The development of the F-5 lightweight supersonic fighter in the mid 1950s was almost a gamble for the Northrop Corporation, but ultimately resulted in one of most commercially successful combat aircraft in modern history.
After the United States, along with NATO allies, bombed the Serbian forces of Slobodan Milosevic for seventy-eight days in 1999, Milosevic withdrew his army from Kosovo.
Using specially commissioned artwork and detailing technical specifications, this book explores the Bf 109's different roles occasioned by wartime necessity, from its employment as a fighter to its evolution as a fighter-bomber.
Although New Guinea's Thunderbolt pilots faced several different types of enemy aircraft in capricious tropical conditions, by far their most common adversary was the Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa, codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies.
In the bitter air fighting over Western Europe during the last year of the war, no fewer than 37 pilots became aces flying Merlin-engined Spitfires, whilst 72 other aces increased their scores flying them.
Raised on a Montana farm, Vernon Drake enlisted in the Army Air Corps, piloting B-24 bombers and painting nose art while enduring perilous missions in the Himalayas during World War II.
Influenced by the German use of paratroopers early in World War Two, General Sir Robert Cassels, the Commander-in-Chief India, ordered the formation of an airborne cadre in October 1940.
The Messerschmitt Bf 109 was the most prominent German fighter type of World War II over 35,000 were built and it served in many different variants and roles throughout the course of the war.
During World War II, the United States earned the nickname "e;the arsenal of democracy"e; due to its sheer productive output, which included over 3,000,000 trucks and jeeps, 86,000 tanks, 6,750 naval platforms, 300,000 aircraft of all types.
Totally outnumbered throughout their short two-year sojourn in the Western Desert, the crack fighter pilots of the handful of Jagdgeschwader in-theatre fought an effective campaign in support of Rommel's Afrika Korps against the British and American forces.
Using previously unpublished information, globally renowned expert Paul Crickmore builds upon his definitive account of the SR-71 Blackbird, In 1986 Paul Crickmore's first groundbreaking book about the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird was published.
In the five months after Pearl Harbor, the Imperial Japanese Navy won a string of victories in a campaign to consolidate control of Southeast Asia and the South Pacific.
Martin Bowman's considerable experience as a military historian has spanned over forty years, during which time he has spent hundreds of hours interviewing and corresponding with numerous men and women and their relatives, in Britain, America and beyond, resulting in a wealth of material on the war at sea from World War One to the Falklands and the wars on terror.
This comprehensive volume tells the rarely recounted stories of the numerous foreign air forces that supported the German Luftwaffe as part of the Axis' quest to dominate the European and Pacific theaters-a highly compelling and often overlooked chapter of World War II history.
Overshadowed by the dramatic British failure at Arnhem, the US 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions were a vital component of Operation Market-Garden and succeeded in capturing their objectives at Eindhoven and Nijmegen.
By participating in 1956 Suez Crisis Israel exploited an opportunity to join forces with France and the United Kingdom in an attack against Egypt in order to accomplish diplomatic, military and political objectives: to open the Red Sea international shipping lane to ships sailing from and to Eilat; to strengthen its alliance with France; to end - or at least to scale down - Egyptian hosted Palestinian terror attacks against Israel; to launch a preventive war in order to crush Egyptian military power before its completion of the transition to Soviet weapons could tempt Egypt to attack Israel and in order to accomplish a profound victory to deter Egypt from pursuing a another round of war policy.
With first-hand accounts and colour artwork, this title describes the planes and pilots of the famous 4th Fighter Group 'Fourth but First' that became the highest-scoring unit of the mighty 8th Air Force in World War 2.
On December 22, 1964, at a small, closely guarded airstrip in the desert town of Palmdale, California, Lockheed test pilot Bob Gilliland stepped into a strange-looking aircraft and roared into aviation history.
During the Second World War, the British movie industry produced a number of films concerning the war, all of which were, by necessity, heavily myth-laden and propagandised.
Many fighter aces began their careers in two-seaters, but a surprising number of British, French and German aircrews managed to achieve acedom in those not-so-helpless workhorses too.
Owing its origins to Lord Trenchard's desire to establish an elite corps of civilians who would serve their country in flying squadrons during their spare time, the Auxiliary Air Force (AAF) was first formed in October 1924.
An in-depth technical study of the USN and export variants of the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom sure to appeal to modelers, veterans, and aviation enthusiasts.
At the A-7 Corsair II's peak in the mid-1980s, some 30 US Navy squadrons flew various versions of the aircraft, including six Naval Air Reserve units, and these many of these units saw action across the Middle East.
An illustrated combat history of the jet, different versions of which have provided the backbone of the frontline strength of the Iranian air force since the 1970s.
The story of the 29 fighter pilot aces of the Legion Condor who became aces flying Messerschmitt Bf 109 C-Es, Heinkel He 51s, Henschel Hs 123s, Arado Ar 68 E-1s and Heinkel He 112s during the Spanish Civil War.
During the Battle of Midway in June 1942, US Navy dive bomber pilot Wade McClusky proved himself to be one of the greatest pilots and combat leaders in American history, but his story has never been told until now.
A fascinating and action-packed look at the highest scoring unit within the CBI theatre telling the story of the colourful characters who fought a difficult guerrilla war against the Japanese.
The A6M Rei Shiki Sento Ki (meaning Type Zero fighter) was the result of an order by the Imperial Japanese Navy for a low-wing monoplane with superior speed, range, climbing powers, and manoeuvrability.
Striking the Hornets' Nest provides the first extensive analysis of the Northern Bombing Group (NBG), the Navy's most innovative aviation initiative of World War I and one of the world's first dedicated strategic bombing programs.
An expertly written, illustrated new analysis of the Desert Storm air campaign fought against Saddam Hussein's Iraq, which shattered the world's fourth-largest army and sixth-largest air force in just 39 days, and revolutionized the world's ideas about modern air power.
General Douglas MacArthur is one of the towering figures of World War II, and indeed of the twentieth century, but his leadership of the second largest air force in the USAAF is often overlooked.
This book examines the LaGG family of fighters, that were amongst the first modern piston-engined interceptors made available to the Red Air Forces in early 1941 and proved far better fighters than their radial-engined predecessors.
Using archival photographs sourced directly from Vietnam, specially commissioned diagrams and combat accounts from veterans, Istv n Toperczer reveals how the MiG-21 defended Vietnam between 1966 and 1968.
