Brad Elward - Böcker

A unique, illustrated history of the US Navy Fighter Weapons School's 50-year history.

The exclusive and definitive look at the 50-year history of the Navy Fighter Weapons School

An in-depth look at the first US super carriers – from the design and development of the Forrestal, Kitty Hawk and Enterprise classes, to their operational history during the Cold War and beyond.The Forrestal class (Forrestal, Saratoga, Ranger, and Independence) was the first completed class of US Navy supercarriers, so-named for their 25 percent size increase over the World War II-era carriers such as the Midway class. Design-wise, the Forrestals were a huge improvement over their predecessors, being more stable and comfortable, while maintaining advancements such as the armored flight decks that had been introduced with the Midway.Brad Elward examines the history of this class of carrier and its successors. The Kitty Hawk class was an improvement on the Forrestal-class designs, and four were built in the 1960s – Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America and John F. Kennedy. These were even longer than the Forrestals, and fitted with advanced defensive weapons systems and an improved elevator layout.Featuring special illustrations, this is a history of nine iconic carriers that hold a much-respected place in US naval history.

For every American fighter pilot involved in the Vietnam War, the ultimate goal was to "kill a MIG". In eight years of conflict, 43 Vietnamese Peoples Air Force aircraft were claimed by US navy and US marine corps Phantom II crews. Navy Phantom II's scored the first kills of the Vietnam War in April 1965, as well as scoring the last in January 1973. This volume charts the successes of the navy fighter crews as they encountered "MIG's, missiles and AAA" over the jungles of North Vietnam. It is packed with first-hand accounts from combat veterans and features scale plans of all the major navy F-4 variants.

The second of two books on the Navy's Phantom II MiG killers of the Vietnam War, this book covers the numerous actions fought out over North Vietnam during the Linebacker I and II operations of 1972-73. No fewer than 17 MiGs were downed during this period, five of them by the Navy's sole aces of the conflict, Lts Randy Cunningham and Willie Driscoll of VF-96. Drawing on primary sources such as surviving Phantom II aircrew and official navy documentation, the author has assembled the most precise appraisal of fighter operations involving US Navy Phantom II units and those elusive MiGs ever seen in print.