Product Description

With the ending of the Cold War, the B-52's traditional combat role became redundant, and the USAF looked for new ways to use the machine. The invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in August 1990 gave the B-52 the chance to prove its worth in the new world order, and Stratofortress crews flying the B-52G seized the opportunity with both hands. This book explains how, flying from bases in the Indian Ocean, Britain, Spain and Saudi Arabia, the B-52G was at the forefront of the campaign to free Kuwait of Saddam's forces and dropped the first bombs of Operation Desert Storm.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #855525 in Books
• Published on: 2004-11-11
• Released on: 2004-11-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781841767512
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Publisher
Osprey's Combat series combines the best archival photography available with specially commissioned artworks and first hand accounts, making these books favourites amongst historians, modellers and aviation enthusiasts everywhere.

About the Author
Jon Lake is the author of several books for Osprey, including volumes on wartime aircraft like the Avro Lancaster and Bristol Blenheim, as well as modern combat aircraft like the MiG-29. One of the founding editors of World Air Power Journal, Lake is a regular contributor to a number of aviation magazines and newspapers. An RAF-trained private pilot Lake has written extensively about post war and contemporary military aviation.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding short history of recent BUFF missions
The B-52 Stratofortress often gets the back page to its newer counterparts. This book does a good job of covering the BUFF's action in Desert Storm, the B-52G's last hurrah.

The book goes a bit farther than many in regards to photography. The images within are not the almost-cliche'd images that can be found easily in a Google search. The writing is a bit awkward at times, but the author gets most of the facts right. The author covers a large amount of information and does justice to the great benefit of the BUFF in Desert Storm's success.

In regards to previous reviews regarding apparent errors, the B-52G/H CAN carry 6 external Mk-84s, but the load letters that regulate how weapons are loaded limited loading to 5 weapons (2-1-2 config). A 3-0-3 config is allowed now, but at the time, that information is correct.

This BUFF book soars
While researching an Air Force history project in 1992, I became aware of a Desert Storm B-52 strike that launched from Wurtsmith AFB and recovered in Saudi Arabia. My "Wurtsmith B-52s Launched Raid on Iraq During Gulf War" appeared in the October 12, 1992, issue of Air Force Times, evidently breaking the story (the people of the base town, Oscoda, Mich., knew about the mission but they also know how to keep a secret). Against that background, one will understand that since then I've casually paid attention to Gulf War books and magazine articles about the air war. I have only found that mission mentioned twice since my newspaper story, in a few lines.

Jon Lake's book changes that. The Wurtsmith mission is the subject of the cover of this fine book. The cover caption summarizes the mission and he devotes several pages to it, often in the words of men who flew the mission and with photos they took. So, this historic SAC intercontinental combat mission is no longer obscure and history has been done a fine service by the author.

The rest of the book is excellent as well. The author's well-presented conclusions about how B-52s were employed in Desert Storm are quite interesting.

Good and bad
Let's start with the positive. The subject in an interesting one, the author has clearly done much research, and the material is available nowhere else. The color plates are attractive and informative. The war stories, particularly of the Wurtsmith missions and the Secret Squirrel mission, are outstanding. The authors has information about individual airplanes which is a very ambitious thing to do.

Now for the bad. The designation of the Strategic Radar is the AN/APQ-166, not AN/APQ-156. That radar replaced the OY-73/ASQ-176, not the ASQ-176. The HSAB can carry six Mk 84 bombs, not five. Various acronyms (ELE, KBX, etc.) are not spelled out the first time they are used. There are some annoying typographical errors also. These are not huge things but I have gotten accustomed to higher quality from this author and this publisher.