First published in 1994; this stirring autobiography of a fighter and test pilot takes readers full throttle through Carl's imposing list of "firsts." Beginning with his World War II career; he gained such commendations as first Marine Corps ace; among the first Marines ever to fly a helicopter; and first Marine to land aboard an aircraft carrier. His combat duty included the momentous battles at Midway and Guadalcanal. Not one to rest on his laurels; however; he participated in photoreconnaissance operations over Red China in 1955 and flew missions in Vietnam. In peacetime he gamed fame for "pushing the envelope" as a test pilot; adding the world's altitude and peace records to his wartime feats and becoming the first U.S. military aviator to wear a full pressure suit. Such achievements also led to Carl's being the first living Marine admitted to the Naval Aviation Hall of Honor; as well as the first Marine to be named to the Navy Carrier Aviation Test Pilots Hall of Honor. This very readable memoir is as forthright and compelling as the man it chronicles.
#1100930 in Books 2009-09-01Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.90 x .80 x 5.90l; .92 #File Name: 1591141435304 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. I was especially happy to see that Crenshaw had taken the time to ...By Ronald E. FinetI was close to rating this book a five star but settled for four because It was a little jumpy; dealing with extreme technical detail in some places and then skipping large areas at other times. Being an old white hat myself; I was especially happy to see that Crenshaw had taken the time to learn and understand the technical details of his ship's equipment. This is a good read for the person who wants the facts and details; and not so much for the person wanting to just be entertained. I for one liked it very much.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Enjoyed reading this account of the destroyer and the naval ...By Ice Pick MikeEnjoyed reading this account of the destroyer and the naval officer that wrote the book. Nuts and bolts story with the authors personal remembrance of early Second World War actions in the Pacific. He must have kept his own personal log as time went as it is detailed and technical with regards to tactics; the ships and weapon systems of the time. The end of the book has a short after action report on the Japanese and American torpedoes which is interesting if you have read any accounts of the devastating effect and extreme range of the Japanese torpedoes and the terrible torpedoes issued to the US naval forces. Gives one an insight to the folks that fought the war in the Pacific and how intense the fighting really was and the tremendous loss of life on all sides fighting. The depiction of the battles is on the dry side but it isn't a movie; just a guy telling what he saw and his involvement.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. No way to go through life.By awayaThis was certinly a good book and his description of the islands was accurate. I was not in the Navy. I flew the islandsin the USAF for almost 5 years starting in 1960. I just cant imagine how the guys could livedown there. Where the book makes mention of rain coming in was absolutely true. Some nights we would get 7" of rain. We were not permitted to pick up any weapons or for that matter anything war related. It was still everywhere. We walked into a large cave where the natives that were with us would not go in. We found an entire kitchen area with mess kits with forks still on the trays. This was in 1962 and most of the Army had left the area in 1944. Incredable to see this.We flew from many of the small island landing strips that were 100 to 125 foot wide and about 2 thousand feet long made by the Army engineers. In fact we used the same wells they had drilled. Just a terrible hardship for those guys. For something to do at night we used to tune our Collins radio to a frequency in Viet Nam and listen to what is happening just 12 hours North. if you experenced any of the conflict inSouth East asia this book is for you.The author did a great job of making you a part of the story.
