F-15c Eagle Units in Combat

The is another great book in the Osprey Series - lots of details and photos that haven't been see before. But if anyone is even looking for more detail, I highly recommend "Debrief: A Complete History of U.s. Aerial Engagements - 1981 to the Present" by Craig Brown - it covers all successful US Air-to-air engagements following Vietnam through the present day, including everything in this books. It isn't cheap at almost $50, but it covers almost everything in this books as well as much more. Either way, you can't go wrong.

This is a must book for anyone interested in modern air combat. It is so completely detailed in it's descriptions of the modern air to air missions that I had to look up some of the terms. It shows why our young F-15 pilots are the best in the world. I sent the book to a friend who was a former F-15 pilot and he said it put him right back into the airplane. He said the descriptions in the book are completely accurate and shows why the Iraqie pilots ran to Iran to escape certain death if they came up to fight. It also shows why the F-15 has the best kill ratio in history 104-0

Steve Davies is not just THE authoritative F-15E Strike Eagle specialist that every military aviation enthusiast knows well. With this new reference in the great Osprey Combat Aircraft series, Steve Davies examines an extraordinary career : the F-15C Eagle - which is now his "focus" aircraft - never lost the air combats it had to face on its operational theatres ! NEVER ! Enlightened by numerous magnificent colour plates, the last title signed by Steve Davies allows the reader to learn from the pilots themselves the fate of a plane that history can't forget. Definitely a "must have" for who wants to know what air dominance really is nowadays.

Steve Davies has compiled the most up-to-date account of the F-15C operations in the last 15 years, changing many misconceptions that held for a long time. Although I had read about air-to-air operations in the Gulf War in the excellent book "Gulf Airwar Debrief", Davies' work is far more detailed and gives many interesting tips in modern tactics, especially in the little explored field of BVR combat. The reader will be surprised to find that not all the Iraqi pilots were inept and took Sparrow shots like sitting ducks, but fought with courage and even good tactical skill in some occasions. Davies also describes the reasons behind the great disparity of kills achieved by the 1st TFW and the other USAF units and also has a chapter devoted to the 1994 incident of blue-on-blue encounter when two Blackhawk helicopters were accidentally shot down over Northern Iraq killing all 26 on board. There is also a brief account of the kills achieved by F-15s during the Operation Allied Force (1999) and a good overview of the advantages and drawbacks of the new AMRAAM missiles (not all of these shots were succesfull after all!)