Strategy & Weapons of War, United States Armed Forces, Middle Eastern Conflicts, Aviation, Iraqi Politics, Aviation - Military

When Penguins Flew and Water Burned

Name: When Penguins Flew and Water Burned
Author: James Clonts
ISBN: 9780557624010

by James Clonts

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Overview

This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

About the Author, James Clonts

Born in St Louis, Missouri in 1966, Jim Clonts graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and received his commission in the U.S. Air Force in 1988. As a B-52G Stratofortress navigator-bombardier, he flew ten combat missions in Operation DESERT STORM. During his nearly ten years of active duty service he amassed over 2,500 flying hours in the B-52G and H bombers, including 130 combat hours, and was awarded the Air Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Achievement Medal, Southwest Asia Service Medal, Kuwait and Kuwaiti Liberation Medals, Outstanding Unit Award with Valor, and the National Defense Service Medal. Jim left the service in 1998 and is currently working in the field of engineering. He is a Civil Air Patrol pilot and enjoys building experimental aircraft when he is not writing.