Five Down, No Glory: Frank G. Tinker, Mercenary Ace in the Spanish Civil War - Tapa dura

Frank Tinker, had an odd background for an ace in the Spanish Republican Air Force: a product of the U.S. Naval Academy (class of 1933), the Army Aviation Cadet program and Navy flight training, he resigned his commission when off-duty indiscretions made his future in the Navy problematic. Utterly apolitical, he found employment with the Spanish Republic where he put his flying skills to good use, racking up eight kills against the best the Nationalists had to offer. Richard Smith and R. Cargill Hall relate Tinker's colorful-some would say bizarre-story with panache, using it as to illuminate the Spanish Civil War and the history of aerial warfare during a period of portentous change. The story is filled with larger than life characters, including Ernest Hemingway, American aviators "Whitey" Dahl and "Ajax" Baumler, and Soviet pilots who went on to general officer rank in the Red Air Force... or death in the Gulag. It is also packed with informed commentary on the aircraft Tinker flew and fought against. This is aviation history at its best, and with a human touch! * John F. Guilmartin, Jr., author of A Very Short War: The Mayaguez and the Battle of Koh Tang * Smith and Hall deliver a fascinating account of a little known aviator who combined a deft touch in the cockpit with affable social skills that brought him into contact with some of the most influential people of his day. Written in clear prose, the authors illuminate the life and contributions of a Renaissance man and ace, and show his influence on aerial tactics. * John F. Wukovits, author of Black Sheep: The Life of Pappy Boyington *

This complete biography of a most colourful and uncommon young man is based not only on his memoir, but on Tinker family papers and his own personal records. Through sheer perseverance, he rose from a teenage enlisted seaman, through the U.S. Naval Academy, to the officer's wardroom and then pressed on to claim the wings of a naval aviator and become a superlative fighter pilot and a published author. More unusual still, he possessed extraordinary people skills that allowed him to deal and move with relative ease among Navy compatriots, foreign combat pilots, left-wing literati in Madrid and Paris, and the rural folk of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana, who embraced him as "one of their own." The book also focuses on the aerial tactics introduced in the Spanish Civil War that became standard military practice a few years later in World War II. Included are descriptions of the German introduction of the"Finger Four" fighter formation that replaced the "V of three or four" formation then in vogue; the first use of military airlift to move large numbers of troops and equipment into combat; the greater accuracy and destructiveness of dive bombers versus high altitude bombers; perfection of the "silent approach" used by high altitude bombers before the introduction of radar early warning; and air intelligence reports that asserted daylight high altitude bombers could not "get through" and return from enemy territory successfully without the protection of fighter cover. About the Author Richard K. Smith received his undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He died before completing the manuscript of Five Down, No Glory, which was completed by R. Cargill Hall.