Airforces

http://www.airforcesmonthly.com #359 FEBRUARY 2018 // 93

Book

Reviews

These titles are available from: The Aviation Bookshop, 31-33 Vale Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent,

TN1 1BS, United Kingdom. Telephone: +44(0)1892 539284 Website: http://www.aviation-bookshop.com

Books by former aircrew tend

to follow an all too familiar

format: why I joined the

armed forces, pilot training,

and then personal squadron-

related stories outlining

their career. Entertaining,

but nothing exceptional.

Former Tornado pilot and

author, Michael Napier, has

bucked the trend. His book

includes recollections of former

colleagues and his experiences

of flying the Royal Air Force’s

only swing-wing fighter-

bomber from its service entry

and through the Cold War to

combat in the Middle East.

Along with these accounts,

the writer has included a

potted history of the Tornado,

highlighting the jet’s significant

dates and achievements.

By focussing on narratives

solely from the RAF, the text

can be far more detailed.

Contributors go into details of

flying the GR1 over Germany,

while facing off the Warsaw

Pact, or above the plains of

Alberta, Canada during a

large-scale NATO exercise.

There’s plenty

here to inspire

and while a

large portion

of the stories

are devoted

to combat

service over

Kuwait and

Iraq, the tales

of everyday

flying and the

‘close calls’

that can

occur even

on a training

flight over the

UK had me

tightening

my grip on

the book.

This

operational

history of

the Tornado

GR1 is a detailed and engrossing

view of the challenges faced

by aircrews and the tactics

developed during NATO

exercises and ‘real world’ combat

missions from Bosnia to the

Middle East. Glenn Sands

Tornado GR1 – An

Operational History

Publisher: Pen and

Sword Books

Author: Michael Napier

Pages: 246

ISBN: 9781473873025

Price: £25

The Boeing

KC-13 5

Stratotanker

• More Than a
  Tanker
  The Stratotanker is the unsung
  hero of the US Air Force. After
  more than 60 years on the
  front line, the aerial tanker,
  reconnaissance platform and
  test aircraft is finally being given
  the coverage that it deserves.
  Former RC-135 pilot Robert S
  Hopkins III has crammed this
  book with impressive facts,
  previously unknown operations,
  charts and maps, aircraft variants
  and aircrew chronicles that are
  unlikely to be bettered in print.
  While the focus of the book is
  predominantly on the KC-135s
  flown by the US, the author also
  devotes a substantial chapter
  to Stratotankers in service with
  Chile, France, Saudi Arabia,
  Singapore and Turkey.
  But the book goes far beyond
  the basic KC-135 tankers. The
  writer has delved deep into Boeing
  and USAF archives to provide
  the most authoritative history and
  operational service of the secretive
  RC and EC variants from the ’135
  series. Electronic intelligence
  and reconnaissance have played
  an increasingly important part
  in the history of this aircraft and
  these missions are best told by
  one of the pilots who flew them.
  The detailed text is
  complemented by an extensive
  collectio n of photographs,
  many in print for the first
  time. Glenn Sands

Publishing: Crécy Publishing

Author: Robert S Hopkins III

Pages: 384

ISBN: 9781910809013

Price: £27.95

The Grumman Intruder was the
‘heavy hitter’ of US Navy carrier
aviation throughout the Vietnam
War. The aircraft emerged from
that conflict with a remarkable

war record that ensured it would

remain on the front line with

US Navy and US Marine Corps

squadrons well into the 1990s.

Author Rick Morgan – a former

naval aviator with more than

450 carrier landings to his

credit – knows the Intruder

story intimately. Beginning

in the years immediately

following the Vietnam War,

the author describes the

upgrades made to the

conflict-weary airframes,

the lessons learned by

aircrews, and how tactics

and bomb technology

transformed the Intruder

into a true all-weather

precision attack platform.

The text shifts easily

between aircrew

accounts and technical

information as Intruders

found themselves going

into combat from the

decks of US carriers during

campaigns over Grenada,

Lebanon, the coast of Libya

and during the large-scale

offensive against Iraqi forces

during the 1991 Gulf War.

The USMC is not forgotten

and it’s great to see coverage

of the EA-6A and how it paved

the way for later electronic

warfare platforms. This is

another well-produced title in

Osprey’s Combat Aircraft series.

Special mention must be made

of the exceptional colour profile

artwork by Jim Laurier, perhaps

the best out there for accuracy

and detail. A highly readable

story of post-Vietnam Intruder

operations. Glenn Sands

A-6 Intruder Units 1974-96 – Combat Aircraft 121

These titles are available from: The Aviation Bookshop, 31-33 Vale Road, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent,

naval aviator with more than

450 carrier landings to his

credit – knows the Intruder

story intimately. Beginning

in the years immediately

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Author: Rick Morgan

Pages: 96

ISBN: 9781472818775

Price: £13.99

There’s plenty

here to inspire

GR1 is a detailed and engrossing

view of the challenges faced

Operational History

Publisher: Pen and

The Boeing

KC-13 5

Stratotanker

• More Than a
  Tanker
  The Stratotanker is the unsung
  hero of the US Air Force. After
  more than 60 years on the
  front line, the aerial tanker,
  reconnaissance platform and
  test aircraft is finally being given
  the coverage that it deserves.

Hopkins III has crammed this

book with impressive facts,

previously unknown operations,

charts and maps, aircraft variants

and aircrew chronicles that are

unlikely to be bettered in print.

predominantly on the KC-135s

flown by the US, the author also

devotes a substantial chapter

to Stratotankers in service with

Chile, France, Saudi Arabia,

Singapore and Turkey.

the basic KC-135 tankers. The

writer has delved deep into Boeing