Kimberly's Flight: The Story of Captain Kimberly Hampton, America's First Woman Combat Pilot Killed in Battle

by Anna Simon, Ann Hampton, William B. Caldwell (Ret) (Foreword by)

Overview

U.S. Army Captain Kimberly N. Hampton was living her dream: flying armed helicopters in combat and commanding D Troop, 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry, the armed reconnaissance aviation squadron of the 82nd Airborne Division. An all-American girl from a small southern mill town, Kimberly was a top scholar, student body president, ROTC battalion commander, and highly ranked college tennis player. In 1998 she was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. Then, driven by determination and ambition, Kimberly rapidly rose through the ranks in the almost all-male bastion of military aviation to command a combat aviation troop.

On January 2, 2004, Captain Hampton was flying an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter above Fallujah, Iraq, in support of a raid on an illicit weapons marketplace, searching for an illusive sniper on the rooftops of the city. A little past noon her helicopter was wracked by an explosion. A heat-seeking surface-to-air missile had gone into the exhaust and knocked off the helicopter’s tail boom. The helicopter crashed, killing Kimberly.

Kimberly’s Flight is the story of Captain Hampton’s exemplary life. This story is told through nearly fifty interviews and her own e-mails to family and friends, and is entwined with Ann Hampton’s narrative of loving and losing a child.

Retired award-winning journalist Anna Simon was been a reporter with The Greenville News in South Carolina for 21 years. She received the South Carolina Press Association’s first place award for Reporting in Depth for 2009, and is a past recipient of multiple awards in education reporting, the press association’s Judson Chapman Award for Community Service, and other news and feature writing awards.

Kimberly’s mother, Ann Hampton, first met Anna Simon at the bleakest point in her life, immediately following her daughter’s death, when Ms. Simon wrote a series of stories for The Greenville News about Kimberly’s life and the reaction in the small Southern town of Easley, SC to her death. Ann has traveled twice to Iraq, in 2010, as a Gold Star Mom in a "Hugs for Healing" program sanctioned by the U.S. State Department, where American and Iraqi mothers grieving the deaths of their children worked side-by-side on humanitarian projects, and in 2011 on a humanitarian mission with “Friends of Kurdistan.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612001029
Publisher:	Casemate Publishers
Publication date:	05/19/2012
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Kimberly’s mother, Ann Hampton, first met Anna Simon at the bleakest point in her life, immediately following her daughter’s death, when Ms. Simon wrote a series of stories for The Greenville News about Kimberly’s life and the reaction in the small Southern town of Easley, SC to her death. Ann has traveled twice to Iraq, in 2010, as a Gold Star Mom in a "Hugs for Healing" program sanctioned by the U.S. State Department, where American and Iraqi mothers grieving the deaths of their children worked side-by-side on humanitarian projects, and in 2011 on a humanitarian mission with “Friends of Kurdistan.”

Table of Contents

Foreword William B. Caldwell, IV 9

1 Fallujah, Iraq: January 2, 2004 13

2 Ann Hampton: Easley, South Carolina, 1982 17

3 A Second Chance 27

4 Time to Fly: 1998-2000 41

5 Pilot in Command: 2000-2001 49

6 The Captains Course 71

7 Afghanistan: November 2002 79

8 A Cavalry Command 99

9 Kuwait: September 2003 119

10 Iraq: September 2003 131

11 Bird Down: January 2, 2004 153

12 Easley, South Carolina: January 2, 2004 169

13 A Flag-Draped Coffin 179

14 Redbirds, Dragonflies, and Other Miracles: Epilogue 191

15 Iraq: 2010 221

Appendix 235

Acknowledgments 237

Editorial Reviews

…nearly flawless….Captain Hampton’s story is a compelling one, done justice by the authors of this well researched, well sourced, easy to read book. This inspiring story of self discipline, leadership, patriotism and sacrifice should be required reading for a country far removed from the concept of total war. Even the war’s staunchest critics will enjoy this unromanticized picture of heroism.

On Point: The Journal of Army History

‘…a touching an inspiring story about a young girl who achieves her dreams but unfortunately loses her life whilst protecting the country she loves… a moving and educational read.

Warfare Magazine

Kimberly’s Flight is many things. It’s the story of the loss all parents’ dread, whatever form it takes. It’s the story of an outstanding young woman who realized her ambition to rise in military, fly helicopters and lead soldiers into combat. It provides a detailed and interesting insight into the challenges, hardships and occasional wackiness of life in a combat zone…Finally it’s a book about healing, as the Hamptons found ways to celebrate their daughter’s life and remember her in meaningful ways. “

Independent Mail

…nearly flawless….Captain Hampton’s story is a compelling one, done justice by the authors of this well researched, well sourced, easy to read book. This inspiring story of self discipline, leadership, patriotism and sacrifice should be required reading for a country far removed from the concept of total war. Even the war’s staunchest critics will enjoy this unromanticized picture of heroism.

On Point: The Journal of Army History

…nearly flawless….Captain Hampton’s story is a compelling one, done justice by the authors of this well researched, well sourced, easy to read book. This inspiring story of self discipline, leadership, patriotism and sacrifice should be required reading for a country far removed from the concept of total war. Even the war’s staunchest critics will enjoy this unromanticized picture of heroism.

ON POINT