Full Description
Get inside the head of one of America's most experienced MiG pilots as he tells the thrilling tale of the top-secret US operation that wouldn't feel out of place in 'Top Gun'.
After finding themselves outflown over Vietnam, the American military launched top-secret Operation Constant Peg, using illicitly obtained Russian Fighters pitted against star US fighter pilots in simulated combat exercises. With controls labelled in Russian and the only spare parts being the ones they could salvage, the pilots who climbed into the MiGs - the Red Eagles - accepted all of the risks associated with operating these aircraft.
This book describes what it was like to be there day in and day out at one of the most access-restricted airfields in the entire USAF, flying MiGs alongside some of the very best fighter pilots hand-picked from the ranks of the USAF, US Navy and US Marine Corps. Rob "Z-Man" Zettel tells the Red Eagles story for the first time through the experiences of a pilot who flew these aircraft to their maximum performance in simulated combat engagements, often several times a day, against frontline fighter pilots of the three US sister services.
Vivid accounts of training engagements put the reader right in the cockpit, while historical photographs help paint the picture of an operation that took the US Air Force from its disappointing performance in the Vietnam War to unprecedented success in Operation Desert Storm.
Contents
Prologue
1. Like Ice Skating
2. A Distant Memory
3. Improbable Odds
4. Tweets and Talons
5. F-4 Phantom II - The Beast
6. A Vector
7. The Fork in the Road
8. Sharpening the Edge
9. Inherent Risks and Cheating Death
10. Right Place, Right Time
11. "How'd You Get this Assignment?"
12. Going Up North
13. The Assets
14. Light the Rocket
15. "I'm Not Him"
16. Behind the "Black Curtain"
17. "Stink Bugs"
18. The Aggressors
19. The Crapper
20. "You're Grounded!"
21. TOPGUN
22. Coincidence or a Prelude to History?
23. MiG-21 vs F-15
24. "Sir, Can He Do That?"
25. "Flogger!"
26. "Knock It Off!"
27. "We Lost One"
28. Pushing the Envelope
29. The Final Push
30. Going Back
Epilogue
