A bilingual Vietnamese-English book about Vietnamese fighter pilots has been launched.

In anticipation of celebrating major national holidays, Vietnam Flight School (Ho Chi Minh City) organized the launch ceremony for the bilingual Vietnamese-English edition of the book "108 Vietnamese Fighter Pilots," created by artist and graphic designer Tu Phuong Thao (editor-in-chief) and photographer Ngo Nhat Hoang.

Book launch and reunion of American and Vietnamese veteran pilots at Vietnam Flight School, Ho Chi Minh City, April 17, 2025.

This book is a significant historical work, recreating the achievements and losses, the glory and the silent heroism, like a beautiful and tragic epic of a golden generation of Vietnamese Air Force pilots. The author spent nearly a decade meeting each individual, recording their personal accounts. Furthermore, the author visited the units and localities where these individuals were stationed, meeting with them, listening to their stories, and documenting their memories and experiences.

As readers turn the pages, they will find, behind the documentary photographs, not only stories of historical battles and heroic fighter pilots such as Nguyen Van Bay, Tran Hanh, Vu Ngoc Dinh, Le Hai, Nguyen Duc Soat, etc., but also the silent faces of the sky. These are night-flight pilots, bombers, helicopter pilots, and transport pilots such as Colonel Do Thanh Hung (Mi-24 pilot); Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Huan (AN-2 pilot); Colonel Ho Duy Hung (UH-1 pilot); instructors at the Air Force Officer School – teachers of teachers in the lecture halls above the clouds, such as Colonel Nguyen Phuong Anh (pilot); Colonel Nguyen Thang Thang (pilot); Colonel Nguyen Van Khuya (pilot); and reconnaissance and test pilots like Nguyen Van Khai and Nguyen Van Suu.

These Vietnamese fighter pilots have gone through the entire confrontation with the US Air Force, defended the southwestern border, and are now undergoing peacetime training. The stories and autobiographies of these pilots in this book not only portray the resourcefulness and courage of this generation of fighter pilots, but also highlight their profound human qualities.

Not only during wartime, but through the images of young pilots, the "warriors of the sky" today, we see in them a "love for the sky that never changes," a love that has been fully inherited. We recognize the pride and strength of the silver swallow on the traditional blue lapel...

The book launch is an opportunity for readers both domestically and internationally to access a valuable photo book, to look back together at the glorious history of the nation, and to pay tribute to those who dedicated their youth to the independence and freedom of the country.

The first Vietnamese edition was published in 2022 by the Vietnam Writers Association Publishing House. The English edition was edited by former pilot Nguyen Nam Lien and published by The World Publishing House in 2025.

LE NGOC TU

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ra-mat-sach-song-ngu-viet-anh-ve-phi-cong-chien-dau-cua-viet-nam-post792050.html