MILITARY AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD
Prix régulier 45,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| ISBN-13 |
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| ISBN-10 | 0711007617 |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( square back binding ) |
| Special Features | Dust Jacket |
| Condition | Damaged Dust Jacket |
| Author(s) | John W. R. Taylor, Gordon Swanborough |
| Publisher | Ian Allan Ltd |
| Number of pages | 224 |
| Published date | 1979 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 15.2 x 22.3 x 1.8 cm |
| Categorie(s) | • AVIATION MILITAIRE • APPAREILS - CONSTRUCTEURS |
Description
When the first edition of MILITARY AIRCRAFT OF THE WORLD was published, in 1971, the only variable-geometry 'swing-wing' combat aircraft in service was the General Dynamics F-111. First operational deployment of this tactical fighter-bomber to Vietnam had proved almost disastrous, with two of the initial batch of six aircraft lost in under a week. The last few months of that war were to produce a very different picture. This time, F-111s achieved near-miraculous results, in an area protected by anti-aircraft defences of unprecedented ferocity, in a kind of war for which they had never been intended. Little wonder that the swing-wing now seems an inevitable feature of the most advanced types of military aircraft.
Much else has changed in six years. The quest for maximum speed, considered the prerequisite for air superiority during half a century from 1915, is now regarded as less urgent. Vietnam and other conflicts have shown that victory is won often by the more manoeuvrable aircraft. First-generation air-to-air missiles seldom hit a tightly turning target whose pilot knew, by signals from his passive ECM (electronic countermeasures equipment), that he was about to be attacked. Guns were put back hastily into fighters like the Phantom and MiG-21. The missile-makers began to concentrate on 'dogfight' weapons that could snap into a turn or dive as rapidly as their targets, however short the range. Aircraft designers and air forces began to see new merit in aircraft like the lighter-weight General Dynamics F-16, hundreds of miles an hour slower than many other fighters but needing only half as much sky in which to turn.
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Front cover, top: An extremely rare colour view of a Polish Air Force Sukhoi Su-17 swing-wing combat aircraft.
Front cover, bottom: Boeing E-3A Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft, now in service with the USAF's Tactical Air Command and recently the subject of a NATO order for the establishment of a multi-national airborne early warning squadron
Title page: Fairchild A-10A Thunderbolt II making a low-level attack on armoured targets during Joint Attack Weapons Systems (JAWS) Il trials