B/EB-66 Destroyer Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft, 137) Paperback – February 23, 2021

Very good history of this rather obscure yet important part of our Vietnam war effort. I personally experienced the mission accomplishments and the effect we had in protecting our wonderful (and often very young) F105 jocks.Nice to see that all was not forgotten.

The U.S. Air Force's B-66 was originally designed as a nuclear bomber for Cold War Europe. Most of the airframes would however end up modified to serve as EB-66 electronic warfare platforms. They would fill a significant gap in Air Force tactical capabilities in Europe and especially in Southeast Asia. This Osprey Combat Aircraft series book by Peter Davies has the details.The author walks the reader through the B-66's development and eventual specialization as a badly needed electronic warfare platform for extended service in the Vietnam conflict. EB-66's would fly out of airfields in Thailand for missions over North and South Vietnam. The detailed narrative is nicely assisted with period photographs and modern color plates of aircraft configurations. The author hammers home the point that flying anywhere near Communist airspace was an often lethal proposition. Well recommended to students of the aircraft and the era.

This is a super book. My dad was an EB-66 pilot flying 150 missions out of Takhli from Jan 68 to Feb 69. He did not talk about his combat experience very often but when he did I was fascinated. The text and photos in this book are great. My only negative is that the book is slightly less than a hundred pages wish it could have been longer.

Little has been published regarding the B-66, so I was really looking forward to adding this book to my reference library. Generally, it did not disappoint. I especially appreciated the material regarding the developmental history of the B-66 and its relation to the A-3 Skywarrior. Perhaps the book's most valuable contribution is the thorough and in depth discussion of electronic warfare tactics and strategies in Vietnam and the aggressive maneuvers the B-66 crews used to evade Vietnamese SAMs. I certainly do not regret the purchase and really enjoyed the amount of information I was previously unaware of.I do have some minor gripes, though. Nowhere in the book is there a concise overview (either as a graphic or a table) of the various versions and what their features were. This omission is especially significant since the text references so many different versions in numerous historical chronologies. It is really difficult to keep all of the pieces of configuration information in mind. In a similar gripe, some of the excellent side-view illustrations display structural features that are never identified, either in the color plate descriptions or in the main text. Graphically, a plate showing at least 3 views of the aircraft and a summary developmental/operational timeline would have been useful.One final quibble: the wonderfully dramatic cover art leaves me confused. The text says that the MiG attacker "turned in behind the EB-66," but in the illustration the EB-66 seems to be being attacked from an aggressor that is above and forward of the target aircraft. The defending F-4 seems to be firing a heat-seeking Sidewinder into the sun, which seems counterintuitive.

thank you

This is a collection of the most beautiful aircraft in the world. It's a chance to see amazing jets that won't be flying forever -- capture it on film while they are still around. All aircraft will be superceded by more advanced designs eventually.The text is clear, interesting and well researched.This is a great book. highly recommended.These are my favorite art books (all have aviation in them)- Airshow by Philip Castle- Icon by Frank Frazetta- Great Fighter Jets of the Galaxy by Tim Gibson (futuristic jets !!)

Often a over looked aircraft this books covers development and operational history and its replacement. Lots of pictures and drawing in this book makes it a plus on the subject

My interaction with the real units and hardware was distant through the Douglas Dayton representative after meeting the operational units at Shaw AFB. Obsolescence was the horizon. This keeps track of the mods. Davis- Monthan was fleet headquarters at times. Learning the identity of the pilot rescued by a sampan in 1975 completed the read.