![Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft Book 49) by [Cooper, Tom, Bishop, Farzad]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51JCkSETZNL._SY346_.jpg)
I really enjoyed reading this book. While this book re-counts only pilot's stories and there are no names or documented evidence, I still feel its an insightful read.
I was a teenager (and still an aviation buff) at the height of Iran-Iraq war and the media (military or otherwise) would always give the Iraqi side, with its more modern air force inflicted unlimited harm on Iran's largely grounded jets. This book gives a decent insight into the sort of operations a smaller and cannibalized fleet carried out against the Iraqis. Once released from prison by the Revolutionary Guards, the US-trained pilots were true tacticians in employing their weapons in a way otherwise never done with the Phoenix/AWG-9 till then or since then.
I had a bit of skepticism reading into this: what if this was all the Iranian pilots that were interviewed wished they had fought the war vs. what they actually did so take it as half truth.
The conclusion of the war does not support my skepticism: despite the embargo on Iran, and very limited new supplies of weapons (other than what they were getting through Israel and other sources at top $), while the Iraqi's essentially had access to replacement aircraft from Soviets, and new F-1s as well as Exocets, the war essentially was a stalemate. Iraqi Air Force, despite its repeated attempts at attacking Kharg Island and supposedly a more modernized and a fresher fleet through the 8 year war, never had true air superiority either over the Gulf or over Iran. If they had, I doubt they would have agreed to a the UN ceasefire and without any gains to show.
If you take the skeptic hat off, its impressive to see that if more than half is true, that the Iranians were able to employ combined air operations with tanker and strike aircraft, while providing air cover and AWACS capability through AWG-9.
I am sure the CIA and the US Navy was closely seeing the use of the F-14 against Soviet jamming equipment and aircraft to see how its own primary fleet defense fighter would act against a real scenario in a NATO-Warsaw Pact conflict. I hope when that becomes old news , somebody will write about (in our lifetimes) about the learnings the US took into its own tactics and improvements to keep the F-14 ahead of the Soviet tech for another 14-16 years.
- File Size: 15734 KB
- Print Length: 96 pages
- Publisher: Osprey Publishing; 1 edition (November 20, 2012)
- Publication Date: November 20, 2012
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B01DPPWK36
- Text-to-Speech:
Enabled
- Word Wise: Enabled
- Lending: Not Enabled
-
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#625,967 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #400 in Iran History
- #1116 in History of the Middle East
- #680 in Military Aviation History (Kindle Store)
Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, 
