Attack and interceptor jets

by Michael Sharpe

Sharpe, Michael, Attack and Interceptor Jets

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jon Mellberg]

At first glance this appears to be little more than roughly 300 jet airplanes with their brief stats/figures and a short, summary paragraph to describe each one. Yet by the time I was done reading all them I learned quite a bit! For instance, it was no uncommon for these development programs to have extremely long gestation periods (sometimes 5, 10, 15 years or more from concept to delivery). The history of the development of jet technology was also quite interesting (allies were spurred by German proficiency before and during WWII) as well as the rivalries (after WWII, the new threat was, over time, the Soviets, who had many great rival jet fighters, etc.). It’s also fascinating that renowned jets and fighters could often have 20, 30, or even 40 year service lives!

Worth reading for another jet/plane enthusiast. Technically speaking this book is not without occasional spelling/grammar errors, and the book is unavoidably repetitive but that is not a reason to avoid the book.