Ken wrote:
Flying Through Midnight was one of the worst aviation books I've ever read. I was a career airlift pilot and I found it extremely hard to believe much of what I read - even the supposed interphone dialogue between crew while in flight came across as unauthentic. After seeing this thread resurrected, I read a number of the reviews on Amazon, including guys who claim to have been in the author's C-123 unit. All say it was bunk.
As for the chain drop or the fuel dump, I could spend an hour typing a response about airdrop ballistics and the vapor patterns made during fuel dumping and the difficulties in predicting exactly where the wind & wake will take them but I won't. A falling chain would take out a following aircraft, but opening the door, deciding when to release the chain, and having another airplane at the right place and speed to actually be hit by that chain are light years apart.
There are so many historically accurate books out there, don't waste your time on this one.
Ken
thank you sir! i only wish i hadn't lent it to so many people.