Flying Camelot; The F-15, the F-16, and the weaponization of fighter pilot nostalgia

Sundog

Sundog

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Flying Camelot I just ran across the link to this book and was wondering if anyone had read it? I'm waiting for a certain someone else's book on the LWF program, which I expect to be more knowledgeable on the subject. ;)

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By the way,

the magazine Air Force of UAE made an issue,consisted of about 200
pages about Second Gulf War,included every battel done in this fight,
in 1991/92
 
While I am not an expert in the subject, I would recommend this book as it covers the post Vietnam USAF, a subject often neglected. Furthermore, it explains how the US experience in Vietnam influenced USAF procurement afterwards, as well as the USAF and national cultural changes affected that procurement.
 
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It's a revised and expanded version of his thesis "The Cult of the Lightweight Fighter Culture and Technology in the U.S. Air Force, 1964-1991 (2018)" which you can read for free.

a pretty interesting read, but you tell he's a historian and not an aviation enthusiast - he makes a few mistakes an aircraft buff wouldn't. I tried to correct a few of them for the book version, with some success. Its basically a cultural study of where the "fighter mafia' ideas came from.
 
Sundog said:
I'm waiting for a certain someone else's book on the LWF program, which I expect to be more knowledgeable on the subject. ;)
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I wouldn't hold your breath on that, probably still quite a way away.

In the meantime, I highly recommend the three case studies in 'Mission Emphasis and the Determination of Needs for New Weapon Systems' by Daniel Mark Gillespie (https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/53215) as the best account of the origins of the TFX, FX and LWF programs, with the Fighter Mafia placed in their proper context.
 
...very highly polarizing title, but I get the feeling this book is preaching to a diehard choir. These days it is very easy to trash anything tied to the "fighter mafia" and the paradigms behind the programs which ultimately led to the f-15 and f-16 fighters. Lot of the personal animosity seems to have stemmed from the criticisms and outright misinformation tied to the criticisms of the jsf project and its fruits. It has been interesting to see the pendulum swing so far that there is an institutional and very personal defense against even legit criticisms of the f-35.

Edit: changed a word.
 
TMA1 said:
...very highly polarizing title, but I get the feeling this book is preaching to a diehard choir. These days it is very easy to trash anything tied to the "fighter mafia" and the paradigms behind the programs which ultimately led to the f-15 and f-16 fighters. Lot of the personal animosity seems to have stemmed from the criticisms and outright misinformation tied to the criticisms of the jsf project and its fruits. It has been interesting to see the pendulum swing so far that there is an institutional and very personal defense against even legit criticisms of the f-35.

Edit: changed a word.
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I’ll continue the crapping on of the Fighter Mafia. How many WVR kills have there been in Ukraine?
 
The Fighter Mafia thought the Air Force ruined both fighters. They were wrong on both counts. Sure, they did some important work contributing to both, but so did many other people. The F-16 the Fighter Mafia wanted would have been much less useful than the version that was built, except for entertaining people at airshows.
 
TMA1 said:
...very highly polarizing title, but I get the feeling this book is preaching to a diehard choir. These days it is very easy to trash anything tied to the "fighter mafia" and the paradigms behind the programs which ultimately led to the f-15 and f-16 fighters. Lot of the personal animosity seems to have stemmed from the criticisms and outright misinformation tied to the criticisms of the jsf project and its fruits. It has been interesting to see the pendulum swing so far that there is an institutional and very personal defense against even legit criticisms of the f-35.

Edit: changed a word.
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Like I said I'm not an expert when it comes to this stuff. But I do give the impression that the author did at least try to give a fair shake to Boyd and his people. He does acknowledge their contributions while also acknowledging where they created their own personal myths.

The author also did an interview on Youtube:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA0HZ__qO8I
 

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