Air War - Vietnam presents a long neglected aspect of the controversial and frustrating struggle - that of the military. Generals, politicians, officials, diplomats, intelligence officers, correspondents, and academicians have surveyed the political, moral and legal aspects of the war in a surfeit of articles. Yet, until this publication, there has been no presentation of how the military waged the war and what the technical innovations mean for future conflicts.
Air War-Vietnam began life as an article in Flying Magazine in 1966 before being expanded for paperback publication in July 1967, and represents the eye witness experiences of the author in a visit to Vietnam at that time. For whatever reason, the expansion included 10 pages of his experiences on riverine patrols which, whilst interesting have little to do with the air war. The reporting of the air war itself makes terrific reading, in its 'warts and all' style. Interestingly, the author adopts a generally optimistic view of the air war, as well as some telling observations on the use of brothels, booze, and drugs. These observations are useful for the reason that most books on the subject have the benefit of hindsight where this one does not, and therefore represents a take on how things were viewed in 1966. He describes with some good technical detail aircraft types in service with USAF, USN and USMC, as well as some optimistic details of forthcoming types. On a couple of occasions he even mentions discussions about the possible use of tactical nukes for defoliation purposes in the DMZ border between North and South Vietnam. An interesting and often thought provoking take on the role of US airmen in Vietnam.