The Oath

by Dennis Koller

Winner 2017 Silver Medal, Mystery/Thriller, Military Writers Society of America

"I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith . . . So help me God."

A lifetime ago, two young Naval aviators took that Oath. Both were shot down over North Vietnam and together endured years of brutal torture as prisoners of war in the infamous Hanoi Hilton. Four decades later, one is a San Francisco Homicide Inspector. The other has decided it’s payback time and has begun killing selected Americans who went to North Vietnam to aid the enemy's cause. The Oath, that once made them brothers-in-arms, now threatens to destroy their lives.

"An exciting and well written story with a plot that could have been a real life biography, or dream, of many Vietnam Veterans during and since Jane Fonda’s visit to Hanoi." LCDR Richard Pariseau, USN (Ret.) USNA ’60, PhD

Email: denniskollerauthor@gmail.com
Publisher: Pen Books, 2016

Ordering Info: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and can be ordered online at book website www.denniskoller.com

One Hundred Years of U.S. Navy Air Power

by Douglas V. Smith, Ph.D.

Published to coincide with the Centennial Celebration of U.S. Naval Aviation, this book details the history of U.S. Navy Aviation from its earliest days, before the Navy’s first aircraft carrier joined the Fleet, through the modern jet era marked by the introduction of the F-18 Hornet. It tells how Naval Aviation got its start, profiles its pioneers, and explains the early bureaucracy that fostered and sometimes inhibited its growth. The book then turns to the refinement of carrier aviation doctrine and tactics and the rapid development of aircraft and carriers, highlighting the transition from propeller-driven aircraft to swept-wing jets in the period after World War II. Land-based Navy aircraft, rotary-wing aircraft, rigid airships and balloons are also considered in this sweeping tribute. Foreword by Navy Lieutenant George Herbert Walker Bush, 43rd President of the United States, who fought gallantly wearing the Navy Wings of Gold in the Pacific in World War II.

Email: dvpj@cox.net

Publisher: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2010

Ordering Info: Naval Institute Press, Barnes & Noble, any bookstore chain branch, Amazon

MARTIN P6M SeaMaster

by Stan Piet & Captain Al Raithel, Jr, USN (Ret)

Martin P6M SeaMaster is the definitive history of the U.S. Navy's last seaplane project to see flight status. This book chronicles the three decades of the Glenn L. Martin Company's seaplane lineage that lead to the post WW II evolution of the High Speed Minelayer seaplane program. Covered are the technical hull achievements along with the politico/military forces that converged to spawn the revolutionary four-jet Marrtin P6M SeaMaster. Full discussion of its design competition, prototype development and crashes, pre-production and production variants along with the details of its weapons systems is featured. Also detailed are the proposed basing concepts and support equipment developments, follow-on designs, including the nuclear-engine proposals, and a complete review of its untimely demise and termination. The 70,000 word softcover volume features 236 pages in 81/2 x 11 landscape format with 12 pages of photos in full color. Over 375 photos and illustrations with 3-views and an inboard profile foldout complete this fascinating but bittersweet story of the end of the U.S. Navy's reliance on the naval flying boat.

Publisher: Martineer Press, 2001

Order Info: Amazon