Pulitzer Candidate
Ric Hunter, Author of "Firehammer"
Author and War Hero
Fighter Pilot, Vice Wing Cmdr,
Squadron Commander, First Fighter Squadron U. S. Air Force F-15C Squadron
Fighter Pilot, Vice Wing Cmdr, U. S. Air Force
Extensive Career as Featured Article Writer on Viet Nam War
Features to 4000 words in length supported with own photography. Mostly aviation, hunting, fishing and human interest articles. Cover article for Aviation History Magazine, "Last F-4 Phantom Over Saigon." Rescue of the SS Mayaguez Operation published several times, Flight Journal, Vietnam and others. Investigative feature, "Those Left Behind," for VFW magazine. Numerous hunting and fishing articles for game and fish magazines.
All are magazine feature articles supported with Ric’s photography:
“A Letter From Vietnam” published in Command and Leader magazines
“A Ghost in the Mist” accepted for publication by Buckmasters
“Okatuppa Persistence Buck” published by Alabama Game & Fish
“The Grunt That Worked” published in 75th anniversary issue of Fur-Fish-Game “Stalking in Spirit Land” requested by Wyoming Wildlife and Gray’s Sporting Journal “Phantastic Pheasants” published by True Dakotan
“Florida Gunner in King Grouse’s Court” accepted for publication by Michigan Hunting and Fishing
“Last F-4 Phantom Mission Over Saigon” cover and lead story published by Aviation History magazine and on the internet at TheHistoryNet.com,
“SS Mayaguez: The Last Battle of Vietnam” published by Flight Journal (twice), and Vietnammagazine
“A Fighter Pilot’s Sunset” published by Daedalus Flyer and MWSA Anthology
“Homesick Angel” published on the internet at fighterpilots.net and by Pottersville Press“Cold Molding in the Hot Dixie Sun,” and “Tail Chasing in Apalachicola” published by Gulf Coast Boating & Fishing and Emerald Coast Magazines
“Three Marine MIAs–Fate Unknown,” assigned investigative feature, published by VFW.
“Blue Water Therapy” published by Tallahassee/Emerald Coast
“The Forgotten Coast” published May 2013 by Southern Journal
On assignment by Flight Journal magazine for a feature on the AC-130 Spectre Gunship.
How to Contact Ric
Website: http://www.firehammernovel.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ric.hunter.10
Twitter: @ric_cvhjr
F-4 patches
Ric's Military and Fighter Pilot Awards
SS Mayguez Patch
Captain Hunter distinguished himself while participating in aerial flight as Squadron Aircraft Commander, F-4D, over the gulf of Thailand on 15May75. Flying in BUCKTAIL Flight, brought ordnance to bear on a hostile force which prevented the evacuation by helicopter of two separate groups of U.S. Marines on KohTang Island. Under heavy fire, Captain Hunter through precise on target ordnance enabled the evacuation. His skilled airmanship reflects great credit upon himself and the U. S. Air Force.
Featured Article Writer, Aviation History
Featured Article Writer, Vietnam Air War
Featured Article Writer, Command
Firehammer
- Author, FIREHAMMER. Pulitzer Prize Entrant,FIREHAMMER is a novel based on a true story about the final battle of the Vietnam War. Written by Ric Hunter, a multiply decorated fighter pilot who participated in this event.Ric Hunter, the author of Firehammer (Red Engine Press, 274 pp., $17.95, paper), is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel, a former fighter pilot who flew the F-4 Phantom and F-15C Eagle. He commanded an Eagle squadron and was a three-time Top Gun.
- In the acknowledgements section of this book—“a novel of daring and revenge in the skies over Cambodia”—Hunter says that the men and women of the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron “formed the basis of the characters in Firehammer.”
- Under the title are the words, “Based on a True Story.”The Air Force part of the story begins on January 3, 1975, in Thailand. Captain Randy Houston steps off a C-141 onto the steaming tarmac “into the ripe stench of human dung used as fertilizer.”
Website: http://www.firehammernovel.com/
Twitter: @ric_cvhjr