Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior

Description

Have you ever wondered what it was like to fly the Phantom? This is not a potted history of an aeroplane, nor is it Hollywood glamour as captured in Top Gun. This is the story of life on the frontline during the Cold War told in the words of a navigator who flew the iconic jet. Unique pictures, many captured from the cockpit, show the Phantom in its true environment and show why for many years the Phantom was the envy of NATO. It also tells the inside story of some of the problems which plagued the Phantom in its early days, how the aircraft developed, or was neglected, and reveals events which shaped the aircraft's history and contributed to its demise. Anecdotes capture the deep affection felt by the crews who were fortunate enough to cross paths with the Phantom during their flying careers. The nicknames the aircraft earned were not complimentary and included the 'Rhino', 'The Spook', 'Double Ugly', the 'Flying Brick' and the 'Lead Sled'. Whichever way you looked at it, you could love or hate the Phantom, but you could never ignore it for its sheer power and lethal payload. The Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior is unique in that the author flew in the legendary Phantom in the front line and captured beautiful and amazing unpublished photographs that will appeal to historians, military specialists and modellers alike.

DAVE GLEDHILL is an aviation enthusiast and aviator. Already holding a private pilots licence at the age of seventeen, he was commissioned in the RAF in 1974, and after training as an air navigator, converted to the F4 Phantom in the Air Defence role. After tours in the UK and Germany, he went on to be a radar tactics instructor on the Operational Conversion Unit. After transferring to the new Tornado F2 as one of the first instructors, he eventually became the Executive Officer on the OCU. His flying career finished in the Falkland Islands where he commanded No 1435 Flight flying the Tornado F3. The Phantom in Focus: A Navigator's Eye on Britain's Cold War Warrior is his first book.

"...contains a large amount of good pictures in colour and black and white, which partly have been shot by the author himself and printed on good quality paper. They are pictures of the Phantom's in action but also on the ground, intercepted Russian planes, missiles, cockpit, target playing Canberra's, low flying and used flying maps etc, etc. The innumerable pictures from the RAF world really complement the book.Dave Gledhill settles himself with this book really amongst the better authors of aviation books. Great job and 'watch six'!!...this was only his first book!!"-- "Aviation Reviews"