AROUND 95,000 WORDS • 200+ ILLUSTRATED PAGES • PERSONALISED PDF
The making of the Strike Eagle
Before it could hunt Scuds over Iraq or strike through the Balkan night, the F-15E had to prove that an air-superiority fighter could become a long-range attack aircraft. Be Afraid of the Dark follows that transformation through the people who argued for it, engineered it, tested it and took it to war.
This is a substantial history of the Strike Eagle's first quarter-century: around 95,000 words combining original research in Boeing's archives, interviews with programme veterans and the accounts of operational pilots and weapon systems officers. Full-colour photography runs throughout.
Decisions that shaped the jet
Follow the demonstrator and the Dual Role Fighter competition, the technical risks and the competing priorities behind the jet. Learn why the Strike Eagle took the form it did, and how decisions made during development shaped its later strengths and limitations.
Development, pages 22–23. Original history alongside photography of the aircraft that preceded the operational Strike Eagle.
Inside the cockpit
Explore the engines, conformal fuel tanks, APG-70 radar, LANTIRN and cockpit displays as parts of a working combat aircraft. The book connects technical detail to the jobs of the pilot and WSO: navigation, target finding, weapons employment and survival.
Production and technical detail, pages 60–61. See the depth of the cockpit and systems coverage.
From training to combat
Move from the demands of training and early operational service into Desert Storm, the no-fly zones, Allied Force and Afghanistan. Mission accounts explain the planning, pressures and decisions behind the aircraft's combat record.
Combat records, pages 144–145. Detailed operational history supported by photographs and the experience of the crews.
In the crews’ own words
First-hand recollections give the technical and operational history its human scale. Extended accounts such as 'Grinder's War' put the reader inside squadron life and the realities of repeated combat deployments.
Pages 150–151. An extended aircrew account sits alongside the wider history of the no-fly-zone operations.
A history to return to
Origins and development, 1978–2002: from the early concepts to an established combat aircraft.
Technical coverage of the airframe, engines, avionics, sensors and weapons.
Operational service, aircrew training, combat records, US operators and export aircraft.
An extensive illustrated account for readers who want to understand the F-15E in detail.
Your personal PDF edition
Complete illustrated book in English, with the original full-colour page layout.
Search the text, enlarge the photographs and keep a copy on your device for offline reading.
Personalised with the purchaser's name and email address.
Your copy is prepared after payment; a secure download link is emailed when it is ready.
Best read on a tablet, laptop or desktop computer, where the large page layout and photographs have room to breathe. This purchase is a PDF ebook for personal use; hardback editions are sold separately.
