Super Slick - by Tom Feigel (Hardcover)

About the Book

Tom Feigel's memoir recounts the thick and thin of helicopter combat in Vietnam. Heart-pumping missions into hot landing zones and much more.

Book Synopsis

100% of author royalties are being donated to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation

Helicopters loom large in how we picture the Vietnam War. Kilgore's birds coming in hot (and Wagnerian) out of the rising sun in Apocalypse Now. The infantry/helicopter assault at Ia Drang in the climax of We Were Soldiers. A chopper flying over green rice paddies, with a teenaged door gunner manning a .50-cal. A slick dropping into an LZ whirling with purple smoke. We can only imagine it. Tom Feigel lived it, as a twenty-year-old crew chief in a Huey. Super Slick is the story of his year in Vietnam.

Tom Feigel grew up a typical post-World War II kid who wrestled in high school, had a steady girl, and loved working on cars--and then everything changed. Less than a year out of high school, he was drafted into the army and assigned to aviation, ultimately to helicopters. In Vietnam in 1970, he first worked as a "hangar rat," part of the ground crew responsible for maintaining the company's thirty Hueys--the Warriors and Thunderbirds--of the 336th Assault Helicopter Company, which operated in southern South Vietnam, in the Mekong Delta and U Minh Forest. In short order, Feigel volunteered for a flight mission to replace the rotors of a damaged chopper--which led to his becoming a crew chief on a transport slick called Warrior 21. Before long, he and 21's crew asked the company commander for permission to re-outfit their ship for thicker, more dangerous missions--and they ended up flying an up-gunned helicopter call sign Super Slick, tasked with similar missions but into more dangerous zones.

Feigel's memoir recounts the thick and thin of helicopter combat in Vietnam. Heart-pumping missions into hot landing zones (sometimes inserting and extracting Navy SEALs). Adrenaline-fueled flights into enemy-infested jungles and free-fire zones. Low-level reconnaissance. "Hash and trash" runs to deliver supplies to far-flung units. Terrifying nighttime operations where trees posed nearly as much danger as the enemy. Razor-thin margins between life and death. It was dangerous; it was thrilling. The crews loved it; the crews hated it. They were proud of it. And they never wanted to do it again. Super Slick is as close as you can get to being inside a Huey--to hearing the radio chatter, feeling the thrum of the rotors, the pounding of the door guns.

Review Quotes

"Super Slick: Life and Death in a Huey Helicopter in Vietnam is a quintessential page out of American history... both entertaining and educational. Beautifully written and at times filled with heart-stopping emotion, it provides the reader with a glimpse into America during the Vietnam War..."

"[A]n extraordinary and unreservedly recommended high priority pick for personal, community, and college/university library Vietnam War history/biography collections."

"Tom Feigel and Larry Weill do a commendable job of documenting the lives of the aircrews of the UH-1 Huey helicopter, the workhorse of the Vietnam War... This book is a compelling account of the heavy burden thrust upon these young soldiers responsible for the lives of passengers, crew, cargo, and hundreds of thousands of dollars of military aircraft... This unique book is for anyone who has ever had the honor and privilege of flying as a crewmember of an Army helicopter, as well as students of Vietnam War history."

About the Author

Larry Weill is a retired U.S. Navy Reserve captain who later earned promotion to Rear Admiral and served as Commander of the New York Naval Militia. A former ranger in the Adirondacks, he is the author of a handful of books on the Adirondack Mountains of New York, including Excuse Me, Sir . . . Your Socks Are on Fire: The Life and Times of a Wilderness Park Ranger in the Adirondack Mountains. He lives near Rochester, New York.