Bogen beskriver hele historien om luftkrigen under Falklandskrigen, idet de to forfattere har hentet materiale til bogen gennem interview af henholdsvis argentinske og engelske piloter.

A Royal Air Force veteran of the Falklands Conflict presents a comprehensive, myth-busting study of the air campaign. In the spring of 1982, Argentina and the UK engaged in tense combat over control of the Falkland Islands. The ten weeks of fighting are often portrayed with a decidedly one-sided narrative: either heroic Argentine pilots relentlessly pressing home their attacks, or the Sea Harrier force utterly dominating its Argentine enemies. In Air Power in the Falklands Conflict, RAF veteran John Shields presents a detailed and even-handed analysis of the Falkland Islands air war. As an RAF officer, John Shields spent two and a half years in the Falklands as an air defense navigator. Using recently released primary source material, Shields looks at the air campaign at the operational level. He develops a considered view of what should have occurred, and contrasts it with what actually happened. In so doing, John Shields has produced a comprehensive account of the air campaign that has demolished many of the enduring myths of this Cold War conflict.

Galloping Ghosts of the Brazilian Coast: United States Naval Air Operations in the South Atlantic During World War II is the story of United States Navy combat aircrews, their counterparts in the Brazilian Air Force, and those who served aboard German U-boats in the South Atlantic during World War II. It covers efforts by the United States Navy to protect the flow of strategic materials, men, and military equipment from ports in South America to points around the Western Hemisphere and Europe. Between January 1943 and September 1944, United States Navy air units sank 16 German U-boats and one Italian submarine in the course of providing aerial coverage for Allied and neutral merchant shipping and conducting anti-submarine sweeps in the South Atlantic. Taken from official sources and personal recollections, Galloping Ghosts of the Brazilian Coast provides an in-depth analysis of United States Navy air operations against German and Italian submarines.

The war fought between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982, for the possession of the Falkland Islands was probably the last 'colonial' war that will ever be undertaken by the British. This book shows how the key to British success was the speed with which the British gained and then maintained air superiority over the islands and the waters around then with their small force of Sea Harrier STOVL warplanes, which operated from two aircraft carriers. Though subsonic, the Sea Harrier and its Sidewinder AAM were a combination altogether superior to Argentina's mix of supersonic and subsonic warplanes with older weapons, and this advantage was emphasised by the significantly greater tactical acuity of the British pilots. The Argentine pilots fought with considerable piloting skill and enormous courage, and scored a number of stunning successes against British warships, but ultimately they could not prevent the British landing and the following land campaign that resulted in complete Argentine defeat.

Sharkey Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, "HMS Invincible", during the Falkland War of April to June 1982, and was senior Sea Harrier adviser to the command on the tactics, direction and progress of the air war. He flew over 60 war missions, achieved three air-to air kills, and took part in or witnessed a total of ten kills; he was also the leading night pilot, and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry. But what, after all, could 20 Sea Harriers, operating from a flight-deck bucketing about in the South Atlantic, do against more than 200 Argentine military aircraft flown by pilots who, as the raids against the British shipping proved, displayed enormous skill and almost suicidal gallantry? The world knows the answer - now. What is puzzling, therefore, is this book's truthful depiction of the attitudes of some senior non-flying naval officers, and of the RAF, towards the men (and indeed the machine) that made possible the victory in the Falklands. This first-hand account charts, in detail, the naval pilots' journey to the South Atlantic, and how they took on and triumphantly conquered the challenges they faced. It is a dramatic story, leavened with accounts of the air-to-air fighting and of life in a squadron at sea and on a war footing. But it is also a tale of inter-Service rivalry, bureaucratic interference, and the less-than-generous attitudes of a number of senior commanders who should certainly have known better; indeed, some of them might even have lost the war through a lack of understanding of air warfare. The author attempts to put the record straight.

In 1982 the second largest country in South America went to war with one of the major NATO powers, over a sparsely populated group of islands in a remote corner of the South Atlantic. Known as the 'Falklands' in Great Britain (even if few Britons knew of their existence before 1982), and as the 'Malvinas' in Argentina (which laid claim to the islands), the skies above and beyond this apparently insignificant territory became the backdrop to a major sea, air, and land war that neither side could afford to lose. For the first time, Wings of the Malvinas provides a comprehensive and exhaustively researched history of the battle from the Argentinean side, from the first landings at Stanley airport to the near-suicidal bombing attacks on the Royal Navy landing force in the San Carlos strait. Far more than just a history of units and operations, Wings of the Malvinas uncovers the personal stories from both sides of the conflict: "The earth seemed to come to life; missiles, tracers, explosions, and they all seemed to be coming towards my plane. I knew I mustn't lose concentration! ...Again I pulled the trigger, watching the rockets heading for the target, when suddenly I heard bangs shaking my plane again and again. A light, an explosion and sparks began to jump everywhere to the right of my instrument panel...the canopy disintegrated and I felt the freezing air from outside. I was flying just 30 feet from the ground and I was out of control! My hands flew to the ejection handle. There was nothing more to do, I was very low, out of control and I felt that death was very close, but I wasn't scared, I was quiet." Illustrated throughout with maps, diagrams and more than 450 photographs - the vast majority of them previously unseen, Wings of the Malvinasis the definitive account of the Argentinean air war over the Falkland Islands and the hostile waters of the South Atlantic.

In early summer 1982--winter in the South Atlantic--Argentina's military junta invades the Falklands. Within days, a British Royal Navy Task Force is assembled and dispatched. This is the story of D Squadron, 22 SAS, commanded by Cedric Delves. The relentless tempo of events defies belief. Raging seas, inhospitable glaciers, hurricane-force winds, helicopter crashes, raids behind enemy lines--the Squadron prevailed against them all, but the cost was high. Eight died and more were wounded or captured. Holding fast to their humanity, D Squadron's fighters were there at the start and end of the Falklands War, the first to raise a Union Jack over Government House in Stanley. Across an Angry Sea is a chronicle of daring, skill and steadfastness among a tight-knit band of brothers; of going awry, learning fast, fighting hard, and winning through.

In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

By 1982, the backbone of the Argentine combat aviation, both on the Air Force and the Navy, was formed by three batches of Douglas A-4 Skyhawks, with the A-4B and C of the Air Force and the A-4Qs of the Navy. Despite their age, being a model almost 30 years old at the time of the war, and lacking protection, they took on the overwhelming struggle to fight the British Task Force that opposed the Argentine forces on the Malvinas/Falkland Islands. The Skyhawks were responsible for inflicting the greatest damage upon the Royal Navy, sinking HMS Coventry, Ardent, Antelope, the RFA Sir Gallahad, and LCU F-4, while damaging many other ships and striking ground targets. They also suffered heavy losses, with 10 A-4Bs, 9 A-4Cs and three A-4Qs lost in combat, with eighteen pilots being killed. The experience of the Skyhawk during the war was another addition to the legend the model had become over the skies of Vietnam and Israel. Despite many reports to the contrary, at the time of writing the Argentine Air Force still operates modernised A-4ARs and OA-4Ars, and is one of the last two military operators of the Skyhawk in the world.

Publishing in the 35th anniversary of the Falklands War, this fully illustrated book examines the actions between Royal Navy Sea Harriers and the French-built Argentine Air Force Mirage III and Dagger aircraft.