Magnum! The Wild Weasels in Desert Storm: The Elimination of Iraq's Air Defence

I was there the same time you were but enlisted. We were treated even worse by Col Fish Face. One day I was lucky enough to be sent downtown to purchase weight equipment for a gym we were building. Low and behold I see a Navy guy walking along the road in shorts and a tank top, this was very close to the Navy base which was not far from downtown. We were told by fish face we could not go downtown because we would be targets for terrorists, now you can imagine what I was thinking when I see several more tattooed Navy personnel in shorts and t-shirts downtown. This was early in our stay and not much of what fish face said I believed. I purchased the equipment we needed as we were tired of working out with sandbags, and because I was not trusted (enlisted person) I had to meet a Major that paid for the equipment. He told me he was living in Hilton downtown and all the great restaurants he ate at and I am thinking I live in a tent with hundreds of rats running around and eating MREs and have to walk (sometimes run) 100 yards or more to the toilet. We were both the same age but he did not work for fish face. This is just one story, I have hundreds from the 7 months I was there. I should also tell you some of us had to purchase our own airline tickets to get back from the war, we finally got reimbursed after it was leaked to the media that we had to pay for our own tickets. Maybe I should write a book. Oh, after I got back I went to work directly for Col Fish Face, needless to say we really never got along.

Worth reading to learn the story of how the Wild Weasels contributed to the Gulf War (and some of the Vietnam history too). Sometimes confusing/hard to keep track of whose story is being told at any given point in the book since many aircrew contributed their individual stories. I did not appreciate the critical, denigrating comments about tanker pilots with no opportunity to defend their actions/provide their side of the story - it comes off as an unnecessary cheap shot against fellow service members trying to do their jobs under no doubt difficult circumstances. The same harsh criticisms were not equally applied to the many Weasel pilots who flamed out their own engines at missile launch, for example. It's not a very deep book in terms of research, e.g. were the SAM site attacks described in each story effective? What do the official post-attack reconnaissance/battle damage assessment and intelligence records indicate? It feels somewhat incomplete and unsatisfying to read "the radar went off the air at the time our missile would have struck, so either we destroyed it, or the enemy crew shut it off temporarily...". Maybe that's just the nature of the beast (i.e. no records exist due to the fast-moving war scenario), but if they do exist, the stories may have been made more complete via historical research? In summary, the book provides a lot of insight into the difficult missions, flying conditions (and living conditions) faced by the Wild Weasel pilots, but it's a little rough around the edges and could use some historical research to completely flesh out their story.

I read this book immediately after finishing Hunter Killers. I wanted to understand how different modern weasel combat compared to the Vietnam War. As I expected, particularly since we fought the Iraqis, and the technology so advanced, our guys had it much easier. Thus, when they honestly expressed fear and fatigue, it seemed like whining compared to their predecessors. This is entirely unfair on my part but hard not to given the recency of my reading of Hunter Killers. The book is well written and engaging, yet I had no fears that the crew I was reading about would still be alive in the the next few pages, as they were often not in Hunter Killers. Again, not fair on my part. I certainly recommend this title, but I would read these books in opposite order. I am certain that had the crews that fought in this war met an opponent as equally as tough as the Vietnamese, they would have performed equally as well. There is no questioning their bravery or their preparedness to pay the ultimate price. It was just a very different war and time.

I really enjoyed this book. I flew as a Navy EA-6B Prowler crewman in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, tasked with suppression of air defenses. Though a different aircraft, service, and conflict, I found this account very similar to my own experience, capturing perfectly many of the emotions and considerations involved in that type of mission, one not often written about. On top of that, the narrative flow is excellent, making the book a great read. Not only are the descriptions of combat vivid, but the brief descriptions of expeditionary living conditions back at base are also enjoyable. One more factor that makes this book a gem is that it represents an account of the last major combat employment of the legendary F-4 Phantom.Highly recommended for any reader interested in modern air power at war, and any reader who appreciates a vivid, personal narrative that puts you in the moment. When my sons are old enough, I will encourage them to read this book to get a feel for my own wartime flying experiences.

I'd say this book is really more for people who were involved in this specific war or who are really interested in the details of it. It's not really an exciting account of combat. There's a lot of discussion about the Iraqi air defenses and how deadly everyone thought they would be, but they turn out to be totally ineffective. It's basically what you would expect for this war; the planes fly around the country pretty much at will, shooting HARMs (anti-radar missiles) at everything. They lost nobody the whole book but did have to dodge a lot of missiles.

Well told with first hand reports and plenty of detail of equipment and strategies. There is no doubt that the Wild Weasels were supremely important in protecting their colleagues and saving so many lives in the prosecution of the duties. A fine read.

More interesting than I had at first thought. It covers the basic history and tech details of how the Wild Weasel mission came about and then goes into great detail on the authors involvement in the Gulf War. It uses his actual war diary and leaps off occasionally from there to cover missions recounted by other flyers with first hand accounts of actual aerial warfare at the end of the 20th century. A decent read.

an amazing in depth view of the ariel war over iraq.the author gives the details of the workings of all the sam missiles aaa and other weapons being used to attempt to take out allied aircraft over the iraqi border.Magnum are the Wild Weasels using F4 phantoms to detect and destroy the iraqi defences over bagdad giving other allied bombers safer sky to do their job of winning the war on the ground.a great book for war historians.

The authors provide details of Weasel missions and activities against the Iraqi Air Defence using F4Gs. I thought the writing and presentation style was very natural and easy to follow. I would have liked more technical information regarding the radar and missile systems in use, but that is perhaps not the intention or target (get it? :) ) of this book so I am not overly disappointed by this omission.A great read for anyone interested in air operations in a combat zone.

After a slow start this book gives a very open, honest & detailed view of the run up to and the duration of that air-war. Fascinating insights into the differences between weapon systems & tactics used. Highlights how essential the F4 was to all the other 'air', especially when the birds were shortly due away to the boneyard!