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MWSA Review
Above Average: Naval Aviation the Hard Way soars above the typical "there I was..." first-hand account of a Navy flier's life and service. The account follows the conventional timeline beginning with the author's childhood in Minnesota and following his 20-plus year flying career that culminated with his tours as the Navy’s chief test pilot.
Most memoirs published by military fliers provide a detailed account of the writer’s professional service, usually enlivened by personal stories and accounts of wartime exploits, harrowing or otherwise. Reading Above Average, however, is like sitting at an Officers’ Club table littered with empty beer bottles, listening to the author’s sea stories.
This autobiography hits all the traditional milestones, starting with a nomadic childhood and youth that encounters the life-changing opportunity of the NAVCAD program. The narrator’s career as a Naval Aviator includes combat deployments in the crucible of Vietnam and later sea tours leading to the professional challenge of serving as a test pilot. Detailed incidents in the flak-filled skies over North Vietnam are balanced with even more harrowing accounts of near-death flight test experiences.
While the author always treats the demands of flying and flight test with absolute sincerity, he never takes himself too seriously. He emerges from his two decades of Naval service as one who understands that he is lucky to be alive and grateful for the opportunities he has encountered. The result is an account of a remarkable lifespan that afforded him the chance to accomplish what John Gillespie Magee described: “a hundred things you have not dreamed of.”
Any reader looking for a glimpse into the life of a naval aviator and jet pilot will enjoy the story of this man’s life and will easily be able to ignore the broken hyperlinks and minor editorial shortcomings of the publication.
Review by Peter Young (June 2023)
Author's Synopsis
Way beyond the usual Vietnam War shoot ‘em up! Does it have electrifying high adventure? Oh yes – the eye-popping action of combat naval aviation and the harrowing dangers of testing the world’s hottest jets. But the book is much more. It is a cleverly written and refreshingly honest story of the author’s life and times as he struggles his way from rural Minnesota to the blazing skies over North Vietnam. 138 combat missions. The Navy’s first Chief Test Pilot. Piloting the first EVER flat spin in an F-14 that nearly killed him. That says it all. No swaggering bravado here; this is a fresh, insightful look at life, luck and guts – in Vietnam and beyond.
Format(s) for review: Paper and Kindle
Review Genre: Nonfiction—Memoir/Biography
Number of Pages: 344
Word Count: 102,000