Prowler Ball is written as a novelized autobiography about a time of challenge and conflict. It brings to life the experience of a young naval flight officer sent off to the Gulf of Tonkin to support the air war in Vietnam. The book began as a series of notes and sketches written by the author during his combat cruise to Vietnam during 1972-73. It is the story of young men thrust into combat to fight what is perhaps America's least popular conflict. Unlike the fighting heroes of the "Greatest Generation" these veterans suffered derision and scorn upon their return to American society. This book is a chronicle of the last few months of that war. It was a time of intense air operations against targets in North Vietnam. The American nation had tired of the war, and dissention was rife at home. Still, young men volunteered for the naval service and put themselves through the rigors of training to learn to fly sophisticated jet airplanes in the defense of their country. No amount of politically correct smugness can detract from the courage and heroism that they displayed in the skies over Vietnam. Though a novel, the chapters in Prowler Ball are filled with of true incidents and details of missions that were carried out during September 1972 through the middle of 1973, by the members of an elite electronic warfare squadron embarked aboard USS Enterprise. The missions culminated in December 1972 with the airstrikes known as Linebacker II
About the Author: John Bushby is the author of the Harry Braham and Rick Kasten series of espionage novels. He is also a retired US Navy lieutenant commander and naval flight officer. Having been commissioned at NAS Pensacola following college, he went on to earn his wings as a naval flight officer and was assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 131 at Whidbey Island, Washington. In 1972 the squadron was embarked upon USS Enterprise for a nine-month combat deployment to the South China Sea flying the EA-6B Prowler. During his deployment, then lieutenant (junior grade) Bushby flew sixty-seven combat missions against targets in North Vietnam. Following his return from combat he left naval aviation to pursue a career in the international securities and financial world. He is the father of five children and lives in Flanders, New Jersey.