Brick Nelson

When my very good friend and renowned aviation photojournalist Giampaolo Agostinelli asked me to write a preface for this book, I was both honor-ed and humbled. Giampaolo's superb photo-graphs will delight any aviation enthusiast - from the young boy or girl who dreams of flying to the 'crusty' old fighter pilot like myself, remembering the thrills of that first night carrier landing or combat mission.
'Giampi' (his nom de guerre or callsign) has a unique ability to capture the essence of tactical flying and translate it into a vivid cockpit view that is the next best thing to actually strapping on the jet yourself. I only have to look at the photograph in my den of Giampi and I screaming across the floor of the Nevada Desert at 600kt in an F-14B Tomcat, and the memories of our flight come rushing back.
Giampaolo has literally flown around the world with the 'Battle Axes' of Carrier Air Wing Three (CVW-3). His visits with us covered the entire spectrum of training operations - air-to-air fighter training in Key West, Florida; air wing strike training at the Naval Air Station Fallon target complex in Nevada; and flight operations at our F-14 Tomcat/F/A-18 Hornet home base of Naval Air Station Oceana, Virginia.
Naval Aviators sometimes refer to our nuclear-powered aircraft carriers as '4.5 acres of American Sovereign Territory', or '98,000 tons of Diplomacy', and the culmination of 18 months of arduous training is to combine an aircraft carrier with its air wing and deploy this awesome team overseas.
I am sure that Giampi would say that his best experience with CVW-3 was participating in real-world deployed carrier flying, in support of Operation Southern Watch onboard USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75).
On behalf of all the men and women of Carrier Air Wing Three, past and present, enjoy your 'flight' with Giampi and the 'Battle Axes'!