Classic Military Aviation Books
Join Date: Feb 2000
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Thud Ridge by Col Jack Broughton. Possibly back in print, I brought a copy in a Stateside BX in the 80's. A classic account of F-105 ops in Vietnam. Col Broughton's wing suffered heavy casualties swapping multi-million $ F-105s for vietcong trucks on the Ho Chi Min trail. One conclusion he came to was that flying below 5000ft in hostile territory thick with light flak and where every paddy field farmer had an AK-47 was very unwise and costly in aircraft and crews.
Its a lesson we should have taken on board before committing Tornados to low level ops in Gulf War 1. The RAF's low level policy was designed to defeat the cold war WARPAC missile threat but ignored western SHORAD and the numerous 23mm AAA available to the lotech Iraqi AD boys.
Anyway, I digress, its a good read with an insight into modern combat leadership. We have learnt nothing new since then.
Its a lesson we should have taken on board before committing Tornados to low level ops in Gulf War 1. The RAF's low level policy was designed to defeat the cold war WARPAC missile threat but ignored western SHORAD and the numerous 23mm AAA available to the lotech Iraqi AD boys.
Anyway, I digress, its a good read with an insight into modern combat leadership. We have learnt nothing new since then.
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Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: UK
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So many suggestions and only 3 books to choose! Interesting to see certain titles keep being mentioned. I think I'll end up choosing three and then some more for my birthday and xmas wishlist 
Woo Woo
Woo Woo
