U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft, 1920-2020 - Norman Friedman

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U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft, 1920-2020

9781682474174.jpg

By Norman Friedman
  • Subject: Spring 2022 Catalog | World War II
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Pages: 480 pages
  • Illustrations: 246 b/w illustrations
  • Published: May 15, 2022
  • ISBN-10: 1682474178
  • ISBN-13: 9781682474174
  • Product Dimensions: 11 × 8.5 × 1 in
  • Product Weight: 24 oz

Overview​

U.S. Navy Attack Aircraft, 1920–2020 is uniquely told from the point of view of the Navy, as understood through its previously-classified documents. Spanning a century from the earliest airplanes conceived to operate from U.S. carriers in 1920, to the current F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Both the requirements and the available technology kept changing. In many cases the Navy drove the technology.  Norman Friedman is the first to take the requirements and the available technology into account to explain the choices the Navy made. The airplanes the Navy bought were always designers’ attempts to meet specific demands set by the kind of warfare the Navy expected. The reader sees Navy successes and failures in guessing at the future. This is a unique way to understand the panoply of airplanes the Navy has relied on through the years, and why some succeeded but others failed. This history includes not only the airplanes adopted by the Navy, but also alternative proposals presented in design competitions that never made it to the flight deck. In many cases these other planes have been completely forgotten; they have never previously been published. Friedman not only examines the airplanes but also their weapons and their tactics—which in turn shaped other aircraft and the nature of air operations. In the case of Vietnam, with the declassification of key documents it is now possible to see how and why the Navy’s innovative approach to air operations triumphed over the integrated air defense system built by the North Vietnamese, with important implications for later successes, such as the attack on Libya in 1986. As told through the 1970s (as limited by security), the story is based almost entirely on the Navy’s own internal documents, including those setting carrier and aircraft policy and those describing design competitions.  Later developments are described on the basis of public information.

This is the sequel to Fighters Over The Fleet: Naval Air Defence From Biplanes to the Cold War.
 
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List price $125! At that price it had better be good!
 
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The span is too broad for me as I am only interested in Cold War.era stuff. But I have the earlier book and may buy a copy of this if a used one turns up.
 
Considering the quality of "Fighters Over the Fleet", I'm definitely buying this one.
Though I wish, like Fighters Over the Fleet, that it encompassed more than the USN. In all fairness though, it has been impossible to reach foreign archives in this Covid era.
 
Tommy Thomason’s book is referenced a lot in this book once it gets to a period where official documents are classified.
 
Currently enjoying my read through this, but the editing definitely leaves something to be desired with a lot of typos. Took me a couple minutes to figure out what was meant when one section abruptly started referring to “savings of £1234” before I realized that it was referring to weight.
 
Currently enjoying my read through this, but the editing definitely leaves something to be desired with a lot of typos. Took me a couple minutes to figure out what was meant when one section abruptly started referring to “savings of £1234” before I realized that it was referring to weight.
Writers like Friedman need access to the considerable amount of still classified files. Trump! Hand them over or think about them!
 
Is there much of anything on the Northrop and Grumman A-12 design? That's the one aircraft that might be in the book I am the most interested in.
I haven’t read that far but I have cheated. The biggest source is James P. Stevenson’s 5 Billion Dollar Misunderstanding.
 
Please let us know if there's something good (and maybe new) about Northrop ATA, A-12, A-X and A/F-X. Stevenson book is WAY overpriced, sadly.
 
Please let us know if there's something good (and maybe new) about Northrop ATA, A-12, A-X and A/F-X. Stevenson book is WAY overpriced, sadly.
Sorry for late reply. Just saw it now. I haven’t gotten that far yet but during my cheating, the main sources for the late Cold War stuff is Stevenson &
 
USNI is currently offering 50% off list prices and free shipping until the end of the year.
 
Any more opinions on this title?

I have it and found it a little disappointing-by the standards of secret projects afficiandos. It's still Friedman and is still a good start, but it's a general overview with stuff most of us here will already know.
 

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