Higher Than The Angels

What Readers say about Higher Than The Angels: I was riveted. I loved it !Although this book is written as a novel, the people, events, and flying are the real deal. If you want to get your head inside what it was really like to fly in a front line F-4 fighter squadron this is the book for you! Once I started, I couldn't put it down!A great read! I enjoyed it immensely. Charles Williams does an excellent job of appealing to a wide audience: something for everyone. Thank you for refreshing my rapidly fading memory of my Torrejon tour, some good (the flying) and some bad (bull fights). Again, congratulations on a great book! The book is very well written and has excellent descriptions. Although this story did not deal with my preferred subject matter, it held my attention well. It does give a vivid picture of the life of a fighter pilot, and it makes me appreciate what they must have experienced. I never knew how dangerous it could be. Description: While this is a story about fighter pilots and those who love them, it transcends that world as the author delves into the human condition and how we deal with loss and success and excess. The essence of the fighter pilot lies in the fact that he (or she) is usually a person of ordinary upbringing who has been thrust into the unique world of those who fly and fight under the primal directive: Survive. He desires to prove his mettle. It is such desire that enables the fighter pilot to hurdle obstacles which would otherwise disrupt his ambition. But he does not act alone. Those who love fighter pilots accept the difficult task of sharing this world with them. For nearly two decades after Vietnam, only a handful of fighter pilots fired shots in anger. The remainder learned to cope with a world at peace, entertaining unique diversions, often devised with distinctive rapscallion humor to release stored up energy and relieve pent up stress. Being away from family and friends during the delicate first years of a marriage can be difficult. And when newlyweds are transplanted to a foreign country where the young bride is alone weeks at a time while the man she loves flies in other far away foreign countries, navigating through the fusion of war games and games of love can take its toll. For youth is not just an age, it is a condition. And coming of age is not limited to the adolescent. Where there is great opportunity there is also grave danger. This novel is not meant to reflect the current times, neither of fighter planes nor the men and women who fly them. It is a story of a more chauvinistic, less politically correct era in the evolution of the fighter pilot. Among the most challenging tasks in making this novel complete was portraying as accurately as possible the mixed and many emotions people feel when they lose someone close, someone they have admired and loved. That is as much true now as it was then. The very nature of it can be spiritually exhausting. Flying fighters is exhilarating and challenging and dangerous. It is also fun. Still, the danger that threatens to end the fun is like a shadow that hides a lingering reality. Good friends are all too often lost to that reality, friends who were overcome by the shadow at a time when they were most alive. It is appropriate that this novel is dedicated in remembrance of all those who have made that supreme sacrifice. And in honor and memory of all fighter pilots and those that love and have loved them.