Richard E. Diller

The author of Firefly, A Skyraider’s Story About America’s Secret War Over Laos is former USAF Captain Richard E. Diller. Dick Diller grew up in Princeton, Illinois, and went through ROTC at the University of Oklahoma where he majored in finance. Upon completion of the USAF pilot training course at Laughlin AFB, Del Rio, Texas, Dick received an F-102 assignment, that changed to F-106 while he was in training. The F-106 was a mach two, very high-performance airplane that was Air Defense Command’s front line fighter-interceptor in the 1960s. He was assigned to the 95th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Dover AFB, Delaware. The 95th had responsibility for air defense of the mainland from about New York City to Norfolk, Virginia, including Philadelphia, Washington and Baltimore. Dick was very happy flying F-106s in the 95th, but, after 19 months he received an A-1 assignment to Vietnam, which was a major change in mission and airplane capabilities. While in transition from F-106s to A-1s, Dick married Emily, who moved to and lived in Bangkok for about nine months of his combat tour. Firefly would not be complete without the tale of their lives in Bangkok on his crew time off (CTO) visits. Dick earned one Distinguished Flying Cross and an Air Medal with nine Oak Leaf Clusters. At the completion of his combat experience, Dick separated from the air force and was hired by Delta Air Lines, where he continued his flying career for 29 years.