More than a generation after it ended, Americans are still looking for ways to comprehend what was, at the time it ended, the country's longest war.

Here we offer a series of articles reporting the experiences of aircrews who fought in Vietnam and analyzing U.S. air combat strategies and culture of the time. From the emergence of the helicopter to B-52 bombing campaigns to postwar meetings between U.S. and North Vietnamese airmen, our "Vietnam Memoir" series examines the airplanes and missions that figured prominently in the lives of a generation of veterans.

Escape to U Taphao

The Last of the Mohawks

Plausible Denial

Tullo and the Giant

Change of Command

Counterpunch

Ravens of Long Tieng

Huey

Nguyen Van Bay and the Aces From the North

The Christmas Bombing

Steinbeck’s Dispatches From Vietnam

Psyops: Weapons of Mass Instruction