Viper Pilot (Enhanced Edition): A Memoir of Air Combat

Dan Hampton

Oct 2012 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

Get inside the cockpit with Dan Hampton, the military’s most decorated F-16 pilot, in this enhanced e-book edition of Viper Pilot. Exclusive to this edition are 11 video interviews, where Hampton talks candidly about his time as a Wild Weasel and about the fighter jet that kept him alive through so many dangerous skirmishes. In addition, an interactive “first-person” cockpit diagram lets you get deeper into the action, providing a visual companion to the book that leaves you feeling like you’re sitting in the iconic F-16 itself.

151 combat missions
21 hard kills on surface-to-air-missile sites
4 Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor
1 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.

Please note that due to the large file size of these special features this enhanced e-book may take longer to download then a standard e-book.

Ratings and reviews

As someone who was born and grew up Air Force I wanted to be a fighter pilot but didn't have perfect vision which was necessary back then. This book took me back to the days as a kid when I read paperback books about all the WWII fighter pilots like Bong, McGuire and Gabreski. I ended up as a jet engine tech on the RF-4...at Shaw AFB with the 363rd TFW.

Wow it felt that I was in the cockpit with Dan Hampton. How he escaped some of the Harry missions and situations made my hair stand on end and turn white. Dan was incredibly skilled , brave and resourceful as well a lucky as all hell at times to be alive on some of his missions. This book was impossible to put down. In this enhanced addition Dan's recorded segments added a great deal of insite to dangerous job of being a fighter pilot and what it takes to face the Elephant and live to tell the tale !!

A book combining F-16s (which I have loved since I was a kid) and weaselling! Fantastic, thanks very much

About the author

Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Dan Hampton flew 151 combat missions during his twenty years (1986–2006) in the United States Air Force. For his service in the Iraq War, Kosovo conflict, and first Gulf War, Col. Hampton received four Distinguished Flying Crosses with Valor, a Purple Heart, eight Air Medals with Valor, five Meritorious Service medals, and numerous other citations. He is a graduate of the USAF Fighter Weapons School, USN Top Gun School (TOGS), and USAF Special Operations School. A frequent guest analyst on CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC discussing foreign affairs, military, aviation, and intelligence issues, he has published in Aviation History, the Journal of Electronic Defense, Air Force Magazine, Vietnam magazine, and Airpower magazine, and written several classified tactical works for the USAF Weapons Review. He is the author of the national bestsellers Viper Pilot and Lords of the Sky, as well as a novel, The Mercenary.