In the Claws of the Tomcat: US Navy F-14 Tomcat in Combat, 1987-2000 (Middle East@War)

A great book with great information about the history of the F-14 Tomcat...written by a great author.

I have loved the F-14 since the first flight in 1970. Collected everything on the aircraft, built models of it and even had one NFO in an active F-14 squadron fly with his camera taking photos exclusively for me! The Tomcat is/was the ultimate Navy fighter plane from the Grumman Iron Works. It just was so good that it never had much opportunity to fly actual combat missions...other nation's pilots who might have been "Anti-USA" in their policies knew enough to stay away from the "twin-tailed cat" ! There were a few exceptions, and I had hoped that this book would have covered more of the actual combat sorties flown by F-14s, as scarce as they were. The book covers only the 1987-2000 years, and does not go into other combat missions outside these years. That being said, the book is very good, although brief; and the photos are fine, but just nothing new or previously unseen. Perhaps partly due to the UK origins of the author and his resources. If you want info on the F-14 in this "filtration", this is the book for you. Otherwise, you might want to look at it in person before you buy it. There are more volumes of greater coverage (and cost, of course) on the F-14 that might fit your needs more completely.

I was disappointed to see the content of this book. I was expecting much more action and dogfights. much more insight and information that I didn't know, The author, unfortunately, just goes too technical when he talks about the Tomcat and, mistakes apart, the narrative rambles way too much about conspiracies and "magazine" theories without providing real, solid evidence of the many of the engagements of the Tomcat, especially the ones against the IRIAF and IQAF. I was expecting much info here about the Persian Tomcats as I am a big fan of them. Certainly not what I was looking for...

Während der Autor sich in der Vergangenheit einen zweifelhaften Ruf aneignete, da er mündliche Erzählungen von arabischen Miltärangehörigen den belegten Fakten vorzog, werden seine Bücher von Ausgabe zu Ausgabe besser, bzw besser recherchiert. Leider verliert er sich in den Büchern immer wieder im Thema. Schon beim F-15 vs MiG- Buch wurde der Abschuß der F/A-18 thematisiert. In der Schule würde man sagen:Thema verfehlt! Das ist hier auch der Fall. Über 50% des Buches beschäftigt sich mit der irakischen Luftwaffe. Daher werden F-14-Enthusiasten eher enttäuscht sein. Die F-14 hatte in Desert Storm eine eher untergeordnete Rolle und mussten bei Feindkontakt den F-15 den Vortritt lassen. Der Titel irritiert da etwas! Da ich mich für den gesamten Luftkrieg im Golfkonflikt interessiere, ist das komplette Buch eine Bereicherung meiner Bibliothek. Und Tom Cooper peppt das Buch auch mit guten zeitgenössischen Fotos auf, die bisher noch nicht veröffentlicht wurden. Ein gutes Buch, aber nur für Desert Storm- Interessierte empfehlenswert.