Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Airforce Combat Wing (Paperback)

The book is now dated as there have been more wars in islamic countries that prove the focus of the reorganised USAF were not completely well thought out. the bias on Americas ability to win wars in the air as in the GUlf war, then to do the same on the ground seem wildly optimistic now. the might of the USAF is mentioned, but not to full effect. the fact that the USAF have nmore planes than all the airlines in the USA put together is left out, and Tom Clancy seems to hold out a beggsrs bowl asking for more develpoments of stealth planes. Is this because making less of them is less exciting?

The planes are such as the F-15,c and e, the F-16c and d, the b-1b and B-2. SDtranggely KC-135s and E-3s are given the same treatment in detail, yet F-117s and F-111s not. later comes a strategy review, and two scenarios of beattle that are somewhat near the truth.

ther question about the USAs power and training eclipsing that of smalller nations (UK and Israel) is final, and probably correct in the book; though such types as the Su-27 family of fighters having out run F-15s in Indian maneuvors are left aside. Whether the USAF is the all powerful force here descibed is doubtful, though I pray than can remain so.

In this way the book clips along, with the word "several" cropping up many times to cover some missing details. the whole focus is on how positively the USAF is developing, without any of the clitches (to put it mildly) that misplaced bombs have caused. "Every bomb is a political bomb" is a statement to back up many of the concepts and systems (i.e. bombs!) described here.

the systems covered are the fighters of the Air Force (F-15c and e, the F-16c and the F-22), then come Bombers (B-1b and B-2) and then the tankers (Strato tankers and Extenders) and then the bombs! F-111 are mentioned in the background, but no system diagrams are present as for the others (By "Jack Ryan Enterprises"- a joke for Tom Clancy fans?) and the logic are describing bombers in a book called "Fighter Wing" then misses the A-10.

that said, the ground covered is pretty vast,linking in how the Air Force matches their Navy and marine counterparts, and how a few other air focres like the RAF have bought the precision bomb guidance systems to make them comparable in a VERY limited way to the vast potential of the USAF. facts that are astounding about the USAF are there, but others such as the fact that the USAF have as many planes as all the airlines in the USA put together, are left out. Still, he conveys the idea that all has been planned in the size of the force to take on whatever mighty power comes into conflict with Americas interests.

the Gulf War is covered in all sections, including the fictious scenarios at the end when the USAF goes to war against enemies in Asia in the early 21st Century. If only Clancy had waited a bit, themn he could have described what really happened in these wars! it would appear, with hindsight that we now have, the weapons and tactics described were fully unable to match the new found enemies in post Saddam Iraq (against Saddam they were uniquely effective) and Afganistan.

So for those who need to know about bunker bustinga nd how to go about it in a powerful fighter-bomber, heres your book. Biased it is, and if you believe evcrything written here then you would never think that an F-15 is a hanger-queen or that US foreign policy could ever be WRONG! Vietnam is referred to as a testing groung for newly developed precision guided weapons, an dperhaps that is the best th
ing that America can salvage from that lost war. According to this book that war was not really lost.