Osprey's Duel #23 covers two of my favorite jet aircraft types, the F-4 Phantom II and the MiG-17 as well as the larger and faster MiG-19. These very dissimilar types met each other in the skies over North Vietnam during the Vietnam war. The Phantom II was a supersonic fleet interceptor, armed with missiles and designed to knock enemy bombers out of the air at the limits of visual identification. The MiG-17 was a rugged, low tech fighter armed with three cannon. All the training and experience were on the side of the Navy Phantom IIs. All the desire to defend their homeland and a knowledge that the US planes would be flying predictable routes were on the side of the MiG pilots.

Vietnam was a very frustrating war for US pilots. Politically limited in when they could be used offensively as well as restricted as to the routes taken into those few targets they could attack fairly well hamstrung them. When one combines this with the unreliability of their main armament (Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles), the lack of a gun, and the lack of ACM training, and it is not amazing that the kill/loss ratio in the early days was 1 to 1.

Fortunately, the Navy learned from this and not only started to emphasize ACM training, but developed Top Gun, the NFWS, to really hone the skills of as many pilots as it could. It is telling that after Top Gun was started, only one graduate crew was ever shot down. The Navy also adopted a more freeflowing combat pair that also reduced losses, while the USAF stuck with a less flexible four plane formation. Combining that with the lack of proper dissimilar ACM training meant that the USAF had a much higher kill/loss ration while the Navy's was almost one sided in their favor.

In this book, author Peter Davies covers the development and deployment of both the Phantom and the MiGs. It has a good look at the training and capabilities of their respective pilots as well as how they performed in combat. It also weighs in on how the tactical and strategic situation affected the two sides and their approach to combat situations.

In all, it is, in this reviewer's opinion, one of the best of an already superb series. If you want to read about what it was like during that time, then this is a book you simply must pick up.

November 2009

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