Last night I finally finished reading a book I got for Christmas entitled Apache: Inside the Cockpit of the World’s Most Deadly Fighting Machine written by an ex-pilot for the British Army Air Corps, Ed Macy.
The start of the book introduces us to the author, a bit of his background and how he worked himself into the parachute regiment. One night, Ed was dealt a blow to his dream career after suffering severe injuries from a bike ride that prevented him from joining SAS. After recovering he is given a chance with the Army Air Corps and decides takes it.
We are then introduced to the Apache itself and details of the awesome machine, some of which I hadn’t read about previously. It was interesting to read how the British improved on the American design, leaving the Americans themselves rather jealous.
Ed then moves onto the selection process and associated details with becoming a AH64 pilot. 6 months of learning how to fly it, 6 months to learn how to fight in it and then another 6 months to be passed as ‘combat ready’. One thing that intrigued me was how Ed detailed some of the physical capabilities the pilots must have. One of these was the ability to use both of your eyes individually.
The book then moves onto the authors time in deployment and eventually onto the Jugroom Fort rescue of a soldier, which definitely was one of the more climatic parts of the book. The rescue led to the author, Ed Macy being awarded the Military Cross – one of the first in the Army Air Corps’ history.
After reading the book, I did a search on YouTube for Apaches and actually came across some real footage of the Jugroom Fort rescue, captured by a gun camera on board one of the Apaches. Seeing this footage certainly helped to visualise what was written about in the book a lot more.
Over all I found it a great read filled with drama, action and a bit of humour as well. I Recommended reading this one.
This article was posted on February 25, 2009 at 3:11 pm | Filed in books | 2 comments have been made.
Ed MacyJune 12 at 5:09 am
Try the following site. http://www.harperplus.com/apache. It was designed for the book and there is a lot more information about the book that never made the cut. Ed
RadJune 12 at 10:23 am
Thanks for sharing Ed, I still can’t believe you soldiers pulled off such a daring feat. Looking forward to reading Hellfire.