To the victor in the skies...Jet aviation began as a dynamic, if underutilized, part of a desperate race between Hitler''s scientists and the Allies. Today it is an indispensable component of warfare: space-age machines, incredibly skilled pilots, and weaponry that thinks for itself. Today''s top guns strap themselves into electronic crammed cockpits, hurtle billion-dollar aircraft against concussive G-forces, evade radar behind electronic cloaks, and fire weapons with deadly pinpoint control. In this dramatic, action-packed history, we witness Allied propeller planes dog-fighting German Me 262 jets at the end of World War II; America''s first jet aces making kills in Korea; the Israeli Air Force''s stunning victory against its Arab neighbors and Soviet planes; and the feat of the British Harrier force in the Falklands. From Vietnam to the Gulf War, Rolling Thunder tells a story of tactics, innovations, breakthroughs, and battles, as fighting men and machines push each other to the edge--and beyond...
