D.D. Smith

I think this pretty well sums it up. On December 6, 2018, a reviewer wrote: “I had read this book before. A young man of humble roots enters carrier aviation and adulthood.” So many Naval Aviators of my era lived this story. Some lived it far better than I – Lord knows, some gave it all. Starting from these modest beginnings, I did my best to pack some serious punch into a 21-year Navy career. Some would say way Above Average! During my career, I flew 33 types of aircraft, including some of the best high-performance machines of my day: the F-14, F-4, F-8, A-7, A-5, A-4 and many others. One of the highlights of my career was testing the Swedish Viggen fighter in Sweden. I became one of the first pilots to fly that airplane. As lead test pilot in the Navy spin test of the A-7 (a 350-maneuver, 2-year program) I quickly got up close and personal with spinning and out-of-control fighter airplanes. So, when the brand new F-14 started having trouble during high angle-of-attack (slow speed) maneuvering, I was a logical choice to test the airplane in this very dangerous flight regime. “Dangerous” is the operative word here, since the test airplane went out of control and entered a potentially fatal flat spin mode. After 55 turns of horrendous force, much of the time spent bleeding and unconscious, the back-seater and I barely made it out with our lives. It is a riveting story. I hope you have a minute to check out my blog at https://navalaviationthehardway.com/.