Yet even before its public appearance in Moscow, the MiG had been a grave concern for Western analysts. In The German Aces Speak II , Heaton and Lewis paint a picture of the war through the eyes of four more of Germany's most significant pilots, put together from numerous interviews personally conducted by Heaton from the s through the s.
By: Colin D. Heaton , and others. Few perspectives epitomize the sheer drama and sacrifice of combat more perfectly than those of the fighter pilots of World War II. As romanticized as any soldier in history, the World War II fighter pilot was viewed as larger than life: a dashing soul waging war amongst the clouds. In the plus years since the Allied victory, stories of these pilots' heroics have never been in short supply.
But what about their adversaries - the highly skilled German aviators who pushed the Allies to the very brink of defeat? By: Anne-Marie Lewis , and others. Here, in his own words, is the true story of America's wildest flying hero, of his extraordinary heroism, and of his greatest battle of all-the fight to survive.
The legendary Marine Corps officer and his bunch of misfits, outcasts, and daredevils gave a new definition to "hell-raising" - on the ground and in the skies. By: Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. The first fully trained and fully equipped group sent to the South Pacific, the th racked up a devastating score against the enemy. Armed to the teeth with machine guns and fragmentation bombs, and flying their Bs at impossibly low altitudes - often below 50 feet - the pilots and air crews strafed and bombed enemy installations and shipping with a fury that helped cripple Japan.
By: Jay A. Nicknamed "Mini-Man" for his diminutive stature, a mere five-foot-three and pounds in his flight boots, chopper pilot Ron Alexander proved to be a giant in the eyes of the men he rescued from the jungles and paddies of Vietnam. With an unswerving concern for every American soldier trapped by enemy fire, and a fearlessness that became legendary, Ron Alexander earned enough official praise to become the second most decorated helicopter pilot of the Vietnam era.
Yet, for Ron, the real reward came from plucking his fellow soldiers from harm's way, giving them another chance to get home alive. By: Ron Alexander , and others. Holding the Line chronicles the carrier war in Korea from the first day of the war to the last, focusing on frontline combat while also describing the technical development of aircraft and shipboard operations and how these all affected the broader strategic situation on the Korean Peninsula.
By: Thomas McKelvey Cleaver. Having overcome numerous hurdles just to learn how to fly, he went on to compile a record of Arab MiGs and Sukhoi kills that bettered any other combat aviators' tally in the entire world. This fast-moving autobiography details his experiences particularly in the intense conflicts of , the Six Day War, and , the Yom Kippur War.
A Frenchman who flew with the RAF, he survived over operational sorties, shooting down scores of enemy aircraft while friends and comrades lost their lives in the deadly skies above Europe. By: Pierre Clostermann. The campaign has widely been described as a textbook example of Blitzkrieg, but it was actually a fairly conventional campaign as the Wehrmacht was still learning how to use its new Panzers and dive-bombers. The Polish military is often misrepresented as hopelessly obsolete and outclassed by the Wehrmacht, yet in fact it was well-equipped with modern weapons and armor.
By: Robert Forczyk. And so have their stories. Award-winning writer and former fighter pilot Jay A. Stout uses Unsung Eagles to save an exciting collection of those accounts from oblivion. These are not rehashed tales from the hoary icons of the war. Rather, they are stories from the masses of largely unrecognized men who - in the aggregate - actually won it.
Gary Linderer volunteered for the Army, then volunteered for Airborne training. When he reached Vietnam in , he was assigned to the famous "Screaming Eagles," the st Airborne Division. There are none better. By: Gary A. Germany's winter campaign of has commonly been seen as its "first defeat". In Retreat from Moscow , David Stahel argues that, in fact, it was its first strategic success in the east. Though the Red Army managed to push the Wehrmacht back from Moscow, the Germans lost far fewer men one to six , frustrated their enemy's strategic plan, and emerged in the spring unbroken and poised to recapture the initiative.
By: David Stahel. When Admiral William Halsey selected Destroyer Squadron 21 to lead his victorious ships into Tokyo Bay to accept the Japanese surrender, it was the most battle-hardened US naval squadron of the war. Through diaries, personal interviews with survivors, and letters written to and by the crews during the war, preeminent historian of the Pacific theater John Wukovits brings to life the human story of the squadron and its men.
By: John Wukovits. Of the many myths that emerged following the end of the Korean War, the prevailing one in the West was that of the absolute supremacy of US Air Force pilots and aircraft over their Soviet-supplied opponents. The claims of the victory-loss ratio achieved by the US Air Force fighter pilots flying the North American F Sabre against their communist adversaries, amongst other such fabrications, went unchallenged until the end of the Cold War, when Soviet records of the conflict were finally opened.
From that point onwards, a very different story began to emerge. Far from decisive American victories over an unsophisticated opponent, the aerial battles of the Korean War were, at least in the early years, evenly matched affairs, fought to an approximate victory-loss ratio. Though the Soviet victories declined over the following years, this had more to do with home politics than American tactics. In addition to the aerial combat over MiG Alley, this title covers the full range of US Air Force activities over Korea, including the failed strategic bombing campaign and the escalating nuclear threat.
Incorporating first-hand accounts from those involved, both US and Soviet, this new history of the US Air Force in Korea reveals the full story of this bitter struggle in the Eastern skies. Interesting day to day action of the Korean air war. Highly recommend! Wow, this audio book is extremely detailed, don' let that stop you from listening to it.
George Andrew Davis, Jr. Air Force to receive the Medal of Honor after being killed while leading his section of two Fs against 12 MiGs when he was trying to shoot them all down. The US Air Force claimed that it maintained air superiority throughout the war and held a significant kill ratio over communist air forces operating in and around Korea.
The modern Russian sources indicate a kill ratio of 3. Some consider the "kill" totals over MiG Alley controversial. The USAF says it lost less than aircraft in air combat. The F pilots, in turn, claimed MiGs shot down, while B gunners claimed a further Over thirty Sabre pilots were claimed to have been shot down behind enemy lines and their fate has never been definitively established. Surviving pilots, captured and later repatriated after the armistice, reported being interrogated by Koreans, Russians, and Chinese.
For years after the Korean War ended in , rumours persisted of pilots held captive by the Soviets. A number of computer video games based on the combat in MiG Alley have been produced, amongst them:. Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Raaen, Jr. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? MiG Alley.
Edit source History Talk 0. For the game, see MiG Alley video game. United Kingdom: The History Channel. Less than a year earlier, another B crew attacking a different North Korean air base registered one of the first encounters with the sweptwing jet.
The MiG bounced the lone Superfortress, pummeled it, then disappeared. Still, F squadrons from the 4th Fighter Interceptor Wing faced stubborn, skilled resistance. The MiG pilots, many of them Russians, were as good as their aircraft. Both sides claimed MiG Alley dominance, but the contest was more evenly matched than either admitted. The MiG outclimbed the early-model F and reached higher altitudes. But MiG Alley air battles also impacted wider war strategy.
Both the F and MiG were point-defense interceptors designed to confront incoming multiengine bombers. Because U. Air Force. Over the ensuing months, as Korean truce talks commenced, Air Force planners struggled to devise new tactics to overcome the problem. One option was to take out new North Korean airfields. By October , with truce negotiations adjourned, the stage was set for two bomber-fighter MiG Alley showdowns. Wakeup came at 1 a. After leveling off at 5, feet, the airmen settled in to transit the East China Sea.
Crews were a blend of rookies and World War II veteran reservists. Danger was still two hours away—the time it took to reach MiG Alley. Expecting low clouds, the crews planned to use SHORAN short range navigation , an electronic system that enabled bombing without actually seeing the target. SHORAN required flying an electronically prescribed arc all through the bomb run, precluding evasive maneuvers.
Because continuous banking risked midair collision, the ships spread out. Without fighter escort, they were sitting ducks. At , 55 close-cover Republic F Thunderjets joined up with the Bs. The Fs, though welcome, were no match for MiGs. Sturdier protection lay with the high cover: two ship Sabre formations taking off a little after 9. The enemy was already intercepting heavy radio traffic and sensed a major air attack—perhaps even against Manchuria.
Each pilot had only to keep a needle centered on a calibrated instrument display to stay on course. To guard the slower Bs, the Fs flew lazy-eight patterns. Meanwhile, the Sabre formations set up a racetrack pattern above and behind. Bill Reeter, relinquished the lead. Beyond Taechon, an uneasy calm set in.
The Bs were now four minutes from Namsi—and more flak. MiGs stayed clear of the flak fields, so now was the time to expect them. At the 18th Guards Fighter Regiment approached the Sabre escorts.
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