Iranian Tigers at War: Northrop F-5A/B, F-5E/F and Sub-Variants in Iranian Service since 1966 (Middle East@War)

My order took 10 months to arrive, and twice I passed up the chance to cancel for a refund. I'm glad that I stuck with it, as the product is worth the wait and the price. The text is authoritative, the photos clear, and the color plates well executed.Any F-5 fan will appreciate the depth of detail on most aspects of Iran's Tigers--not just their operational use, but the behind-the-scenes efforts to keep the declining numbers airworthy despite spare parts shortages. The international F-5 market is well described, with nation-to-nation exchanges occurring at a surprising rate. One of the most intriguing topics is the twin-tailed Saeghe (Thunderbolt) remanufactured version. Few were modified but they remain a memorable footnote in the Iranian Tiger program.The one aspect largely missing is the F-5's air-to-air record against Iraq. Only a couple of encounters are mentioned, though IRIAF Tigers logged repeated combats from 1980 to 1987. Judging by entries on the authoritative ACIG.org database, Iranian F-5s likely broke even against often superior enemy fighters.For students, buffs, and modelers "Iranian Tigers at War" is sure to please.

This book provides a high level of information about the Iranian F-5, the Iran-Iraq War from the perspective of this aircraft, and really about the Iranian Air Force after the Revolution in an up-close way. The details about specific individual aircraft, their pilots, and their fates also preserves the human element in a war that I seldom see discussed (in the US, anyway) and knew little about. The book delivers great detail on its subject in a succinct and efficient manner. The author is clearly an unparalleled expert on Topic. If anything in the title of this book caught your eye, you will very likely enjoy this book. It also has excellent photos.

Finished this book in one night and it adds so much information on these remaining aircraft and the little knows action these planes have seen after the Iran-Iraq war. The updated models that are being developed by the Iranian air force are also covered. The few that have been updated is also revealed. The making of two seater F-5 is also covered to make up for additional need for trainers. One portion I like was the use of these aircraft to fight the drugs coming from the Afghanistan side of the boarder and the air strikes that were lunched. The attack sorties against the Iranians Kurdish fighter are also covered. Very well written book many pictures and colored aircraft drawing and maps. great book to purchase

This volume is very good for it's size and price Any of the 4 reviews dated prior to mine are more than adequate to convey the quality of this book.

Good book on the iranian Tigers - a book we had wait on since 2003.

Great

While there have been books on the service history of Iranian Tomcats ( Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft) ) and Phantoms ( Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft) ), this is the first (to my knowledge) on the third major combat type used by Iran in the Iran-Iraq war and subsequent conflicts - the F-5.The book is well structured and follows both the pre-war acquisition, training and operational history, as well as wartime service against Iraq, and during later incidents within Iran, on the Afghan borders, and the tensions with Azerbaijan. The author includes information on the clandestine acquisition of spares, local modification efforts and all other relevant information.In addition to the main text, there are many first hand mission accounts from Iranian pilots, and of course rich pictorial material - including B&W and colour photographs, colour plates, etc.All in all a very balanced book and one that will provide interested readers with some very helpful insight on the air war between Iraq and Iran, and do so more even handedly than for instance  The Role of Air Power in the Iran-Iraq War . Best read in combination with  Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)  and  Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)  for a complete picture. Now if only there was comparable coverage available from the Iraqi side... Iranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)The Role of Air Power in the Iran-Iraq WarIranian F-14 Tomcat Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)Iranian F-4 Phantom II Units in Combat (Combat Aircraft)

This is without a doubt the work to own on this subject, Babak is naitive Iranian has contact that other can only dream about. the book goes throug the different fases of the F-5E service life in Iranian service, from purchase, service in the IIAF and later the IRIAF.The main part of the book are used describing the use of F-5 during the war with Iraq, both the heavy casulties and succes, like killing off an Iraqi MIG 25.Go buy it, you cannot miss out

This is a great series on the more obscure wars and actions of lesser know countries.Kudos to Helion for this series, however, there is room for improvement in the editing and proof reading departments as there are simple yet easily caught errors every so often throughout the book.The colour plates, while nicely done, are either missing the inner pylons and stores, or are mis-captioned as having them. Every plate that's captioned as carrying four stores is shown with only two.The other issue are the two tables in the back of the book.Both tables are listing the same information about different aircraft that could have been in one table. On top of that, they both waste space with the columns being far too large for the information that's provided.It would have been a better use of the available space to combine the two tables, tighten them up and provide a list of the F-5 losses and/or fates of the fleet.Otherwise, this 4th Volume in the Middle East @ War series was an excellent read!

English is not my primary language - so have fun by reading this :)This book shows very detailed the creation of the first iranian F-5 Tiger-Units and the fate of the planes and the related officers during the Revolution against the Shah and during the war, after the arab invasion of Saddam Hussein against Iran.Also shown in Detail are the iranian unlicensed Versions of the F-5, like the Saeqeh with the twin vertical stabilzers.The Autor had done a very fine job, describing the development during the last decades and I can recommend this book with 5 from 5 stars.

A must have if you like the matter or if you like military aviation. There is no doubt.