Desert Storm Air War: The Aerial Campaign Against Saddam's Iraq in the 1991 Gulf War

by Jim Corrigan

The air campaign that opened the Gulf War in January 1991 was one of the most stunning in history. For five weeks, American and other Coalition aircraft pounded enemy targets with 88,000 tons of bombs. Sorties—more than 100,000 of them—were launched from bases in Saudi Arabia, from aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, and even from bases in the United States. The skies over Iraq and Kuwait were filled with a dizzying array of new and improved weapons—Tomahawk and Hellfire missiles, stealth aircraft, and laser-guided smart bombs—and the results were impressive. The Coalition swiftly established air superiority and laid the foundation for the successful five-day ground campaign that followed. The results were also highly visible as the American people watched the bombings unfold in grainy green video-game-like footage broadcast on CNN and the nightly news. The overwhelming success of the Desert Storm air campaign has made it influential ever since, from the “shock and awe” bombing during the Iraq War in 2003 to more recent drone operations, but the apparent ease with which the campaign was won has masked the difficulty—and the true achievement—of executing such a vast and complex operation. Using government reports, scholarly studies, and original interviews, Jim Corrigan reconstructs events through the eyes of not only the strategists who planned it, but also the pilots who flew the missions.

Genres: History, Aviation, War

240 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2017

About the author

Jim Corrigan holds degrees from Penn State and Johns Hopkins. He has written for American History magazine among other publications and is the author of The 48th Pennsylvania in the Battle of the Crater (McFarland, 2006) and more than a dozen books on military history topics.

His latest book, Desert Storm Air War (Stackpole, 2017) reconstructs the 1991 aerial campaign through the eyes of not only the strategists who planned it, but also the pilots who flew the missions.

Jim has appeared on PCN’s PA Books and other TV programs. He lives near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Reviews

[Dipra Lahiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview of the air campaign in the 1st Gulf War. The dogfights vs. Iraqi MIGs, the tactics against SAMs, and pilot accounts of their sorties make for thrilling reading.

[Davis Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book!

I have been watching a YouTube series about Desert Storm by the Operations Room (Highly recommend his channel) while reading this book. They go perfectly together. The video showed where the aircraft were and the book tells you what the pilots were thinking at that time. Even if you don’t watch the video, this book tells you soooo much about Desert Storm that you never would have thought. One of the best books I have ever read. Highly recommend!

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very nice narrative of the Persian Gulf Air War

I’m rather happy I bought this book as a flight simmer. Jim’s book takes you inside the cockpits of the Allied pilots waging the 1991 Persian Gulf War. You will also get a peek inside the command decisions made before and during the air war. Good stuff.