SPITFIRE TO REAPER

Sub-titled 'The Changing Face of Aerial Warfare 1940 to the Present Day' defence expert Anthony Tucker-Jones charts the remarkable evolution of aerial warfare and asks can air power alone win a war? That has been a question since the Second World War. Air attacks failed miserably in Vietnam; Operation Linebacker had little effect, while bombing Hanoi just increased hatred for America, yet airstrikes in both Iraq and Libya helped bring about regime changes. No-fly zones may have worked in the Balkans, but they might as well not have been there for Saddam Hussein's Iraq. From the Luftwaffe's massed attack on Britain to NATO's interventions in Libya, the piston engine has been replaced by the jet, and in some cases the pilot has been completely replaced by the microchip and remote control. Carpet bombing is now a global positioning system, and laser pinpointed strikes use precision-guided munitions. Whereas a bomber's greatest enemies were once fighters and flak, these threats have morphed into smart missiles from half a world away. Chapters include Eagle Day, Striking Pearl Harbor, Slaughterer at Kharkov, Typhoons over Normandy, Target Toulon, Death Over the Reich, MiG Alley, Day of the Helicopter, Nam Mud Movers, Niagara, Storm in the Desert and Bombing Tripoli and Rise of the Drone. 220 page softback, 28 pages of illustrations. A History Press publication.