Israel's Best Defense: The First Full Story of the Israeli Air Force

I picked this book up in a bookstore in Tel Aviv when I was in Israel to interview IAF pilots on their experiences for a book project. I found it to be an excellent, detailed history of the development of the Israeli Air Force from birth through the Lebannon War. Strangely enough, Colonel Cohen was a helicopter pilot, not a fighter pilot, and the squadron commander of the only helicopter squadron (H-34s) they had during the '67 War. Perhaps the best part of this book is the detailed description of Operation "Moked" - the preemptive strike against Egypt, Syria and Jordan during the opening stages of the Six-Day War in 1967. This details how Israel, with about 180 combat aircraft, destoyed their three enemy's 650 aircraft force swiftly with most of the damage ocuuring during an initial 15 minute period. For students of Air Warfare this strike stands out as one of the preeminent uses of air power against a numerically superior enemy's center of gravity. The irony of this battle plan, which had been developed years before the 67 War, was that it was based on the German Luftwaffe's air campaign during Operation "Barbarossa" - the invasion of the Soviet Union. Military aviation enthusiasts will appreciate the insight and history behind one of the world's pre-eminent military force's and the personailities that shaped its development. Colonel Cohen's insider's description of the characters who shaped the IAF gives the reader a priveleged look at what made the difference in making the IAF the formidable fighting force it is today. You can't study military aviation without looking at the IAF and this book is an excellent, detailed account.

I thought this book was going to be a blow by blow history of the IAF. Unfortunatly much of it is the authors recollections. Now this does not discount the books greatness. The story is one of heroism and triumph over great odds. The Israelis built one of the best air forces int he world. An air force that able to defeat the arabs many times and proved in one on one combat to be far superior. Some detractors say this was simply because the 'American' weapon system was better, thats like a workmen blaming his tools, which is typical of the arab mindset, if they lose they always blame some plot that brought them failure, instead of crediting their opponents resolutness. Furthermore the Israeli air force was able to slip into entebbe and rescue Jewish hostages, something the americans failed to do in 1979 in the Desert One failure. On top of this the Israelis were able to airlift tens of thousands of jews from Iraq, Ethiopia and the Yemen.

Any serious Israel Air Force buff should have at least three books on his shelf: Ehud Yonai's "No Margin for Error", Peter Mersky's "Israeli Fighter Aces", and Eliezer Cohen's "Israel's Best Defense". As a former fighter and helicopter pilot, Eliezer Cohen had first hand experience with, and access to the pilots and leaders who have made up the most respected air force of the jet age. His retelling of his own, and comrade's experiences in the face of war is riveting, and the scope of his IAF history takes him a full decade further into the story of this remarkable marriage of machines and men than does Ehud Yonai's own remarkable telling. Perhaps his one weakness in telling this story, is that Eliezer Cohen is a pilot by trade, and not a journalist, or novelist. Reading this book, you can see his skills as a story teller developing with each turn of the page. His finesse as an author starts out weak, but by the time that you reach his account of the Six Day War, Cohen's narrative becomes far too absorbing to pass this book by.