Arguably the first 'modern' air campaign, this is the story of Linebacker I which brought laser-guided bombs, electronic warfare and anti-radar missiles to bear on North Vietnam's invading army.At Easter 1972, North Vietnam invaded the South, and there were almost no US ground troops left to stop it. But air power reinforcements could be rushed to the theater. Operation Linebacker's objective was to destroy the invading forces from the air and cut...

A concise technical history of the German Albatros D.III and D.III(OAW) type scouts.In 1916 German aerial domination, once held sway by rotary-engined Fokker and Pfalz E-type wing-warping monoplanes, had been lost to the more nimble French Nieuports and British DH 2s which not only out-flew the German fighters but were present in greater numbers. Born-from-experience calls from German fighter pilots requested that, rather than compete with the maneuverability of th...

The Second Battle of Sirte was a key naval clash in the Mediterranean, and a vital moment in the struggle for Malta's survival.Malta was the key to the hard-fought naval campaign being waged in the Mediterranean, a link in the vital Axis supply lines between Italy and North Africa. Struggling under a sustained Axis bombing campaign, Malta depended on convoys of supplies to survive. Axis air formations dominated the skies, making any attempt to relieve the island ex...

A superbly illustrated history of the Royal Navy's World War II monitors – gunboats armed with a single, large-calibre gun turret – and their roles and battles around the world.When World War II broke out, the Royal Navy possessed a sizeable fleet of battleships and battlecruisers. However, these formed the core of the battle fleets, and were rarely free to perform an equally vital mission – the naval bombardment of targets ashore.In the first book to focus...

A fascinating illustrated history of the nuclear-powered attack submarines built and operated by the Soviet Union in the Cold War, including each class as they developed throughout the Cold War period.The November class, which were the Soviet Union's first nuclear submarines, had originally been designed to fire a single enormous nuclear-tipped torpedo but were eventually completed as boats firing standard torpedoes. The Alfa class were perhaps the most remarkable ...

A history and analysis of one of the most dramatic moments in both air power and naval history. With the sinking of HMS Prince of Wales and Repulse, no battleship was safe on the open ocean, and the aircraft took its crown as the most powerful maritime weaponIn late 1941, war was looming with Japan, and Britain's empire in southeast Asia was at risk. The British government decided to send Force Z, which included the state-of-the-art battleship

The story of Germany's disastrous last cross-Channel Blitz in early 1944, which left the Luftwaffe devastated and barely able to oppose the D-Day landings.Operation Steinbock, or as it became known, the 'Baby Blitz'was the Luftwaffe's last sustained night bomber offensive against the United Kingdom. In this book, renowned Luftwaffe historian Chris Goss explains how and why the Luftwaffe's last cross-Channel campaign was such a contrast to the Battle of Bri...

In 1960, SAC's B-52s began a nonstop, eight-year, nuclear-armed patrol. Fully illustrated, this study explains how one of the Cold War's most challenging operations was conceived and flown.Operation Chrome Dome was Strategic Air Command's unprecedented nuclear deterrence operation, a hugely elaborate and costly response to the perceived nuclear missile threat from the Soviet Union.In this book, Cold War aviation historian Peter E. ...

The fascinating history of how the radical delta-wing became the design of choice for early British and American high-performance jets, and of the role legendary aircraft like the Fairey Delta series played in its development.At the dawn of the supersonic jet age, aircraft designers were forced to devise radical new planforms that suited the new power of the jet engine. One of the most successful was the delta wing.Although Gloster produced the delta wing J...

A fascinating account of an often overlooked naval action of World War II, and one of the bloodiest chapters in the history of the Royal Navy.In April 1941, following the Axis invasion of Greece, the British Mediterranean Fleet was ordered to evacuate Allied survivors, many of which were taken to Crete. The Luftwaffe established itself in airfields on the Greek mainland, and formed plans to invade Crete by air and sea, under the cover of 500 fighters and bombers of...

The first ever illustrated study of the largest and most significant clash between the Royal Navy and the Italian Regia Marina.The Battle of Matapan witnessed the first use of decisive new technologies to bring about a stunning British victory over the Italian Navy. The Allies had tapped into the Ultra coded messages sent by the Axis powers, and the battle witnessed the use of radar and carrier-based air strikes to bring about a critical night action. The result wa...

A detailed analysis of the Allied failure in Dakar against Vichy France in September 1940.Amidst the onslaught of the Blitz, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was desperate to take the fight to the enemy and so he set his eyes on the French West African port of Dakar. Emboldened by the recent defection of some of the Vichy colonies to the Free French movement, Churchill asked Charles de Gaulle if he could rally Dakar, and its potent naval force, to their cau...