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  • Viper Pilot

  • The Autobiography of One of America's Most Decorated Combat Pilots
  • By: Dan Hampton
  • Narrated by: John Pruden
  • Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (103 ratings)

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Viper Pilot

By: Dan Hampton
Narrated by: John Pruden
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Publisher's Summary

151 combat missions

21 hard kills on surface-to-air-missile sites

Four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor

One Purple Heart

Sure to rank as one of the greatest aviation memoirs ever written, Viper Pilot is an Air Force legend's thrilling eyewitness account of modern air warfare.

From 1986 to 2006, Lt. Col. Dan Hampton was a leading member of the Wild Weasels, the elite Air Force fighter squadrons whose mission is recognized as the most dangerous job in modern air combat. Weasels are the first planes sent into a war zone, flying deep behind enemy lines purposely seeking to draw fire from surface-to-air missiles and artillery. They must skillfully evade being shot down - and then return to destroy the threats, thereby making the skies safe for everyone else to follow. Today these vital missions are more hazardous than direct air-to-air engagement with enemy aircraft. Hampton's record number of strikes on high-value targets make him the most lethal F-16 Wild Weasel pilot in American history. This is his remarkable story.

Taught to fly at an early age by his father, Hampton logged twenty years and 608 combat hours in the world's most iconic fighter jet: the F-16 "Fighting Falcon", or "Viper" as its pilots call it. Hampton spearheaded the 2003 invasion of Iraq, leading the first flight of fighters over the border en route to strike Baghdad. In the war that followed, he engaged in a series of brilliantly executed missions that earned him three Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor; he notably saved a U.S. Marine unit from certain death by taking out the surrounding enemy forces near Nasiriyah. Two years earlier, on 9/11, Hampton's father was inside the Pentagon when it was attacked; with his dad's fate unknown, Hampton was scrambled into American skies and given the unprecedented orders to shoot down any unidentified aircraft. Hampton also flew critical missions in the first Gulf War, served on the Air Combat Command staff during the Kosovo War, and was injured in the 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist attack.

With manned missions rapidly giving way to remote-controlled UAV drones, Viper Pilot may be the last memoir by a true hero of the skies. Gripping and irreverently humorous, it is an unforgettable look into the closed world of fighter pilots and modern air combat.

©2012 Ascalon, LLC (P)2012 HarperCollinsPublishers

What listeners say about Viper Pilot

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Gripping account of air to ground combat

This was engaging from start to finish. Man i would love to have a beer with this guy.

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Outstanding Audio Book.

Outstanding audiobook; it’s a great story supported by excellent narration. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to every minute of it.

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Great read,amazing stories

Great read,amazing stories.
The author tells these stories in a great way enough detail to be authentic while keeping it exciting.

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Must-read Modern Combat Aviation boom

Absolutely loved this book. The author writes more like a professional storyteller than a pilot, and boy does he have some amazing stories to tell.

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crap

what boring piece of crap . The most danger this so called hero was in was running out of fuel crap

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Exciting listening

Viper pilot was well narrated and a great account of life as fighter pilot. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in war, planes and air combat.

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Another Dan Hampton beauty!

Entertaining informative, and at times very humorous.
I got through it in (for me) record time.
Very highly recommended.

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