This book covers the actions fought between two of the best known fighters of the Vietnam War, in action over the North during the early years of the conflict.

Revered by Naval Aviators as the "last of the gunfighters" due to its quartet of Colt-Browning Mk 12 20 mm cannon (its great naval rival, the F-4 Phantom II, was exclusively armed with missiles), the F-8 Crusader enjoyed great success against VPAF MiG-17s during the Rolling Thunder campaign of 1966-68. The fighter was credited with 18 kills, 14 of which were MiG-17s. Things did not go all the Crusader's way, however, as VPAF...

This engaging study pits the the Byzantine dromon against the Arabic shalandi in the prolonged struggle for mastery in the Mediterranean in the four centuries after 630 AD.

For four hundred years the Byzantine Empire's naval forces vied with the warships of the Islamic world for mastery of the Mediterranean. At the heart of this confrontation were the fighting vessels of the two powers, the Byzantine dromon and the Arabic shalandi, both oared warships. In those four centuries of warfare between two major maritime powers, both the Byzantines and the Arabs left us records of their...

Featuring first-hand accounts from veteran pilots, rare archival photographs and expert analysis, this volume brings to life the vicious dogfights that took place between the Bf 109 and the Yak as they vied for mastery of the frozen skies of the Eastern Front.

Step into the cockpit of the Luftwaffe's Bf 109 and the Red Air Force's Yaks 1-7, two fighters which were involved in some of the largest, fiercest aerial battles in history. The Iconic Messerschmitt fighter and its combat hardened pilots administered a fearful drubbing to the Yaks in the beginning of the war. Some of the...

Hitler's lightning invasion of Poland in 1939 was the real beginning of World War II in Europe. This was the period when armored warfare inscribed itself into global consciousness as the Poles desperately sought to stave off the Blitzkrieg. At the heart of the fighting on the ground, large numbers of Nazi Germany's PzKpfw II battled against Poland's better-armed but much less numerous 7TP tank. The two types both possessed unique strengths and weaknesses - the PzKpfw II was blessed with radio which the 7TP was not, which proved critical for command and control purposes in the heat of...

With stunning artwork and detailed analysis, this volume provides a pilot's view of the dramatic clashes between these two legendary fighters, as some of the most gifted and "big name" aces of World War II went head-to-head in the skies of Northwest Europe.

As the Battle of Britain approached its conclusion, two new versions of the famous Spitfire and Messerschmitt Bf 109 arrived on the scene. The RAF could see that the Luftwaffe were stepping down their incursions into British airspace and went on to the offensive. The Spitfire Mark II, and increasingly the Mark V, would fly over...

In this book, Andy Saunders journeys back in time into the cockpits of RAF fighters and Luftwaffe bombers to show precisely where the Battle of Britain was won and lost. Losses were high on both sides, but the determined RAF fighter force began to take its toll on the overextended, under-protected Kampfgruppen of Heinkel He 111s, Ju 87s and 88s, and Dornier Do 17s.

Using the famous Spitfire and Hurricane, as well as the lesser known Havoc and Defiant fighters, RAF Fighter Command could really maul the Luftwaffe bombers if they avoided falling foul of the formidable Bf 109...

The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 witnessed the largest tank battles seen since World War II, notably between India's British-made Centurion Mk 7s and the American-made M48 Pattons fielded by Pakistan. Following nearly two decades of tensions and sporadic conflict between India and Pakistan, in August 1965 several thousand Pakistani soldiers entered the disputed territory of Kashmir disguised as local civilians, to which India responded with a successful ground assault. After a week of fighting, India's 1st "Black Elephant" Armoured Division launched an offensive toward Sialkot, where it...

Designed following the relative poor performance of America's multi-role fighters during the Vietnam War, the F-15 Eagle was conceived as a dedicated air superiority fighter. But having trained for fifteen years in the Eagle, it wasn't Eastern Bloc-operated MiGs that the F-15 eventually came up against, but pilots of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi air force.

This book analyzes the combat between the American and Soviet "Cold War fighters" in a balanced and objective fashion, examining how the technical abilities of the aircraft combined with the different levels of training available to...