Hangar Flying

A riveting, personal account and a new standard in the literature of military aviation. HANGAR FLYING is the only history of its kind, describing and evaluating the use of air power, historically and at present, through the lens of a seasoned combat pilot, Air Force official, and former member of the joint chiefs of staff.

A riveting, personal account and a new standard in the literature of military aviation. HANGAR FLYING is the only history of its kind, describing and evaluating the use of air power, historically and at present, through the lens of a seasoned combat pilot, Air Force official, and former member of the joint chiefs of staff. General Merrill A. "Tony" McPeak was the 14th chief of staff of the U.S. Air Force. HANGAR FLYING is a memoir of his early service in fighter squadrons, a story about military flying in the tumultuous 1960s. The book may be regarded as a primary source for understanding what happened in front-line aviation units when the Berlin Wall went up, during the Bay of Pigs Invasion or the Cuban missile crisis, at the height of our presence in South Vietnam, or just day-to-day during the long facedown with the Soviet Union. Surely only a handful of military officers had a ringside seat for so much of the Cold War, in so many of its settings. HANGAR FLYING is the first book of a three-volume series. The second title will take General McPeak through the 1970s and 80s, during which he served in a series of increasingly important staff and command positions and rose to four-star rank. The final volume will cover his four-year period as the Air Force's 14th Chief of Staff.

General Merrill A. ("Tony") McPeak entered the Air Force in 1957 as a Distinguished Graduate of the San Diego State College ROTC program. A career fighter pilot, he spent two years with the Air Force's elite aerobatic team, the Thunderbirds, performing before millions of people in nearly 200 official air shows in the U.S. and overseas. He flew 269 combat missions in Vietnam. Senior leadership assignments included command of the 20th Fighter Wing in NATO, the Twelfth Air Force (and concurrently U.S. Southern Command Air Forces) and the Pacific Air Forces. He was Air Force chief during a period of very active U.S. involvement overseas, including Operation Desert Storm. While leading the Air Force, he conceived and executed the most extensive reorganization in its history, creating a service better suited to meet the nation's defense needs. In 1992, San Diego State University honored General McPeak with its first ever Lifetime Achievement Award. In 1995, George Washington University gave him its Distinguished Alumni Award, the "George." He was among the initial seven inductees to the Oregon Aviation Hall of Honor. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York City, and in 2008 was a national co-chairman of Obama for President. In 2010, President Obama appointed General McPeak to the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Commissioners subsequently elected him Chairman.