An outstanding book on a little known and recognized part of the air war in Vietnam. These pilots flying unarmed reconnaissance missions over the deadliest areas of Vietnam and Laos did not get the recognition they deserved. They never wavered, refused to fly, or quit. Instead, they went up in slow moving unarmed aircraft to do the dirty work of finding the enemy so others could get the glory of the attack. Yet, despite this they continued to fly. These are true heroes who deserve the recognition for their efforts. A great read!

Thank you to #NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This fascinating account of the ‘secret’ aerial reconnaissance flights of a unit of Mohawk crews during the Vietnam War is breathtaking in its content and opens up a little known element of the complex efforts to disrupt the flow of southbound traffic on the Ho Chi Min trail. The young men who crewed the missions were operating over the border in Laos without that Nations’ permission because the Ho Chi Min trail weaved its way south from North Vietnam through Cambodia and Laos before reentering Vietnam. Notwithstanding the delicate diplomatic niceties, these missions were crucial in obtaining near real-time intelligence to call in strikes to neutralize the traffic observed on the trail. The account also describes the emerging technologies for all weather intelligence-gathering from the air that were being developed and the consequential additional aircrew skills that were required. The unit was also unique in that one of their version of the Mohawk was equipped with rocket pods to enable instant reaction to observed targets during missions.
The inherent dangers of flying in an hostile environment were made abundantly clear when the author was shot down by ground fire, was forced to eject at very low level and was rescued by a rescue helicopter from the jungle under fire from approaching Viet Cong infantry.
A must read for any military aviation enthusiast – I cannot wait to read his next book!

A fabulous biography from a seasoned war veteran and army aviator. The book covers the authors military deployment to Vietnam flying the OV-1 Mohawk, specialist reconnaissance army aircraft flying missions over Vietnam and Laos.
The book is very well written, it really pulls the reader in and gives the impression of living through the story. Once you pick it up you wont want to put it down!
Definitely one for the bookshelf, a real keeper. I look forward to reading the authors other books about his second deployment to Vietnam flying the AH-1G Cobra gunship helicopter.

4.5 stars! Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I have to say, this book surprised me a bit. After reading Spearhead earlier this year, I wasn't sure if I would find such a narrative history book any time soon. We Dared to Fly changed that thought for me. In this book, we follow the first tour of duty of a Vietnam Army pilot with the 131st. War stories always fascinate me and this was no exception. William Reeder Jr. told his story while also teaching the reader about what life was like during the Vietnam war. The writing was excellent, the story was (to my knowledge) accurate, and I greatly appreciated the follow up for the people we met in the story. I definitely recommend this book for anyone looking to learn more about American Armed Forced Aviation, the Vietnam War, or American War history in general. I am looking forward to picking up the other titles by this author.

“We Dared to Fly: Dangerous Secret Missions During the Vietnam War,” by William Reeder Jr. (ISBN-10: 493085301; ISBN-13:978-1493085309), Publication Date: November 5, 2024), earns three stars.

This is a very personal and interesting memoir of a US Army aviator flying the Grumman OV-1 Mohawk during the Vietnam War. His mission was intelligence collection, collected via a set of different mission profiles, that caused him to fly low and slow in areas populated by a highly capable enemy. He related his story of aircraft qualification, his time in Vietnam, and the different individuals that shaped him, his skills as an aviator, and as an Army officer. It read more like a journal than a formal memoir, which I found to be particularly interesting…being in his head.

Sincere thanks to the author for his service, Lyons Press, for granting this reviewer the opportunity to read this Advance Reader Copy (ARC), and thanks to NetGalley for helping to make that possible.