Fully illustrated, this study explores the technology, roles, and combat performance of Coalition airpower in the biggest air campaign of the early 21st century.In 2003, a US-led Coalition invaded Iraq with the aim of overthrowing Saddam Hussain's regime. Just as it had in the 1991 Gulf War, airpower played a vital role. However, this war was very different to its predecessor and represented a new style of warfare: focused targeting with precision-...

From acclaimed aviation historian Michael Napier, this is a highly illustrated survey of the airpower deployed by NATO and Warsaw Pact countries throughout the Cold War.Throughout the second half of the 20th century, international relations across the globe were dominated by the Cold War. From 1949 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, US and Soviet strategic forces were deployed across the Arctic Ocean in North America and Northern Russia, while the best-equi...

A Royal Air Force pilot recounts his service flying Tornados over Cold War-era Germany and post-Gulf War Iraq in this thrilling military memoir.After achieving a boyhood ambition to qualify as an RAF pilot, Michael Napier was posted to RAF Bruggen in Germany where he spent five years flying Tornado GR1s at the height of the Cold War. Always exhilarating and often dangerous, Michael Napier's Tornado flying ranged from 'routine' low-flying in continental Europe and t...

From acclaimed aviation historian Michael Napier, this is a highly illustrated survey of the air war over Korea.The Korean War holds a unique place in aviation history. It saw the first large-scale jet-versus-jet combat and it was the first military action of the Cold War, fought by both the newly independent United States Air Force and the recently formed Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force.#In a meticulously researched volume, former RAF Tornado pi...

From acclaimed aviation historian Michael Napier, this is a highly illustrated survey of the aerial fighting in the flashpoints of the Cold War.The Cold War years were a period of unprecedented peace in Europe, yet they also saw a number of localised but nonetheless very intense wars throughout the wider world in which air power played a vital role. Flashpoints describes eight of these Cold War conflicts: the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Congo Crisis of 1960–6...

A fully illustrated history of the Royal Air Force while on operations, publishing to mark the centenary of its foundation in World War I.The world's first independent air force, the Royal Air Force celebrates its centenary in 2018. In the 100 years since the end of World War I, the service has been involved in almost continuous operations around the globe, giving the RAF the longest and most wide-ranging history of any air force in the world. But over the years th...

The RAFs only delta-winged fighter the Gloster Javelin was also Britains first true All-Weather Fighter. Based in the UK and in Germany, the RAFs Javelin squadrons formed the front line of Britains air defences in the late 1950s and early 1960s. During this time Javelin crews pioneered the operational use of guided missiles and air-to-air refuelling by fighter aircraft. In the Far East, Javelins were involved in operations during the Indonesian Confrontation and the aircraft was also deplo...

Michael Napier describes the naval air power deployed by NATO, Warsaw Pact and neutral countries throughout the Cold War.In 1949, an Iron Curtain was drawn across Europe, and the Cold War that ensued between the Western North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries and the Soviet-dominated Warsaw Pact lasted through to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. NATO and Warsaw Pact naval forces spread over the world's oceans, and the powerful forces of the US Navy'...

Replacing the Vulcan, Buccaneer and Jaguar in the front line of the Cold War, the remarkable swing-winged Tornado GR1 provided Britains strike capability in the last years of the Cold War in the 1980s, equipping some 10 RAF squadrons. During the Gulf War, Tornado GR1 crews led Britains contribution to Coalition operations against Iraq, and in the subsequent years Tornado GR1s were involved almost continuously in operations over Iraq. In 1999 the Tornado GR1 force carried out offensive miss...

An illustrated account of the development and action-packed service history of the Jaguar attack jet, featuring first-hand accounts from the pilots that flew it into combat.Developed as a joint venture between Britain and France, the SEPECAT Jaguar was originally intended to be a jet trainer aircraft, but quickly evolved to fulfil a need for a supersonic attack jet with close air support, reconnaissance and tactical nuclear strike capabilities. After first entering...

Former RAF Tornado pilot Michael Napier chronicles the action-packed history of the Harrier GR 7/9, and its missions in West Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Afghanistan over a 14-year period of ceaseless operations.The Harrier GR 7/9 was at the 'tip of the spear' for the RAF when it came to employing weapons against well-equipped standing armies and irregular forces in the 1990s and during the first decade of the new millennium. Assigned to the Harrier GR ...

The Vickers Wellington was one of very few aircraft types to have been in production and frontline service throughout World War II, and more than 10,000 Wellingtons were built in the period.They took part in the first RAF bombing mission of the conflict when, on 4 September 1939, 14 examples from Nos 9 and 149 Sqns undertook a daring daylight attack on the Kiel Canal. However, after suffering high losses on follow-up raids, Wellingtons were withdrawn from daytime m...