In 1966, United States Navy pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos while flying a propeller-driven Douglas A-1 Skyraider from the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) with Attack Squadron VA-145, surviving horrific captivity to make the first successful escape from Laos of the Vietnam War. Charles E. MacKay's 102-page illustrated study Skyraider 04 Down Dieter Dengler The Man The Ship The Plane, published as a companion to Soaring with Wings - Percy Pilcher Wants To Fly: For Dieter Dengler, tells the connected story of the pilot, the aircraft carrier and the aeroplane.
The Man: From wartime Germany to the United States Navy
The first strand of the book traces Dieter Dengler's remarkable personal journey before he ever reached a carrier deck. Growing up in wartime and post-war Germany with a determination to fly, Dengler emigrated to the United States, lived in a van while completing his education, and worked his way through military service to earn his wings in the United States Navy.
Using CIA reports and operational records, MacKay reconstructs Dengler's final operational sortie with Attack Squadron VA-145 in 1966, his capture on the ground, the brutal conditions of his jungle imprisonment, and the escape that made him the first American pilot to break out of captivity in Laos. Because Dengler's childhood dream of flight began in the ruins of Second World War Germany and culminated in carrier aviation over Southeast Asia, MacKay dedicated his companion biography of British gliding pioneer Percy Sinclair Pilcher, Soaring with Wings - Percy Pilcher Wants To Fly: For Dieter Dengler, to Dengler's memory.
The Ship: USS Ranger (CV-61) off Vietnam
A carrier strike pilot's war cannot be understood apart from the ship from which he launched. The second strand of the volume documents the history of the Forrestal-class aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) and her deployments off Vietnam. By placing VA-145's sorties within Ranger's operational tempo on Yankee Station, the book shows how piston-engined attack squadrons operated alongside jet aircraft from the deck of a modern supercarrier, tracing the ship's service history, air wing operations and the demanding deck launch and recovery cycle that preceded Dengler's final mission.
Readers interested in the wider evolution of carrier deck flying and naval test aviation can compare Ranger's Vietnam operations with the Royal Navy and US Navy carrier milestones in Captain of the Clouds: A tribute to Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown and Beardmore Built HMS Argus 1914 to 1947: The World's First Flat-Top Aircraft Carrier.
The Plane: The Douglas A-1 Skyraider in US Navy, Royal Navy and Swedish service
The third strand is a concise operational and technical history of the Douglas Skyraider itself: the heavy, long-endurance single-seat piston-engined attack aircraft that remained indispensable for close air support, low-level interdiction and combat search-and-rescue missions well into the jet age.
Importantly for British and Scottish aviation readers, the book does not stop with United States Navy service. It covers the Skyraider in Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm airborne early warning service and includes a dedicated appendix on the Skyraiders reworked by Scottish Aviation at Prestwick Airport in Ayrshire for service in Sweden, alongside a critical examination of how Dengler's story was later treated in print and film media.
Read the full story
Choose Skyraider 04 Down Dieter Dengler The Man The Ship The Plane for the 102-page account of Dieter Dengler's 1966 Laos escape, USS Ranger (CV-61), Attack Squadron VA-145 and the Douglas Skyraider's US Navy, Royal Navy and Swedish Prestwick history. Pair it with its companion volume Soaring with Wings - Percy Pilcher Wants To Fly: For Dieter Dengler and Captain of the Clouds: A tribute to Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown.