Flying from the Black Hole

The B-52 Navigator-Bombardiers of Vietnam

By: Robert O. Harder

Narrated by: Bob Souer

Air Force navigators and bombardiers have long labored under the shadow of pilots - their contributions undervalued, misunderstood, or simply unknown to the general public. This was especially the case with the non-pilot officer aircrew in the Vietnam and Cold War-era B-52 Stratofortress.

Of the six people who operated the bomber, three wore navigator wings - two of those men were also bombardiers, the other an electronic warfare officer. Without the navigator-bombardiers in particular, executing the nuclear war strike plan or flying Southeast Asian conventional bombing sorties would have been impossible.

This book reveals who these men were and what they did down in the "Black Hole", a story told by one of their own.

©2009 United States Naval Institute (P)2018 Tantor

Interesting details in the overall story

Some mispronunciations detracted from otherwise excellent story. Narrator's voice is alittle bland but the story helps in overcoming that issue.

Super story

Well done. Great look at navigators and radar navigators. Might have touched on how B-52 tactics changed as the airframe had new capabilities added but overall a great listen. (with one caveat— as with some other military books, get your pronunciations correct! it’s “sack! (SAC) not “ess-ay-see” and “”ee-woah (EWO)” and several others.)

Good Story but Bad Narration

I really enjoyed the story but couldn't stand the narrator spelling out the acronym for the Strategic Air Command (SAC). In the military, we don't usually spell out acronyms, so SAC is pronounced "sack", not S-A-C. Given the number of times the acronym comes up in the book, its especially grating to hear it spelled out.

Other than that, I enjoyed the book!

Excellent story and narration.

I really enjoyed this book. The author does an excellent humorous job of having us ride along as a a B-52 navigator. The book starts off with a review of bomb aiming of WW1 and 2, and the arduous training programs. the author than delves into SAC's culture (good and bad) and than takes us to "Arc lite" and "Linebacker" missions over Vietnam. Highly recommended book.

Outstanding!!!!

This was a surprising and outstanding book. A must listen. A look into the great BUFF story.