Product Description

Diplomacy, politics and national trauma has dominated the frontline career of the Israeli F-15 to date. In the wake of the losses suffered in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War, the Israeli government opted for technology in an effort to reassure a traumatised population that they would never suffer a surprise attack from the air again. Despite Israel Defense Force Air Force (IDF/AF) interceptors having performed extremely successfully during the Yom Kippur War, they did not achieve the kind of results that allowed Israel to achieve future deterrence. The nation was not only looking for weapons that would win a war, but that would also prevent it in the first place.

Post-Yom Kippur diplomacy enabled Israel to purchase the F-15 Eagle, which was then the world's best air-to-air fighter. For the first time in its history the IDF/AF could operate a fighter that was a full generation ahead of all opposing interceptors in the region. The first 'Kill' F-15 Baz (Buzzard) arrived in Israel in December 1976, and three years later it got the chance to prove its worth in combat. Israeli Baz pilots were credited with 12.5 kills between 1979 and 1981, with 33 victories following during the June 1982 Lebanon War. A further 4.5 kills followed in post-Lebanon War skirmishes. Despite all of this combat, no Israeli F-15 has ever been lost to enemy action.

Once the jet secured air superiority and deterrence had been achieved along the Israeli borders, the IDF/AF went on to explore the Baz's long-range attributes and as air-to-ground capability. As an example of the former, Israeli F-15s escorted F-16 strike aircraft all the way to Iraq's nuclear reactor in June 1981, and in its bomber role, the type flew the IDF/AF's longest ever attack mission in October 1985 when it bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Diplomacy prevailed again in the 1990s when the US government agreed to supply the IDF/AF with the F-15I Ra'am (Thunder) to fulfill the long-range surface-to-surface missile (SSM) mission post-Desert Storm. These aircraft also acted as a counter-balance to the sale of the F-15S to Saudi Arabia. A follow-on to the F-15I purchase was the development of the Improved Baz Avionics Upgrade Program, which saw the integration of many of the F-15I features into the older F-15A/B/C/D. From A to I, the extremely capable, and combat-tested, Israeli F-15 force will continue to deter potential enemies well into the foreseeable future.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #311551 in Books
• Published on: 2006-12-26
• Released on: 2006-12-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781846030475
• Condition: USED - VERY GOOD
• Notes:
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Review
"Shlomo Aloni has done an excellent job of interviewing former Israeli Eagle pilots and cataloguing the early kills of the F-15 in the service of the Israeli air arm... I would certainly recommend Israeli F-15 Eagle Units in Combat as a good introduction to Israeli Eagle operations from 1976 to the mid-1980s." - Steve Davies, Scale Aircraft Modelling (January 2008)

About the Author
Shlomo Aloni is a prolific aviation historian based in Israel. He is Israeli correspondent for leading aviation magazines in the UK such as AirForces Monthly and International Airpower Review, as well as publications in Spain and Turkey. This is his fourth volume for Osprey, having written Aces 59 and 60 and Combat Aircraft 23. The author lives in Israel, Mid East; 1973-present.

Customer Reviews

Air superiority, Israeli-style
By 1973, the Israeli Air Force had built a strong reputation. While its aircraft were broadly equivalent to those of its enemies, the Israelis were generally superior in training, motivation, maintenance, intelligence and command and control. This situation dramatically changed when the Israelis became the first foreign customer of the US Air Force's new F-15 Eagle, a truly superior aircraft. By 1979, Israeli F-15s were blooded in combat against the Syrians, and over the next few years destroyed dozens more Syrian aircraft with no combat losses of their own. Israeli F-15s also flew top cover in the strike against the Iraqi nuclear reactor, destroyed the PLO headquarters in Tunis, and were ready to strike during Operation Desert Storm. A new chapter in Israeli Air Force history opened with the arrival of the F-15I. Unfortunately the book does not cover the use of Israeli F-15s in Lebanon in 2006, which presumably happened after the book was written.

Author Shomo Aloni not only writes about the combat usage of the F-15 by the Israelis, but also its acquisition, deployment, non-combat losses and upgrading. It's a fascinating story, told well and with Osprey's usual outstanding color plates. What is surprising is that the normally secretive Israeli Air Force allowed this kind of information to be published about a type that is in front-line service.

My only complaint with the book is that it contains several small but annoying errors. On page 33, the date of the photo is given as 1972 which is obviously impossible since the Israelis did not have any F-15s in 1972. In several places in the book, the F-15 is described as using the AIM-9G missile. In fact, the AIM-9G was a US Navy missile that was not compatible with the F-15, and the AIM-9J was used at this time.

Despite these errors, this is a fine book.

Israeli F-15s Rule the Skies!
Equip some of the deadliest fighter pilots in the world with a killer fighter superior to anything flown by its opponents and what do you get? Kill ratios of 33-to-0! That is the record of the superlative F-15 in Israeli service, a record chronicled in Shlomo Aloni's latest book for Osprey.

This is Aloni's third Israeli Air Force book for Osprey and, like the previous volumes, his unparalleled access to aircrew and commanders once again shines through. After years of reading books on the IAF/DF recounting the exploits of "pilot X" and "Captain Z," it is so refreshing to read of crack pilots named Yoram Peled, Benny Zinker and Avner Naveh.

After reading the many first-person accounts of dogfights featured in the book, you almost feel sorry for the hapless MiG-21 and -23 pilots who sortied against Israeli F-15 squadrons! Aloni's book also supplies useful background on the politics behind the IDF/AF acquisition, introduction and development of the F-15.

The text is illustrated with 75 color and black & white photographs along with nine pages of color profiles by Chris Davey.

A very nice package on an awesome aircraft and its crack pilots!

Another quality product!
Osprey Publishing has produced another winner written by Shlomo Aloni. All of his books (and the series for that matter) are thoroughly researched, and when possible, take accounts from BOTH sides of a conflict.