Richard C. Kirkland is legendary for his P-38 Lightning missions in the South Pacific theatre during WWII and Helicopter rescue missions in the Korean War. Tales of a War Pilot is not a structured chronology. Kirkland just relates the stories he likes to tell. Four of the book's 11 chapters are narratives gleaned from other fliers, such as a downed fighter pilot who survived in the New Guinea jungles that were teeming with malaria and headhunters...
Vividly capturing the experiences of the author and his fellow airmen, these stories focus on the people who served in the U.S.A.F. from WWII through the Korean War-their triumphs, humor, loves, and sometimes violent deaths. A pilot who flew 103 missions with the famed Flying Knights squadron in WWII, tested atomic bombs on Eniwetok Atoll, and flew 69 helicopter rescue missions in the Korean War, Kirkland recreates the riveting episodes and memorable characters that shaped his life between 1943 to 1953.