Snakes in the Eagle's Nest: A History of Ground Attacks on Air Bases

by Alan Vick

Book Overview

Presents a historical overview of ground attacks on air bases from the first known attacks in 1940 to the most recent in 1992, detailing three case studies: Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) on Crete, the German Luftwaffe in North Africa and the USAF in Vietnam.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0833016296
• ISBN13: 9780833016294
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: RAND Corporation
• Length: 165 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Very Data Driven

Mr. Vick gathers the data that is available to him and puts it in one place. Perhaps an eye opener for anyone that has never been detailed to air base defense but otherwise simply a review of numbers. No real insight is offered in the author's review of the statistics. The book does, however, create a desire to read the source material a little more closely. If you're looking strictly for numbers, this RAND book is perfect. For a thorough analysis... look elsewhere.

Maximum payback with little cost

This book, I believe, is based on the author research for RAND. It is an excellent book about air bases defense against attacks from ground forces. Based on detailed case studies, the author pointed out the vulnerability of modern air bases to ground attacks. Although the author also described the effective measures used by USAF to defend air bases in Vietnam, it is very clear that a clever enemy can use a relative small unit to harrass and even cause quite a damage to the air bases.No matter how powerful an air force is in the air, it is still very vulnerable on the ground. And this is really a problem that none of the modern air forces can igonore.