Alone, Unarmed and Unafraid

Flying a Phantom RF-4C reconnaissance jet amidst air combat—the remarkable technical details, the mission, the derring-do—and the 19 nonflying hours a day: All this told in a gripping series of vignettes by a former pilot of a U.S. Air Force photo reconnaissance jet stationed at an airbase in Udorn, Thailand, during the Vietnam conflict. Formation flying, night photo missions, confrontations with B-52s, the Officer’s Club and shows at Udorn, AAA fire, SAM missiles, the “Hanoi Hilton,” GIs being killed by their own side—all this and more form a work of literature quite unlike any other emerging from Southeast Asia.

Taylor Eubank flew the RF–4C on 200 unarmed combat missions over North and South Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia in 1967 and 1970, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. He lives in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Taylor Eubank

Foreword by Maj. Gen. Joseph K. Stapleton, USAF (Ret.)
Introductions by Tracy Truitt, Joe Hardage, and Lt. Col. Chuck Hotchkiss, USAF (Ret.)
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 140
Bibliographic Info: notes, glossary
Copyright Date: 1991
pISBN: 978-0-89950-612-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-1546-2
Imprint: McFarland

Foreword (Major General Joseph K. Stapleton, U.S. Air Force, retired)
Three Introductions (Lieutenant Colonel Chuck Hotchkiss, U.S. Air Force, retired; Tracy Truitt; and Joe Hardage) 1

1. To the Reader 7
2 . PUG 22
Running, hiding, rescuing, after ejection over Laos 15
3. Pussy Power
Is not what you’re thinking 23
4. Ten Baht Ally
Is 29
5. Kiwi
If you can’t fly formation, we’ll shit in your hat 41
6. The Homedrome
Eighteen foot cobra triumphs over sentry; Thais pay for Boardwalk, control railroads, sell Community Chests for profit every night 45
7. Chuck
Cowards live a thousand deaths; the brave die 47
8. The Longest Run
Twelve minutes of SAMs, AAA, and Lieutenant Ching 57
9. R.F. Casey
Saving a comrade you don’t like 65
10. Tailhook
Air Force heroes made by Navy pull (well, really, push) 71
11. How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix
Life after SAM; death in the Hanoi Hilton 77
12. Greenbean
The littlest angel leaves for Southeast Asia 83
13. BUF(F)
Why die in Ohio for an airplane that can’t hit anything in Southeast Asia 87
14. The Chinese Road
Expressed desire to die—denied; expressed desire to live—denied 93
15. Knout
Out of gas with full tanks 101
16. Colonel Wing Commander
When you’re the boss, the gomers don’t shoot at you 103
17. Barrack Room Ballads
What did you do in the War, Daddy? answered: Victory rolls; supersonic glass breaking; naked strippers in the dining room 117

Names, Acronyms and Terms 127

• “This…book is evidence that good things come in small packages…a flavorful group of stories that gives the reader insight into feelings, relationships and happenings”—San Antonio Express News.