Peter E Davies: 38 books

The Vietnam war was the first conflict that saw extensive use of surface-to-air anti-aircraft missiles, and thus became a training ground for the tactics of this new type of battle. This Duel presents this story in the context of two of the main opponents: America's top fighter-bomber and the NVA's best anti-aircraft missile.

The USAF introduced the F-4C Phantom II into the Vietnam war in April 1965 from Ubon RTAB, Thailand. The F-4C/D soon became the Air Force's principal fighter over the North, destroying 85 MiGs by the close of 1968. This book describes how the USAF turned a gunless naval interceptor into an opponent...

Originally designed as a carrier-borne long-range interceptor armed with radar-guided missiles and tasked with defence against missile-launching bombers, the Phantom II went on to establish itself as one of the most important multi-role fighter, attack and reconnaissance aircraft of the 20th century....

The F-4 Phantom II was the USAF workhorse fighter-bomber for the Linebacker campaign, which eventually saw US forces withdraw from Vietnam 'with honour' in 1973. This book covers the F-4 attacks on numerous targets in North Vietnamese cities such as Hanoi and Haiphong, as well as its engagements with...

Even before the spectacular success of its X-1 rocket-powered aircraft in breaking the 'sound barrier', the adventurous Bell Aircraft Corporation was already pushing ahead with a parallel project to build a second aircraft capable of far higher speeds. The X-2 (or Model 52) explored the equally uncertain...

The revolutionary X-15 remains the fastest manned aircraft ever to fly. Built in the two decades following World War II, it was the most successful of the high-speed X-planes. The only recently broken 'sound barrier' was smashed completely by the X-15, which could hit Mach 6.7 and soar to altitudes...

The F-4 Phantom II is perhaps the most famous post-war fighter. Primarily used as a land-based fighter-bomber and reconnaissance platform, its naval origins and the immense contribution made to the US war effort in Vietnam by its original carrier-based versions began its legend. This title examines...

The six Douglas D-558 research aircraft, built as two variants, were produced for a US Navy and NACA collaborative project to investigate flight in the high subsonic and supersonic regimes and to develop means of coping with the dangerous phenomena of compressibility and pitch-up which had caused...

Half a century before the 'flying wing' B-2 stealth bomber entered service, John K. 'Jack' Northrop was already developing prototypes of a large 'flying wing' strategic bomber, which would have been the most radical bombers of their age. World War II brought a need for very long-range bombers...

Ever since its introduction in the late 1950s, the B-52 Stratofortress has been the United States' primary heavy bomber and a powerful symbol of its immense military might. Its powerful electronic countermeasures equipment (ECM) was thought to make the B-52 immune to ground-to-air missile attack,...

Although the F-4 Phantom II was the most important fighter-bomber to see action with all three American services during the Vietnam War, it was essentially a U.S. Navy design, and the carrier-borne squadron crews were its main operators in combat. The aircraft pioneered the use of long-range,...

The F-105D Thunderchief was originally designed as a low-altitude nuclear strike aircraft, but the outbreak of the Vietnam War led to it being used instead as the USAF's primary conventional striker against the exceptionally well-defended targets in North Vietnam and Laos. F-105 crews conducted long-distance...

One of the most dramatic bombers of its day, the Convair B-58 came to epitomise the Cold War power of Strategic Air Command. Introduced only 12 years after the sound barrier was first broken, this iconic plane became the first large long-range supersonic bomber to take to the skies, a feat which had...

McDonnell's F-101 Voodoo series was in many ways the most interesting of the 'Century Series' fighter programmes of the 1950s, partly because the type's design and intended mission changed radically during a 40-year career. Originally designed as a fighter-bomber, it was converted to be a reconnaissance...