5.3 by 6.3 inches
Truckbusters From Dogpatch:
The Combat Diary of the 18th
Fighter-Bomber Wing in the
Korean War,
1950-1953
"The story of this awesome and unique a Wing is
long overdue. It is a saga that clearly illustrates the
gathering and performance of the best, brightest
and bravest group of combat fighter pilots and their
exceptional support personnel that I have ever
known. I honestly believe that no other Fighter Wing
during the Korean War came even close to perform-
ing such diverse, challenging and tough missions,
as did the Truckbusters."
Lt. Gen. Devol "Rock" Brett, USAF (Ret.)
Truckbuster Centurian (an F-51 Mustang pilot who
completed at least 100 combat missions during the
Korean War).thought would never be written and that, in fact,
could not be written. As a pilot with the 18th Fight-
er-Bomber Group in the early days of the Korean
War, I could see how difficult such an undertaking
would be-how do you pull together all the person-
al stories, not only of the pilots, but also of the
maintenance, armament, supply personnel-the
guys that really kept the Wing in business-while
never forgetting to integrate these with other
events of the war as well of the world? It couldn't
and wouldn't have been done without the incredi-
ble effort and talent of CAPT Tracy Connors, who ini-
tally set out to investigate and tell the story of his
uncle, Ist Lt. Archie Connors, then a young fighter
pilot with the 18th who heroically lost his life in
combat. Tracy interviewed hundreds of Airmen and
got their stories, which became a major part of the
book.
It is a fascinating read for those of us who were
there, but will be even more so for readers not per-
sonally familiar with the fighter pilot's life at "Dog-
patch," and his flying combat in the great F-51 Mus-
tang.
It's all there-a part of our nation's history and the
acid test passed with flying colors for the newly cre-
ated United States Air Force. A truly marvelous book
