In the early hours of April 17, 1952 World War III nearly began. The Distant Early Warning line (DEW) was still an idea to be addressed by the U.S. government and its top military brass. “Willy Victor and 25 knothole” is about that vital cog of airborne defense against the real threat of a sneak attack (atomic and/ or airborne) against the American mainland. Bruce Jarvis, former naval flight crew member, recounts the operations of his Airborne Early Warning Squadron (AEWRON) experience, flying in a Lockheed Super Constellation Warning Star ( Navy designation Willy Victor-2) in support of the DEW line that became fully operable in the year 1957. It introduces readers to the flyers’ lives during the Cold War, and with little fanfare (but much moxie) recalls the unknown heroism of some of the front line troops in the form of a fictional but typical crew of naval airmen, of the now defunct conflict between Russia and the United States. Although the crew is fictional, their stories are true. The entire U.S. air defense effort was conceptualized by what is known as the Lincoln Summer Study Group in 1952. It was in response to the panic in NORAD ( the North American Defense Command ) when “bogeys” or aircraft contrails were spotted near northern Canada-the U.S. had neither warning nor the means to combat its threat, if any. Had Kruschechev so chosen, the bogeys could have been the vanguard of a Russian first strike on the heart of America. The stories in “Willy Victor and 25 knothole” include purposes of the AEWRON missions, their importance, the people who flew them, personal anecdotes, their ground crews, their families and women and their sad or happy moments. It shows the human face of a war mostly fought in the rarefied scientific/technological and secret ops realms. Bruce Jarvis has taken good care in writing this book so that Americans may know and not forget the few good men who put their lives on the line during the cold war to protect the United States of America.

The author and his wife, Mary attending a Willy Victor Flyer's reunion at Chanute Air Force Base September 6, 2003. They and others were celebrating the coming out of WV-2 Navy 141311

The stories in this book were supplied by squadron mates who served with the U.S. Navy's Airborne Early Warning Squadron One or VW-1, a squadron that supported the Seventh Fleet and also engaged in typhoon tracking. The squadron's existence spanned a nearly 20 year period that began with the Korean War and ended with the Vietnam War. This collection is titled “From Guam and Beyond” because the squadron was stationed on Guam but it also includes the authors’ experiences as they were stationed at or came in contact with populations at other sites in the Western Pacific, ranging from Yap in the Caroline Islands to Japan, Okinawa, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Since 1986 the multi-role swing-wing Panavia Tornado has been the cornerstone of the RAF’s jet fighter and bomber forces, designed to intercept Cold War Soviet bombers and drop conventional and nuclear weapons on invading Warsaw Pact forces. RAF Tornados have seen action in both Gulf Wars, over Kosovo, and most recently over Afghanistan and Libya. Former RAF Tornado ADV pilot and air-to-air photographer Ian Black gives an ‘insider’ insight into operating, flying and maintaining the air defence and strike versions of the swing-wing jet.

First published in 2003. The NATO-led Operation Allied Force was fought in 1999 to stop Serb atrocities against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. This war, as noted by the distinguished military historian John Keegan, "marked a real turning point . . . and proved that a war can be won by airpower alone." Colonels Haave and Haun have organized firsthand accounts of some of the people who provided that airpower-the members of the 40th Expeditionary Operations Group. Their descriptions-a new wingman's first combat sortie, a support officer's view of a fighter squadron relocation during combat, and a Sandy's leadership in finding and rescuing a downed F-117 pilot-provide the reader with a legitimate insight into an air war at the tactical level and the airpower that helped convince the Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, to capitulate.

The X-31 Enhanced Fighter Maneuverability Demonstrator was unique among experimental aircraft. A joint effort of the United States and Germany, the X-31 was the only X-plane to be designed, manufactured, and flight tested as an international collaboration. It was also the only X-plane to support two separate test programs conducted years apart, one administered largely by NASA and the other by the U.S. Navy, as well as the first X-plane ever to perform at the Paris Air Show. Flying Beyond the Stall begins by describing the government agencies and private-sector industries involved in the X-31 program, the genesis of the supermaneuverability concept and its initial design breakthroughs, design and fabrication of two test airframes, preparation for the X-31's first flight, and the first flights of Ship #1 and Ship #2. Subsequent chapters discuss envelope expansion, handling qualities (especially at high angles of attack), and flight with vectored thrust. The book then turns to the program's move to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and actual flight test data. Additional tasking, such as helmet-mounted display evaluations, handling quality studies, aerodynamic parameter estimation, and a "tailless" study are also discussed.The book describes how, in the aftermath of a disastrous accident with Ship #1 in 1995, Ship #2 was prepared for its outstanding participation in the Paris Air Show. The aircraft was then shipped back to Edwards AFB and put into storage until the late 1990s, when it was refurbished for participation in the U. S. Navy's VECTOR program. The book ends with a comprehensive discussion of lessons learned and includes an Appendix containing detailed information.

This is the second volume in a series of chronological histories prepared by the Marine Corps History and Museums Division to cover the entire span of Marine Corps involvement in the Vietnam War. This volume details the Marine activities during 1965, the year the war escalated and major American combat units were committed to the conflict. The narrative traces the landing of the nearly 5,000-man 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade and its transformation into the ΙII Marine Amphibious Force, which by the end of the year contained over 38,000 Marines. During this period, the Marines established three enclaves in South Vietnam’s northernmost corps area, I Corps, and their mission expanded from defense of the Da Nang Airbase to a balanced strategy involving base defense, offensive operations, and pacification. This volume continues to treat the activities of Marine advisors to the South Vietnamese armed forces but in less detail than its predecessor volume, U.S. Marines in Vietnam, 1954-1964; The Advisory and Combat Assistance Era.