The MiG-21 provided the backbone of frontline Arab air combat strength for many years and remained the Arabs' only real hope of challenging Israeli air supremacy. This book provides a detailed history of the MiG-21 in Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi service. It includes numerous photographs, most of which have not been seen outside the Arab world and a large proportion of which have never previously been published anywhere. The material is drawn from official sources and from the private collections and recollections of men who flew, or met, these aircraft in combat.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
The Cold War meets the Middle East Conflict.:
There can be little to add to the excellent review above, except to re-iterate that this is an great book. It is refreshing to see this conflict described from the Arab view point. The book describes the role of Egyptian, Syrian and Iraqi units in the conflicts with Isreal from 1967 to the 1980's. There is also a section covering the wars in the gulf. Much of the material in this book is new to most western readers and includes first hand accounts from Arab MiG pilots. It seems that the MiGs did rather... more info
Flies into Virgin Territory:
Since there is very little material available in English on the role of Arab air forces in the series of wars fought in the Mideast between 1967-1991, Osprey's "Arab MiG-19 and MiG-21 Units in Combat" flies into virtually virgin territory. The strength of this volume is a wealth of specific detail on Arab pilots, units and combat actions that has been absent in most other works on the subject; anyone seriously interested in understanding the Mideast wars fought in this period needs this volume (and... more info
Outstanding, the best of it's kind:
This is an absolutely superb book, and is easily the best book on Arab air combat ever written. Only Nicolle's own "Phoenix Over the Nile" can compete. The amount and quality of research -- particularly interviews with Egyptian and Syrian pilots -- is outstanding, and nearly all the photos appear for the first time in an English-language publication. The color plates are also excellent, though there are a few minor problems with translation of Arabic numbers, and one Egyptian plane from 1969 wears post-1972... more info
