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US Navy F-4 Phantom II Units of the Vietnam War 1969 – 1973

Davies, Peter E. US Navy F-4 Phantom II Units of the Vietnam War 1969-1973. Osprey Publishing, UK. 2018. 96 pages. Ill. $23. Peter Davies has written many Osprey books, including quite a few dealing with the F-4 in Vietnam. This new book, no. 125 in Osprey’s Combat Aircraft series, continuing the story from No. 116

BOOK REVIEW – The Leader’s Bookshelf

By Adm. James Stavridis, USN (Ret.) and Ancell, R. Manning, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Advisory books like this are often difficult to organize and write, no matter who the author is. Post-publication comments always include books that were not noted for whatever reason the correspondent expresses,

BOOK REVIEW – Vought F-8 Crusader: Development of the Navy’s First Supersonic Jet Fighter

By William D. Spidle, Specialty Press, Forest Lake, MN (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Vought’s sleek, high-performance fighter remains an object of fascination and appreciation many years after it left service with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, as well as the French Aeronavale and the Philippine Air Force. I, myself, have

BOOK REVIEW – Sea Harrier FRS 1 vs. Mirage III/Dagger, South Atlantic 1982

By Douglas C Dildy and Pablo Calcaterra, Osprey Publishing, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) The war in the Falklands was something of a surprise coming as it did relatively soon after the Vietnam War and the taking of Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam by the Communist government troops from North

BOOK REVIEW – Shadow Over the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe and the U-Boats: 1943-45

By Robert Forsyth, Osprey Publishing, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky USNR (Ret.) Most readers probably think that by 1943 the U-Boat threat was over. But, it wasn’t. After the so-called Battle of the Atlantic 1940-1942, which pitted German submarines and their crews against the lightly defended Allied convoys, often with disastrous results for

BOOK REVIEW – MiG-21 Aces of the Vietnam War

By Istvan Toperczer, Osprey Publishing, Ltd. UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky USNR (Ret.) When the Soviet Union’s MiG-21 appeared in the early 1960s, very little was known about it, which was typical of most new designs from the USSR. Grainy, out-of-focus photos taken at parades and aerial displays did little to add to

BOOK REVIEW – Airpower Applied: U.S., NATO, and Israeli Combat Experience

Edited by John Andreas Olsen, Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) This proved to be one of the most difficult book I have reviewed over the years. It is not the usual historical survey of war, or of a nation’s air force in a war or period. No

BOOK REVIEW – Storm of Eagles: The Greatest Aviation Photographs of World War II

By John Dibbs and Kent Ramsey, Osprey Publishing, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) This new coffee-table-size book is the result of an ambitious project. The end product is a collection of many excellent photographs, a few of which are fairly well known, but for the most part are new and are

BOOK REVIEW – Solitary: The Crash, Captivity and Comeback of an Ace Fighter Pilot

By Giora Romm, Black Irish Entertainment LLC, New York, NY (2014) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky USNR (Ret.) Most combat veterans of any country have one great fear, something that sometimes occurs, no matter how they prepare to defend against it: namely, capture by the enemy and imprisonment for an extended duration. In the mid-to-late

BOOK REVIEW – A-6 Intruder Units, 1974-96

By Rick Morgan, Osprey Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK (2017) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) A sequel to the author’s earlier Combat Aircraft No. 93 covering the Intruder’s Vietnam service, this new book describes the A-6’s new, often little-known history after Southeast Asia with insider knowledge and style. His introduction is one of the

BOOK REVIEW – Bloody Paralyser: The Giant Handley Page Bombers of the First World War

By Rob Langham, Fonthill Media Limited and Casemate Publishers, Havertown, PA (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) Senior British military author Owen Thetford wrote in his 1958 book British Naval Aircraft 1912-58 (Putnam, UK): It is not always appreciated that the Admiralty was the first of the British Service Departments to recognize the

BOOK REVIEW – Fw 200 Condor Units of World War 2

By Chris Goss, Osprey Publishing, New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) This new book details one of World War II’s least known but, at the time, most efficient aircraft, if only for its psychological effect on allied, especially British, morale. For approximately three years, the Condor patrolled the convoy routes

BOOK REVIEW – US Navy F-4 Phantom II Units of the Vietnam War 1964-68

By Peter E. Davies, Osprey Publishing, Oxford, UK and New York, NY (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter Mersky, USNR (Ret.) No. 116 in the highly successful Combat Aircraft series from this prolific publisher and author, this new book is an excellent compilation of Navy squadrons that flew the F-4 in Southeast Asia. It’s one of

BOOK REVIEW – Route 9 Problem: The Battle for Lang Vei

By Dave Stockwell, Book Publishers Network (2016) Reviewed by Cdr. Peter B Mersky, USN (Ret.) The Vietnam War (roughly 1964-1973) was not only a series of albeit hard-fought, bloody aerial campaigns by aircrews who flew from hot, humid airfields throughout Southeast Asia, or the equally hot, humid undulating flight decks of Seventh Fleet carriers in