This story is about Lt Colonel John E. Norvell's quest to fly and David Garbe's work to restore the shell of F-4D 0720. It first focuses on Norvell's flight training, selection to be a backseater in the F-4, time in combat in Thailand, and F-4 flying over Alaska, providing "Top Cover for America." Then, the appendix covers Garbe's work to find a bird, get the parts, and rebuild the front cockpit area. It is a story of duty and dedication. It covers how the crews trained to fly the Phantom, the specialized survival schools they attended, their entrance in combat, and the toll it took on them.
Lt Colonel John E. Norvell tells the story from the perspective of an F-4 backseater or GIB. It is a story of his comrades and the stress he felt from a year-long separation from his wife. He describes the daily combat and how it affected him. He stresses the professionalism and dedication of the aircrews who flew the hostile skies of South East Asia. When the air war ends, he tells of the boredom and frustrations of warriors without a war.
Then his story moves to Alaska, where he attends arctic survival school and is stationed at remote sites to provide "Top Cover" alert guarding North America against Soviet aircraft incursions. Alaska is a very different type of flying, and it is clear that he enjoys all that Alaska has to offer.
Finally, he discusses the role that his mentor Major Theodore J. Shorack played in his life. Shorack was lost while on a rescue mission over North Vietnam. Norvell considers him to be a personification of the three cardinal principles of the military: Duty, Honor, County. In the end, Norvell looks at the past nearly 50 years and tells what it meant to him to fly and be a military officer.
Lt Colonel John E Norvell is a graduate of Hobart College, Geneva NY. He earned an M.A. from The Maxwell School at Syracuse University. He is a former Assistant Professor of American Social and Military History at the US Air Force Academy, retired Air Force Lt. Colonel, and decorated air combat veteran of the Vietnam War. He has over 1,000 hours in the F4 Phantom II and 400 as an Instructor Nav in other jet aircraft. Before his retirement, he served as the Executive Officer for the Historian of the United States Air Force in Washington, DC. After his retirement from the Air Force, he served as director of alumni relations at Hobart College. He has also written for various newspapers and history journals around the county. He is a member of
The Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia
The Company of Military Historians
The Air Force Navigator Observer Association
The F-4 Phantom II Society
The Red River Valley " River Rats" Association
The Order of the Daedalians. David Garbe has worked in video production for over 30 years. He is a aviation enthusiast, and particularly fond of the F-4 Phantom. His hobbies include photography, restoration projects, and airshows. He and his wife Wendy live in Upstate New York. He has restored F-4D 720 which he takes to airshows. Colonel C. Richard "Dick" Anderegg, was the Director, Air Force History and Museums Policies and Programs, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. Prior to assuming thist position, Mr. Anderegg was an air and space power strategist in Project Checkmate during the planning and execution of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. He served as an active-duty Air Force officer for 30 years, during which he commanded an F-15 squadron, was twice a fighter group commander and twice a fighter wing vice commander. Mr. Anderegg was a former F-4 Fighter Weapons School instructor pilot and flew more than 3,700 hours in the F-4C/D/E/G and the F-15A/C/E, including 170 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Following his retirement from the Air Force at the rank of colonel, Mr. Anderegg wrote "The Ash Warriors," a history of the Mount Pinatubo eruptions and subsequent evacuation of Clark Air Base, and "Sierra Hotel," a history of the cultural changes that occurred in the U.S. Air Force fighter force during the decade after the Vietnam War.
