Introduction

Midair is one of the most remarkable tales of survival in the history of aviation - a midair collision at 30,000 feet by two bomb-laden B-52s over a category 5 super typhoon above the South China Sea during the outset of the Vietnam War.

Authored by Craig K. Collins, nephew of B-52 pilot Maj. Don Harten, Midair includes a wrought account of how the Vietnam War might have been abruptly prevented in the winter of 1965.

It is the gripping story of a young Air Force officer's first combat mission that instantly pulls the reader in and never lets up.

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Excerpt

Chapter One


The B-52 is a great beast of a plane. It was designed by men with the end of the world on their minds – conceived amid the fallout of Alamogordo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was built for destruction – a destroyer of nations packed with a nuclear arsenal – always aloft, always alert. It lumbered to life in the ‘50s, ascended to the skies and flew headlong into the dark maw of the Cold War. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. What is it like to eject from an exploding jet at 30,000 feet and then parachute into a category 5 super typhoon with 185 mph winds and 70-foot waves? How is it even possible to survive something like that?

2. Why do you believe the Vietnam War could’ve been ended in only a few days in February 1965?

3. After the horrific B-52 crash on Maj. Harten’s very first combat mission, what compelled him to go on to fly over 300 combat missions during five tours of duty and become the only pilot to have flown in Vietnam from the very first bomb dropped in 1965 to the very last in January 1973?

Weblinks

»	Publisher's Book Info
»	Author interview with Fox 5 San Diego
»	Author interview with Capital Public Radio
»	Author's Amazon Page

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