Look, Mom-I Can Fly! Memoirs of a World War II P-38 Fighter Pilot

In the mid-1920s the sound of airplane motors would cause the entire inhabitants of author Robert “Smoky” Vrilakas’ small Northern California village to dash outside to look up at the sky. Overhead would be a Ford Trimotor passenger plane droning off toward some unknown destination—a sight almost as awesome then as watching a manned satellite pass over in space today. The author, then a young boy, thought those who flew airplanes had to be super humans—far beyond anything he could ever even dream of doing.

Later, in the midst of the Great Depression, Smoky Vrilakas’ life took a sudden, sweeping turn. Six months prior to the December Pearl Harbor attack and at only 22 years old, Smoky was drafted into the army in preparation for an expected major war.

Look, Mom—I Can Fly! takes you through the author’s Army infantry training and his Army Air Corp flight training. You will share Smoky’s experience in learning to fly the Army’s top fighter airplane of the time: the P-38 “Lightning.” In mid-1943 you will travel with him and 65 other P-38 volunteer classmates to North Africa and Italy. There, as a member of the famed “Hat in the Ring” squadron, you will accompany him on 51 combat missions against the German Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force in the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations. All of the combat missions carried considerable risk. Some came very close to being Smoky’s last.

Meet some of Smoky’s fellow P-38 pilots and learn about the everyday life of a fighter pilot of that era. This story confirms that determination and the will to meet a goal are the primary ingredients for success in any endeavor.