United States Air Force Academy Class of ‘74

About the Book

Imagine flying into Iran to rescue the American embassy employees being held hostage. What would it be like to be a pilot of a military refueling aircraft, loaded with jet fuel and passengers, accelerating to takeoff speed, then having to do a high-speed abort because of an aircraft malfunction. Put yourself in an aircraft that crashes onto a remote airstrip during a blizzard. How would you react to being a young man who “has it all”, being a military pilot and newly married, but you learn that you have leukemia. You are then told about a new medical procedure called a bone marrow transplant but, half the people who have tried that have died. What would it be like to be a member of the United States military, training to defend your nation against the Soviet Empire during the Cold War, when your government tells you that you are going on a mission to establish Christian organizations in the Soviet military. These are all real-world stories from graduates of the Class of ’74 of the United States Air Force Academy. Read, laugh, cry, learn and be inspired.

About the Author

Bill Van Horn graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1974. He became a navigator in the United States Air Force, and flew for thousands of hours in the B-52 nuclear bomber, the RC-135S Cobra Ball spy plan, and the C-130 Lockheed Hercules. He has flown missions close to North Korea and the Soviet Empire. He has combat flight time from Desert Storm, the Bosnia dust-up, and Operation Global Shield (Iraq II). Bill received the highest Air Force Award for peacetime heroism for rescuing fellow flyers from their aircraft after it crashed and burned. Bill is now a family law lawyer. He and his wife Penni live in the foothills of the Colorado mountains, and have five children scattered across five states.