ROLLING THUNDER: Jet Combat From WW II to the Gulf War

by Ivan Rendall

"The jet fighter is one of the great icons of the second half of the twentieth century, a symbol of achievement, of technical excellence, of ultimate modernity, of latent military power." So begins Ivan Rendall, a former Royal Air Force pilot, in this thrilling first-ever history of the most seductive and deadly of all of man's weapons of war. From its birth in battle during the last days of World War II to its current aeronautical peak, the jet fighter has always been the king of the sky. Rendall's Rolling Thunder is the celebration of a machine, and a culture, for which "winning is about accepting that there is no such thing as second-best." Rendall's scrupulous history is driven by a strong jets may depend upon technological advances, but the human edge supplied by their pilots has determined their success or failure in all times and places. In this respect, the West has triumphed over its enemies. Beginning with the dangerously fast but hopelessly outnumbered German Me 262, jets and the men who flew them quickly became potent physical and psychological weapons. From the ruins of a defeated Germany came the now-familiar look of swept-back wings and with them the secret of supersonic flight. Less than a decade later, the two World War II allies most responsible for Germany's defeat would meet as enemies in Korea. Their planes -- the American F-86 Saber and Russian MiG-15 -- clashed over the Yalu River in what American pilots called "MiG Alley." Diving from 40,000 feet and flying through dry riverbeds so low that their engines kicked up dirt, both sides' machines soon proved their worth. In Vietnam, American fighter pilots involved in the costly "Rolling Thunder" campaign again proved the value of the American emphasis on individualism as taught in the "Top Gun" school of aeronautics. Rendall vividly describes pilots in F-4 Phantoms and F-105 Thunderchiefs dodging SA-2 surface-to-air missiles in the "ultimate test of man versus machine." Recent uses of air power, from the legendary "Instant Thunder" campaign in the Gulf War to the enforcement of No-Fly Zones in Bosnia, have proved that the jet fighter remains as versatile and dangerous as ever. But today, with $100 million mach 3 machines capable of climbing 65,000 feet -- twice the height of Everest -- in a minute, many have argued that the pilot has become the weak link in the jet fighter's lethal equation. Rendall shows that the argument to remove the pilot from his machine -- seemingly complete with NASA's new unmanned X-36 -- is as old as the machine that broke the sound barrier, Chuck Yeager's X-1. The ability to balance the grace and brutality of a machine that has evolved into a perfect combination of form and function will remain the unique province of the fighter pilot -- the "quintessential warrior of our times."

Genres: History, Military Fiction

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 19, 1999

Reviews

[Martin Koenigsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely loved reading this book- and think it's a great addition to the Air Power canon - but I have to say I marked it down for the lack of any content about the Indo Pakistan wars, wars that certainly featured a lot of Jet to Jet Combat. Aside from that, Ivan Rendall, a former Jet Pilot himself, a journalist and writer on Military Aviation, gives a great popular history of Jet combat in the 20th Century, or as it says on the dust jacket "from WWII to the Gulf War". The book came out in 1997 and is a look back, but Rendall does a great job of establishing through lines of thought- Jets v. Prop planes, Straight Wings v Swept, Machine guns v Cannon v Missiles, ground control v, independent aggressive air control, Interceptor v Long Range Fighter, one vs two crew, SAMs v Air, Air V SAMS, Visual v Radar, and one engine v. two- among a myriad of other considerations like annual budgets and political convulsions. Rendall takes us through the Cold War when the two sides, NATO/SEATO and the Warsaw Pact and/or China (not a monolith- but sharing some doctrines and tendencies) approached air combat differently. Air Defence a cabinet level organisation in Soviet Russia and China, with a focus on numbers and cheaper technology- Militaries in the "west" going for fewer more capable aircraft- with much more highly trained and paid crews, both in the air on on the ground. Then he shows you how it played out- and then the short post Cold War world he saw. I loved every minute of it -although I really wanted that Indo-Pak war content- and missed it.
I thought the author was great at explaining the Generations of fighters and their ascending capability, both aeronautic and electronic. Rendall also explains how the actual war applications of the technology did not always match the reasons or capabilities for which it had been created. Weapons created for a Massive Nuclear War, delivering nukes or shooting down bombers were suddenly applied to fighting Jet Attack planes and fighters. He also revolves the dialogue around the idea of Air Superiority- and how it can be achieved militarily. The jumps in technique from the Korean War to Vietnam to the Arab Israeli Wars to the Falklands war to the Gulf War and then to the Kosovo Operation are all discussed in proper depth for a popular history- although professionals may want even more. I found the narrative quite compelling and learned a few things about some conflicts I thought understood well enough. Many of his future projections have come to pass, so I found the author a credible source on this expanded topic.
There are few adult themes in this book - and the topic is well enough explained that a Junior reader over about 12/13 with an aviation interest should be able to get a lot out of this book. I think there is a lot of Meat here for the Gamer/Modeler/Military Enthusiast- a ton of content that will aid in Scenario/Diorama Development. Rendall is good at describing raids, missions, encounters, and combats- and has included a few key B/W shots of planes, combats and characters- but not many maps. On the other hand- I think any regular Blood Red Sky -Jets or Team Yankee/Nam the Game/Fate of A Nation/Oil War will get a much better understanding of modern Air to Air , Air to Ground, and Ground to Air warfare after reading this book. I also think it is a good book for the average reader as well - as Rendall stops to explain jargon and acronyms often enough for the most novice military history buff. A strong recommendation for any Cold War Library.