The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War

Description

The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club will tell the full story of the US Navy's commitment to the airwar over Vietnam. It will cover events from the very first use of naval airpower when four F-8E Crusaders supported the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin incident on 2 August 1964 that led to more direct US involvement in the war in Vietnam. It will then cover the full range of operations undertaken by the carriers of the US Seventh Fleet's Task Force 77, which had as many as six carriers on station at any one time with 70-100 aircraft on each. The story will be based on a series of dramatic first-hand accounts that will bring the historic events to life, a similar style to that used by Tom on his previous books on the airwar in the Pacific and over Korea. Tom also has a personal involvement in this story, having served with the US Seventh Fleet during the Vietnam War - and this book will feature his first-hand recollection and interpretation of events.

Thomas McKelvey Cleaver has been a published writer for the past 40 years. He is a regular contributor to Flight Journal magazine. He has had a lifelong interest in the Korean War and this work is the product of 25 years of research. He is the author of Aces of the 78th Fighter Group and F4F and F6F Aces of VF-2, as well as Fabled Fifteen: The Pacific War Saga of Carrier Air Group 15 and The Bridgebusters: The True Story of the Catch-22 Bomb Group. During his 30 years as a screenwriter in Hollywood, he wrote the cult classic The Terror Within and worked as a supervising producer on a number of TV and cable series. He served in the US Navy in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War was my war, by which I mean I fought in it, and I can say that Thomas Cleaver in his Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club examines the war in an unparalleled way through the lens of aviation and its aviators. He illustrates the inevitable agony and sacrifice, thrill and triumph of the young men immersed in that saga. It all makes for a riveting read. -- Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, US Army (Ret.), soldier, diplomat and late Professor of Government and Public Policy at the College of William and Mary Tom Cleaver has captured the dramatic history of Naval Aviation's combat record in Vietnam in a manner worthy of the classic historical novel. From the first shot fired in the Tonkin Gulf in August 1964 to the final salvo in January 1973, Tom weaves an accurate tale, full of the color and fury of battle, courage, suspense, and thrill of victory - as experienced and portrayed on both sides of the conflict. -- Captain Roy Cash, Jr., USN (Ret.), Former CO, Top Gun Tom Cleaver's book is a superb study of Naval Aviation's experiences during the Vietnam War. Tom's in-depth focus and analysis of personal inputs from aircrews on both sides of the conflict coupled with the ever-changing political environment make it a high-powered book that is difficult to put down. -- Rear-Admiral James A. "Jim" Lair, USN (Ret.), former commanding officer, USS America With equal measures of aeronautical detail, historical perspective, and gripping action, Tom Cleaver has crafted an authoritative and balanced account of the Navy's Vietnam air war. Readers will be amazed by the recall and revelations of the Naval Aviators interviewed, profiled and portrayed. This is a gripping narrative combined with a definitive historical and technical reference. -- David Sears, author of 'Such Men as These: The Story of the Navy Pilots Who Flew the Deadly Skies over Korea'