There I was as my arm jerked forward, and a new sensation filled my mind—panic. Thoughts filled my head quickly: today I'm going to die, this is it, this airplane is going to blow up any second, we are sitting on thousands of pounds of fuel (55,000 to be exact), GET OUT!

Imagine flying 500 knots just above the trees when the left engine fire light suddenly comes on. Pilots of Valor takes you inside the cockpit of a high-performance military aircraft when everything starts to go wrong, seriously wrong. We invite you inside the world of a military pilot's day at work.

Military aviation is described as many hours of boredom while occasionally interrupted by moments of sheer terror. This book is a collection of those few moments of terror. The pilots tell some stories and describe how they reacted in the face of death. Some stories recount events in the heat of combat, while others speak of missions that began as routine flights. This book includes ten Medal of Honor recipients from Vietnam. In all circumstances, these pilots put their lives on the line for their country, and, in some cases, they lost them.