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Phantom over Vietnam: Fighter Pilot, USMC
In his two separate tours in Vietnam, US Marine Corps pilot John Trotti was uniquely placed to see and experience the war in Vietnam from the war's early and optimistic days during his first tour, to the cynicism found in his second. Remarkably, Trotti is able to bring vividly alive the experience of being strapped into the cockpit of an F-4 Phantom jet and experience every aspect of a mission, from the adrenalin rush of combat to the emotional drama of nursing a badly-damaged fighter out of enemy territory and to safety.
238 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 8, 2019
There have been many books by fighter pilots, and many by fighter pilots who flew in Vietnam, but probably the best of all of them is John Trotti's Phantom Over Vietnam. The book is pretty tightly focused, so we don't find out much of Trotti's backstory or indeed any of his personal life, but we do find out exactly what it was like to be a Marine flying an F-4B in combat in two tours in Vietnam, with a break as a training pilot flying the TF-9 Cougar. One might argue that the book is brief and there are only a few missions detailed here, but those missions are given in thorough detail and illustrate well the variety of tasks assigned to Trotti's squadron. His descriptions are informative and often colorful, and his view of the war as it changed from his first tour to his second is described well. Possibly one of the most valuable parts of the book is his description of his job as the squadron maintenance officer during his second tour, one of those parts of aircrew duty that are often shrugged aside as "not being flying." No, not flying, but keeping the airplanes flying was vital, and often difficult as he recounts. I'd recommend this highly to anyone interested in aircrew accounts, but it is necessary for those studying our operations in Vietnam, and admirers of the F-4.
January 5, 2020
A riveting read. John Trotti, the Author flew the F-4 Phantom for the US Marine Corps over Vietnam for two different tours. One was in 1966, the other in 1970. As such he flew in two different wars, one a hopeful escalating war where Pilots really felt they were making a difference and resources were always available and one where a departing force was trying to hold the line for as long as possible. No matter what, he took pride in both sides of the Fighter-Bomber sobriquet his Squadrons held- and gives us just amazingly taut tick tocks of missions all over the country- where sometimes his wingmen or leaders don't come back. I read the book over about 24 hours- it was hard to put down.
Trotti reminds you how much WORK it is to be a Military Pilot. They fly in really dangerous weather and in hot Flak zones where AAA means 20mm, 37mm, and 75mm Flak guns. He takes you into the cockpit to do some amazing calculations - doing parallel math problems - vectoring navigation, both strategic and tactical- while tracking massive fuel usage in both pounds and gallons- all while people are shooting SAM-2s at him. Lots of Math I could never do with a computer and slide rule- that he does in his head in seconds. These guys are amazing- but Trotti is great at keeping the Macho to a minimum- and focusing on the responsibility and duties. I was already pretty respectful of Military Aviation- this just fueled that more.
There are some adult themes- some politics- and some technical talk that makes this best for a Junior reader over about 12. For the Gamer/Modeller/Military Enthusiast, this is really a goldmine. There are lots of ideas for scenarios(missions) and lots of diorama opportunities as well- but the Enthusiast will probably get the most of out of this book- as it really helps one understand the actual workings of a Phantom Squadron in the War- at two distinct phases. A good candidate for any Vietnam or Military Aviation bookshelf.
Trotti reminds you how much WORK it is to be a Military Pilot. They fly in really dangerous weather and in hot Flak zones where AAA means 20mm, 37mm, and 75mm Flak guns. He takes you into the cockpit to do some amazing calculations - doing parallel math problems - vectoring navigation, both strategic and tactical- while tracking massive fuel usage in both pounds and gallons- all while people are shooting SAM-2s at him. Lots of Math I could never do with a computer and slide rule- that he does in his head in seconds. These guys are amazing- but Trotti is great at keeping the Macho to a minimum- and focusing on the responsibility and duties. I was already pretty respectful of Military Aviation- this just fueled that more.
There are some adult themes- some politics- and some technical talk that makes this best for a Junior reader over about 12. For the Gamer/Modeller/Military Enthusiast, this is really a goldmine. There are lots of ideas for scenarios(missions) and lots of diorama opportunities as well- but the Enthusiast will probably get the most of out of this book- as it really helps one understand the actual workings of a Phantom Squadron in the War- at two distinct phases. A good candidate for any Vietnam or Military Aviation bookshelf.
August 4, 2017
I like books like this, written by pilots, relating the characteristics of certain military aircrafts, how to use them, their idiosyncrasies on so.
If the aviator-turned-author is good - and you have a good imagination - it's almost, almost like being there. Mr Totti is such an aviator.
However, no book about the Vietnam War, written by a veteran, without bitter comments about the politicians and military leaders and how they ran the war. Quite understandable, in my humble opinion.
Bottom line: a very readable book and another proof that those who flew the Phabulous Phantom loved it.
If the aviator-turned-author is good - and you have a good imagination - it's almost, almost like being there. Mr Totti is such an aviator.
However, no book about the Vietnam War, written by a veteran, without bitter comments about the politicians and military leaders and how they ran the war. Quite understandable, in my humble opinion.
Bottom line: a very readable book and another proof that those who flew the Phabulous Phantom loved it.
February 14, 2017
Trotti wrote this book as a response to the question "What was it like to fly one of those thundering smokers in combat", and he excels in doing so. With two tours of duty and over 600 missions, Trotti knows his stuff, and he manages a delicate balance between the sheer exhilaration of flight, the mental strain of staying ahead of a twenty ton supersonic war machine, and the overall senselessness of the war itself.
Rather than a day by day diary, Trotti takes a more literary approach, focusing in detail on a few exemplary missions. One is a Rolling Thunder strike over Vinh, a precisely timed operation involving aerial tanking, ECM support from Willie the Whale, and dodging SAMs to strike a flak site so the F-105s can hit a truck park. The second is a check-out flight in a fresh Phantom, taking a clean plane out just to see how fast it can go. Trotti also talks about BARCAP, flying guard for Navy ships, and close air support with napalm and snake-eyes for troops in contact just outside Danang.
The F-4 Phantom is my favorite airplane for reasons I cannot explain or justify, and Trotti has written an amazing book that describes what it felt like to fly one of them when it mattered most.
Bonus:
Rather than a day by day diary, Trotti takes a more literary approach, focusing in detail on a few exemplary missions. One is a Rolling Thunder strike over Vinh, a precisely timed operation involving aerial tanking, ECM support from Willie the Whale, and dodging SAMs to strike a flak site so the F-105s can hit a truck park. The second is a check-out flight in a fresh Phantom, taking a clean plane out just to see how fast it can go. Trotti also talks about BARCAP, flying guard for Navy ships, and close air support with napalm and snake-eyes for troops in contact just outside Danang.
The F-4 Phantom is my favorite airplane for reasons I cannot explain or justify, and Trotti has written an amazing book that describes what it felt like to fly one of them when it mattered most.
Bonus:
November 18, 2010
The only reason I did not give this book a 5 star rating is because John Trotti went overboard in describing the technical details of the "Phantom F-4", it's inner mechanisms, it's role in avoinics, and the complicated flying tactics of a "Fighter-Bomber" pilot. To the novice in this area, this part of the book is laborous to read. To the history student, Trotti very unintentionally gives a scathing denouncement of America's role and will to win in the Vietnam debacle. Trotti was there in 1966 and flew missions right up to where Henry Kissinger successfully negotiated an end to America's role in the Vietnam War. Trotti gives an awesome description of the sheer power and exhiliration of sitting in a Phantom at breath-taking speeds while shooting and being shot at by hostile North Vietnamese forces, both ground-based (S.A.M's i.e "surface to air missles") and ariel (Russian-built M.I.G's). Vicariously, this book gets you as close as you are going to get as to what it is like to fly in a fighter-bomber while engaged in combat. However, being a multiple-tour veteran towards the end of the war, (1971) Trotti wrote about attacking N.Vietnam's only deep water port, "Haipong". Trotti wrote: "The only targets we were allowed to hit were the transportation routes and the facilities away from the area (port of Haipong), storage areas and their anti-air defenses. Then, one day we were turned loose on Haipong's major power-generating station. Step by step, targets were added to the list and the size of the raids of the North grew apace. Then, for no apparent reason, we would cease our strikes for weeks at a time. The official word was that it was to show our desire to achieve a negotiated settlement rather than a military one, but it seemed to us that these moratoriums came at a time that the defenses in the North showed signs of crumbling. As we would increase our level of activity, our losses would mount for a short period of time, level out and then drop off. Just about the time that we seemed to be able to strike targets with virtual impunity. Our raids would be curtailed for several weeks. When the strikes resumed, the enemy's air defenses were back in business, showing ready improvement as the conflict wore on". Obviously, if the U.S. pursued a similar tactic in bombing raids over Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, the war could have very possibly ended differently. Even more damning, Trotti wrote: "While my own beliefs were in the process of undergoing a fundamental change, my exasperation with the tactics of the antiwar activists and what I felt then (and now) to be a slanted coverage of the war prevented me from acknowledging a central truth in their allegations:that the war was immoral. It wasn't the war itself but the manner in which we waged it that constituted the sin, but that recognition was still several years in the future. Nonetheless, I was willing to accept as an alternative to the belief that Ho Chi Minh represented a danger to America that Vietnam was important to the experience level of a new generation of pilots, ensuring that there would be plenty of blooded pilots for the next war. This was a sneaky kind of callousness, because I didn't have to acknowledge that at best we were using other people and other turf for our live-ordinance exercises". Sadly, how do you explain that statement to the families who have slain relatives names etched on "The Wall" in Washinton, D.C.? Trotti wrote about the change in the American G.I's mentality after the Tet Offensive. Trotti chillingly wrote his observation: "I sensed the mediocrity of the situation. It was if our troops were wallowing in molasses. "400 days and a wakeuo, baby" became the duty slogan for boots no more than hours off the plane (from the U.S. to Vietnam via Okinawa, Japan). "Just make sure there's cold beer at the club". Trucks and jeeps with lolling drivers from the Americal (Division)_ cruised the main service road in an endless stream as if it were Main Street on Saturday night. Hundreds of soldiers with long hair and seedy fatigues lounged around outside the Americal PX smoking dope in blatant defiance of their officers and NCO's. "Bust me, you sucker," their postures said, "and see what kind of grenade comes through the door to your hootch." For the truly hard core patriotic ex W.W. II veteran commanding officer, it was hard to stomach Trotti's next observation. Starting in 1968, Trotti wrote: Dope had become a major, perhaps the major factor in unit performance in vietnam and provided the backdrop for the polarization at home. It was popular to refer to that polarization as being one of age, but the real polarization was a matter of which side of the dope fence one sat on-age was only a reference point, and a very poor one at that. In the same way that a generation of young men got turned onto cigarettes in W.W. I (because the government passed them out for free), another generation had turned on to dope in Vietnam because it was cheap, ubiquitous and "better than twiddling your thumbs, booby." It was "Vietnam status," and it made the rounds quickly as the vet hit the streets back home. For different reasons, both combat and support units were easy marks for dope. For the former it was the roller coaster ride between terror and boredom, while for the latter, it was boredom enhanced perhaps by a sense of shame. But whatever the cause, the results were the same. Only units thoroughly immersed in their work were reasonably immune to the siren call of cannibis (marijuana)." In conclusion, as long as the reader can tolerate periods of complex discussions of esoteric knowledge of how a Phantom fighter bomber is built and how to operate it, an excellent, in depth tale of the U.S. failure in the futile pursuit of victory in the Vietnam War lies. Other covered subjects include an in depth discussion of how the draft negatively affected existing troops in Vietnam who volunteered and wanted to be there, strained race relations between black and white skinned troops, and lastly the failed attempt to turn the war effort directly over to the South Vietnamese, e.g. the failed program Richard Nixon called "Vietnamization". This is a truly remarkable story through the eyes of a pilot of how things turned sour for America in the Vietnam War. Find this book, sit down and read it!
October 15, 2022
The book gives a very good description of what it was like flying the F-4 Phantom over Vietnam. The author flew two tours there, he also explains why they felt different to him.
The book is not filled with highly detailed 'mission reports' but by using some example missions and situations, Trotti gives the reader a glimpse of how these missions were prepared and flown. One mission is more or less described from start up to close down and stands as an example for all the other missions that took place. In places he gives procedural and technical/flight characteristics details, which might be somewhat hard to follow if you're not familiar with (military) aviation, but I did find them interesting to read.
Base operations and squadron life are lightly covered and the author's personal life, pre-Vietnam etc., are not covered or only mentioned in passing. None of this goes into details, except for his time as a flight instructor. This part contains some very funny stories.
Overall a very pleasent and interesting read.
The book is not filled with highly detailed 'mission reports' but by using some example missions and situations, Trotti gives the reader a glimpse of how these missions were prepared and flown. One mission is more or less described from start up to close down and stands as an example for all the other missions that took place. In places he gives procedural and technical/flight characteristics details, which might be somewhat hard to follow if you're not familiar with (military) aviation, but I did find them interesting to read.
Base operations and squadron life are lightly covered and the author's personal life, pre-Vietnam etc., are not covered or only mentioned in passing. None of this goes into details, except for his time as a flight instructor. This part contains some very funny stories.
Overall a very pleasent and interesting read.
August 9, 2016
As a pilot myself, this book had me sweating. John tells us the ins and outs of operational and tactical air combat and his descriptions during ACM are some of the best I've ever read. This book really shows you how challenging and stressful the environment of the fighter pilot is. The physical and mental demands on a fighter pilot are tremendous and John narrates some hair raising moments beautifully. It's honest, raw, and palpable. Highly recommended.
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March 11, 2016paperback 4x6
May 7, 2017
I have read a lot of books about Vietnam, and a lot of books about airplanes and flying; this book, by far, has some of the best descriptions of flight and what a pilot does to fly the airplane that I have ever read. Also, as a Marine pilot, his perspective on the war is significantly different than the Air Force or Army pilots whom I have read. If you are a fan of flying, of jets, and especially military jets, you will want to read this.
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