Unforgotten Hero
Remembering a Fighter Pilot's Life, War and Ultimate Sacrifice
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Narrated by:
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William Dougan
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By:
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Jim Escalle
About this listen
Unforgotten Hero tells the captivating life story of Second Lieutenant Jimmy L. Escalle, a US Air Force fighter pilot who became missing in action during the Korean War.
Growing up in a small farming town in California's San Joaquin Valley during the 1930s and 1940s, Jim was a devoted son, a caring older brother, a talented athlete, and a young man of moral character who always put others first. He started high school as the Second World War was at its peak, and graduated during a time of transition within America and around the world. He had always wanted to fly airplanes someday, and with the introduction of jet propulsion during his high school years, he dreamed of becoming a jet pilot.
Called to serve his country after the Korean War began, his dream became a reality when he joined the Air Force and eventually got the opportunity to fly the F-86 Sabre, regarded as the most advanced jet fighter of its time. Soon after arriving in Korea he went on his first missions, which were MiG Alley sweeps. However, since Jim was assigned to a fighter-bomber squadron, the majority of his combat missions were air-to-ground. These were the most dangerous missions.
In Korea, more pilots had been killed or listed as MIA due to being shot down by ground fire rather than enemy aircraft. For Jim, this fact was realized only five weeks before the armistice was signed. He paid the ultimate price for freedom when he disappeared while on a combat mission over North Korea and was never seen or heard from again.
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By: Robert F Kirk
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Mission
- Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe
- By: Robert Matzen, Leonard Maltin - foreward
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In March 1941 Jimmy Stewart, America's boy next door and recent Academy Award winner, left fame and fortune behind and joined the United States Army Air Corps to fulfill his family mission and serve his country. He rose from private to colonel and participated in 20 often-brutal World War II combat missions over Germany and France. In mere months the war took away his boyish looks as he faced near-death experiences and the loss of men under his command. The war finally won, he returned home with millions of other veterans to face an uncertain future.
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SKIP THIS ONE
- By G-Man on 05-13-18
By: Robert Matzen, and others
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The Mighty Eighth
- The Air War in Europe as Told by the Men Who Fought It
- By: Gerald Astor
- Narrated by: Kaleo Griffith
- Length: 23 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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Europe has fallen. Pearl Harbor is in flames. Enter: the Eighth. In 1941 the RAF fought a desperate battle of survival against the Luftwaffe over Britain. Then, from across the Atlantic, came a new generation of American pilots, gunners, and bombardiers, a new generation of flying machines called the B-17 Flying Fortress, the B-24 Liberator, the P-47 Thunderbolt, and the P-51 Mustang fighter.
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A Good Listen with 1 problem
- By Matthew Schuller on 08-23-19
By: Gerald Astor
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Once They Were Eagles
- The Men of the Black Sheep Squadron
- By: Frank Walton
- Narrated by: David Randall Hunter
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Marine Corps Fighter Squadron 214 was hastily organized in the field during World War II to meet the urgent need for another combat squadron in the South Pacific. The squadron, self-named the "Black Sheep", went on under the leadership of the swashbuckling "Pappy" Boyington to become the most famous in Marine Corps history. Now comes the true story of the Black Sheep Squadron and the men who wrote its record in the Pacific skies.
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great insight at the leyendary squadron
- By Ernesto morales on 04-28-18
By: Frank Walton
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Vanished Hero
- The Life, War and Mysterious Disappearance of America’s WWII Strafing King
- By: Jay A. Stout
- Narrated by: Joe Barrett
- Length: 9 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A hell-bent-for-leather fighter pilot, Elwyn G. Righetti remains one of the most unknown, yet compelling, colorful, and controversial commanders of World War II. Arriving late to the war, he led the England-based 55th Fighter Group against the Nazis during the closing months of the fight with a no-holds-barred aggressiveness that transformed the group from a middling organization of no reputation into a headline-grabbing team that had to make excuses to no one. Indeed, Righetti's boldness paid off as he quickly achieved ace status.
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Great Performance for a Great Story!
- By Carter L. on 11-03-17
By: Jay A. Stout
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Double Ace
- The Life of Robert Lee Scott Jr., Pilot, Hero, and Teller of Tall Tales
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Barry Press
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Robert Lee Scott was larger than life. A decorated Eagle Scout who barely graduated from high school, the young man from Macon, Georgia, with an oversize personality used dogged determination to achieve his childhood dream of becoming a famed fighter pilot. First capturing national attention during World War II, Scott, a West Point graduate, flew missions in China alongside the legendary "Flying Tigers", where his reckless courage and victories against the enemy made headlines.
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Tiger Fan
- By Robert M. on 12-23-17
By: Robert Coram
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Topgun
- An American Story
- By: Dan Pedersen
- Narrated by: Jim Meskimen
- Length: 9 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Dan Pedersen takes listeners on a colorful and thrilling ride - from Miramar to Area 51 to the decks of aircraft carriers in war and peace - through a historic moment in air warfare. He helped establish a legacy that was built by him and his "Original Eight" - the best of the best - and carried on for six decades by some of America's greatest leaders. Topgun is a heartfelt and personal testimonial to patriotism, sacrifice, and American innovation and daring.
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I loved it!
- By "airplane_cfii" on 10-09-19
By: Dan Pedersen
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The Flying Tigers
- The Untold Story of the American Pilots Who Waged a Secret War Against Japan
- By: Sam Kleiner
- Narrated by: Stephen Graybill
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma.
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This really happened.
- By Jason on 07-26-20
By: Sam Kleiner
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Rattler One-Seven: A Vietnam Helicopter Pilot's War Story
- North Texas Military Biography and Memoir Series
- By: Chuck Gross
- Narrated by: Gerry Burke
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. Soon after the war, Gross wrote down his adventures, while his memory was still fresh with the events. Rattler One-Seven (his call sign) is written as he experienced it, using these notes along with letters written home to accurately preserve the mindset he had while in Vietnam.
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One of the Best Helicopter books I've listened to!
- By Chad on 02-12-14
By: Chuck Gross
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When Tigers Ruled the Sky
- The Flying Tigers: American Outlaw Pilots over China in World War II
- By: Bill Yenne
- Narrated by: Jonathan Yen
- Length: 12 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1940 Pearl Harbor had not yet happened, and America was not yet at war with Japan. But China had been trying to stave off Japanese aggression for three years - and was desperate for aircraft and trained combat pilots. General Chiang Kai-shek sent military aviation advisor Claire Chennault to Washington, where President Roosevelt was sympathetic but knew he could not intervene overtly. Instead he quietly helped Chennault put together a group of American volunteer pilots.
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A Well Written Historical Perspective
- By Donald Hill on 11-21-17
By: Bill Yenne
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Come Up and Get Me
- An Autobiography of Colonel Joe Kittinger
- By: Joe Kittinger, Craig Ryan
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 9 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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A few years after his release from a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp, in 1973, Colonel Joseph Kittinger retired from the Air Force. Restless and unchallenged, he turned to ballooning, a lifelong passion as well as a constant diversion for his imagination during his imprisonment. His primary goal was a solitary circumnavigation of the globe, and in its pursuit he set several ballooning distance records, including the first solo crossing of the Atlantic in 1984. But the aeronautical feats that first made him an American hero had occurred a quarter of a century earlier....
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A rewarding read
- By Andrew Braddick on 03-25-13
By: Joe Kittinger, and others
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The Unsubstantial Air
- American Fliers in the First World War
- By: Samuel Hynes
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 11 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Unsubstantial Air is the gripping story of the Americans who fought and died in the aerial battles of World War I. Much more than a traditional military history, it is an account of the excitement of becoming a pilot and flying in combat over the Western Front, told through the voices of the aviators themselves. A World War II pilot himself, the memoirist and critic Samuel Hynes revives the adventurous young men who inspired his own generation to take to the sky.
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Great info poorly arranged
- By Joseph P. on 05-22-15
By: Samuel Hynes
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LeMay
- By: Warren Kozak
- Narrated by: Grainger Hines
- Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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The firebombing of Tokyo. Strategic Air Command. John F. Kennedy. Dr. Strangelove. George Wallace. All of these have one man in common—General Curtis LeMay, who remains as enigmatic and controversial as he was in life. Until now. Warren Kozak traces the trajectory of America’s most infamous general, from his troubled background and heroic service in Europe to his firebombing of Tokyo, guardianship of the U.S. nuclear arsenal in the Cold War, frustrated career in government, and short-lived political run.
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Definition.....Leader.....General Curtis Le May
- By Nj-Mike on 01-04-15
By: Warren Kozak
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Skybreak
- The 58th Fighter Squadron in Desert Storm
- By: Mike Guardia
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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August 1990: Iraqi forces under the command of Saddam Hussein invaded the tiny emirate of Kuwait. In response, the US military led a coalition of thirty-four nations in what became known as Operation Desert Storm—a violent air and ground campaign to eject the Iraqis from Kuwait. At the tip of the spear were the men of the US Air Force’s 58th Fighter Squadron. Based on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia, this book reveals an intimate, no-holds-barred account of modern aerial combat…as told by the men who lived it.
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Desert Storm Fighter Action
- By David T. Gato on 07-23-24
By: Mike Guardia
What listeners say about Unforgotten Hero
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- S. H. Moore
- 03-28-22
Lovely tale
This is a nephews story of an uncle he never knew. Setting out to learn about and find out what happened to his uncle. What he gives us is a portrait into a young man who fulfills his life long mission of flying F-86s. We get to hear from squad mate and hear some of his letters before learning of his fate. He is truly an unforgotten hero from a forgotten war.
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