Attack
from the Sea: A History of the U.S. Navy's Seaplane Striking Force
- This book investigates the difficulties of weapon system procurement
within the context of strategic realities, inter service rivalry,
and constrained defense budgets. It also looks at an alternative
weapon system that the Navy saw as a means of extending its conventional
reach and as a complement to the carrier and land-based bomber
used for nuclear deterrence. That weapon, however, proved unsuccessful
in the end. The author helps the reader understand that while
conceptual and operational flaws kept the Seaplane Striking Forcefrom achieving the goals set for it, the idea of a mobile
weapon system capable of long-range attacks from the sea remains
valid. Other books touch briefly on the subject, but this is the
first to examine the concept in depth.
Modern
Military Aircraft The Aviation Fact file - More than 120 bombers,
transports, and tankers, all still in service around the world
today, are featured here on heavily illustrated two-page spreads.
From early jets such as the MiG-15 to the $2 billion B-2A Spirit,
the wide range of aircraft employed by today's air forces is thoroughly
examined in text, graphics, and color and archival black-and-white
photographs.
Grumman
F-14 Tomcat: Shipborne Superfighter
- This is THE book for Grumman's venerable F-14
Tomcat. Sure, some other books like Tomcat Alley by David F. Brown
might beat it in the pictorial department, but overall the information
in the articles plus the photos it already has beat any
other book about the F-14 Tomcat. Everything about the Tomcat
until the books date of publication is covered. From the early
beginnings of the Navy's need for a Fleet Air Defense F6D Missileer
and the VFX competition that Grumman won all the way to the combat
record and current strike attack roles. Every F-14 variant is
covered, even the ones that were only concept models. Plus great
artistic renderings of historic F-14s.
Great
Book of Fighters - This is an excellent reference book for
those of us who enjoy airplanes and military history. A vast,
double-folio sized book, Fighters is a comprehensive illustrated
volume which attempts to cover virtually every fighter plane
ever produced - from ill-fated prototypes to successful mass-produced
planes like the Super marine Spitfire, Mig 15, McDonnell-Douglas
Phantom and the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. The text is straightforward,
terse and technical, but then, this is a reference work.
Grumman
F-14 Tomcat: Bye - Bye Baby...!: Images & Reminiscences From
35 Years of Active Service - The F-14 Tomcat is a supersonic,
twin-engine, variable sweep wing, two-place strike fighter manufactured
by Grumman Aircraft Corporation. Its primary missions include
precision strike against ground targets, air superiority, and
fleet air defense. Those are the facts. But, behind the facts
are the reality of thirty-five years of active naval service as
the foremost air superiority fighter of the cold war with continuing
service as a fighter-bomber in the Gulf Wars. Over two hundred
thousand sailors, officers and enlisted men, pilots, and ground
crew served in F-14 squadrons with the Tomcat over the years.Now,
as the Tomcat flies off into its sunset and the scrapyardno flyable
F-14s will be allowed to survive for fear that Iran, the other
operator of the aircraft, might be able to obtain spare parts
for their Tomcat fleet Grumman F-14 Tomcat: Anytime Baby . . .
! is a fitting tribute to this still potent old man of the sky.
The photography is amazing and the stories are exhilarating.
Anytime,
Baby A Complete History of Grumman's F-14 Tomcat - For the
past two years, while the sun was setting on the iconic F-14 Tomcat,
aviation photographer and author Erik Hildebrandt has been capturing
the final defining moments of the few remaining F-14 squadrons
in the US Navy Fighter community. Anytime, Baby! is an unforgettable
collection of final-phase Tomcat milestones captured and preserved
forever in some of the most detailed and dynamic photographic
compositions Hildebrandt has ever attempted. From riding along
with VF-211, the last squadron to ever fly the F-14A,
to flying with VF-32 on the last deployment of the F-14B in
the Arabian Gulf in 2005, Hildebrandt has been witness to the
end of an era. Anytime, Baby! is an important historic record
as much as it is an artistic and beautiful tribute to the most
popular American fighter in history. A true "must-have"
addition for the aviation enthusiasts as well as former and current
Navy and Marine Corp service personnel.
