Although the opposing forces of the Six Day War were both flying comparable third-generation Mach 2 jet fighters, the pilots were trained to different standards, and were expected to utilize different tactics. Using the latest research, first-hand accounts, and specially commissioned artwork, Shlomo Aloni tells the dramatic story of the dogfights in the skies over the Middle East.

Although the opposing forces of the Six Day War were both flying comparable third-generation Mach 2 jet fighters, the pilots were trained to different standards, and were expected to utilize different tactics. Using the latest research, first-hand accounts, and specially commissioned artwork, Shlomo Aloni tells the dramatic story of the dogfights in the skies over the Middle East.

As the routed North Korean People's Army (NKPA) withdrew into the mountainous reaches of their country and the People's Republic of China (PRC) funneled in its massive infantry formations in preparation for a momentous counter-offensive, both lacked adequate air power to challenge US and UN. Reluctantly, Josef Stalin agreed to provide the requisite air cover, introducing the superior swept-wing MiG-15 to counter the American's straight-wing F-80 jets. This in turn prompted the USAF to deploy its very best – the F-86A Sabre – to counter this threat. Thus began a two-and-a-half-year struggle in the skies known as “MiG Alley.” In this period, the unrelenting campaign for aerial superiority witnessed the introduction of successive models of these two revolutionary jets into combat. This meticulously researched study not only provides technical descriptions of the two types and their improved variants, complete with a “fighter pilot's assessment” of these aircraft, but also chronicles the entire scope of their aerial duel in “MiG Alley” by employing the recollections of the surviving combatants – including Russian, Chinese, and North Korean pilots – who participated.

This book draws us into the dangerous world braved by American and North Vietnamese airmen in the skies over Vietnam. Influential leaders and tacticians are profiled to provide a comparative evaluation of their contrasting skills. This book also reveals the technical specifications of each jet with an analysis of the weaponry, avionics and survival devices of the F-4 Phantom II as flown by the USAF and the MiG-21. The fighters' strengths and weaknesses are also compared, including turn radius, performance at altitude, range and structural integrity. First-person extracts reflect on the dangers of these aerial duels, as USAF pilots and their counterparts struggled to overcome each plane's shortcomings.

Designed following the relatively poor performance of America's multi-role fighters during the Vietnam War, the F-15 Eagle was conceived as a dedicated air superiority fighter. But, having trained for 15 years in the Eagle it wasn't Eastern Bloc operated MiGs that the F-15 eventually came up against, but pilots of Saddam Hussein's Iraqi airforce. This book analyses the combat between the American and Soviet 'Cold War fighters' in a balanced manner, examining how the technical abilities of the aircraft combined with the different levels of training available to opposing pilots and groundcrews allowed the F-15s to destroy the Iraqi offensive abilities within weeks of the First Gulf War starting. Packed with artwork, illustrations and photographs, this book places the reader in the cockpit during one of the last major dogfighting air wars in modern history.

The MiG-21 (NATO reporting name Fishbed) firmly holds the title of the world's most widely built and used jet fighter, with more than 10,000 units rolling off the lines of three plants in the former Soviet Union. The type was also built under license in India and Czechslovakia, and without license in China until the late 2000s. Designed as a Mach-2 light tactical fighter, its original prototype, the Ye-6/1, was first flown in 1958. The first production variant of the type, designated the MiG-21F, appeared in 1960 and its improved sub-variant, the MiG-21F-13 (Type 74, NATO reporting name Fishbed-C), was made available for export by 1961. It was a simplified daytime short-range, clear-weather interceptor and tactical fighter.

The light and agile A-4 Skyhawk was the first modern American jet to be offered to the Israeli Air Force, marking the point where the US took over from France as Israel's chief military supplier. Deliveries began too late for the A-4 to fight in the Six-Day War, but it soon formed the backbone of the IAF's ground-attack force. From 1969 to 1970 it flew endless sorties against Egyptian forces in the War of Attrition. Then, during the Yom Kippur War, five squadrons of A-4s saw combat and 50 planes were lost as they battled against the Arab armored onslaught. Using previously unpublished first-hand accounts and rare photography from the IAF archives and pilots' private collections, Shlomo Aloni tells the definitive history of the IAF's A-4 squadrons, including the story of Ezra “BABAN” Dotan who became an ace with an unique double-kill of MiG17s.