zero in on pilots who flew the U.S. aircraft known as Wild Weasels. These were most often F-105 and F-100 jet fighter bombers with new, secret electronic countermeasure equipment that detected, suppressed, and destroyed North Vietnamese missile and anti-aircraft sites. In these sections, Hampton uses the words of surviving Wild Weasel aviators to imaginatively recreate dramatic and dangerous missions over enemy territory. He focuses on the use of American air power in extensive but stuffy sections on the war’s history, offering his opinions on the war’s origins and the policymaking of presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon. Hampton places the blame for the war’s outcome on both civilian political leaders and the top military leadership, especially Defense Secretary Robert McNamara and Gen. William Westmoreland. The “most significant strategic error,” he says, was “neither recognizing nor admitting that the conflict was a civil war.” Hampton’s aviator action reconstructions are gripping, but their effectiveness is diminished by the drier sections of military history.

May 1, 2015

By the time of the Vietnam War, countermeasures to aerial warfare had become considerably more sophisticated owing to improved radar systems and more effective surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). This was tragically apparent on July 24, 1965, when a U.S. Air Force F-4 was shot down by the North Vietnamese Army with a Soviet-made SAM. In response, the Air Force developed the Wild Weasels program. Each Wild Weasel fighter jet contained a pilot and an Electronic Warfare Officer, and relied on experimental equipment and tactics. Aiming to provoke enemy radar in order to precisely locate and destroy SAM nests, their missions proved to be the most dangerous of the war as many Weasels were killed or captured. Hampton (The Viper Pilot) uses first-hand accounts from surviving Wild Weasels to tell their stories, including intense narratives from Operation Rolling Thunder and Operation Linebacker. The author also provides insight into the fateful political decisions that prolonged the Vietnam War, making it clear that it took an exceptional person to be a Wild Weasel. VERDICT Hampton uses a lot of military terminology, some of which might be difficult for the lay reader to understand, but his overall writing style is excellent; in particular, his vivid, fast-paced combat narratives. His latest work will appeal to military history fans or anyone looking for an absorbing read.--Dave Pugl, Ela Area Pub. Lib., Lake Zurich, IL

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