JeffreyK Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 Hello, I'll looking to get some F-4 reference books that deal specifically with the Vietnam war. This is mainly as reference books and my focus is on early Phantoms (F-4B, F-4C and F-4D), but all three services. I'd like to see lots of photos with accurate captions and a little mission background as well, load-outs etc., markings and weathering of specific aircraft... I've got "Spirit in the Skies" as an all-round approach, Daco and Melampy books for the technical detail and a couple of books on USN Phantoms, but what are the recommendations for the (early) Vietnam era? Are the Osprey books any good for instance? Cheers Jeffrey Quote Link to post Share on other sites
STEN8 Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 If you can find them any of Lou Drendel's Phantom series by Squadron are wonderful. USAF,USN and USMC Phantoms in Combat are all chock full of great pictures and side view color drawings and some thrilling combat stories by some of the men who flew the missions. They are out of print, I am sure, but I often see them for sale. Harry Lutz, FL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ElectroSoldier Posted July 27, 2014 Share Posted July 27, 2014 World Air Power Journal did a book about F-4s. It was quite good Quote Link to post Share on other sites
habu2 Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 what are the recommendations for the (early) Vietnam era? Not specific to Phantoms, but I have this book in my library: I've got "Spirit in the Skies" as an all-round approach, Daco and Melampy books for the technical detail and a couple of books on USN Phantoms, but what are the recommendations for the (early) Vietnam era? Are the Osprey books any good for instance? World Air Power Journal did a book about F-4s. It was quite good "Spirit in the Skies" was published by World Air Power Journal :)/> . Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rex Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Koku-Fan and other Burin-do books were always chock full of photos, there were at least 3 Phantom specific books by them, and "Airwar over Vietnam" had a bunch of Phantom photos in it. I don't have all of the Osprey Phantom books yet, but, the new ones I have in paperback carry on a tradition of being full of action shots. If you can find the old Osprey Air Combat hardcover books, those always add a different perspective than just "photos of drop tanks transporters" that you sometimes wind up with. Another book that I know of, but haven't picked up yet is a Vietnam book in the Ginter series. Since his series is always photo heavy, I would expect that to be a useful resource,,,,,,,,even if it is not Phantom specific. The three volumes in the Lou Drendal Vietnam Air War are photo intensive,,,,,,again, if you are okay with Helo or Skyhawk shots in your books in between the shots of the Phantoms. Kim Simmelink has started a Bibliography here http://phantomphacts.blogspot.com/2013/10/books-about-f-4-phantom-ii.html I have not gone through it to see how many I have that he doesn't,,,,,,but, he does include the Aircam books (Skip their profiles, but, some of the pics are never published again in and later books) Phantom by Stewart Wilson is a good one, you can get it cheap, and it is not in any of the "major book ranges", so it gets overlooked Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stefan buysse Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Hi, Jeffrey. Do you know those "Warbirds illustrated" books by Arms and Armour Press? They have two volumes on F-4's: No 27 and No 46. Both are by Robert C Stern. Especially No 46 concentrates on US Phantoms in Vietnam. I'm quite glad I found that one in a bargain/second hand bin somewhere. ISBN 0-85368-828-1 I must say I love the Osprey "...units in combat" series. The latest Vietnam F-4 book is about USMC Phantoms is No 94 and it has more ordnance content than the previous USN and USAF titles (No 45 and 55 about the USAF and No 26 and and 30 about the USN). The other books could be quite useful for you as well. For example, there is a good shot of 2 Falcon AAM's on an F-4D's inner pylon in No 45. If you really want to find out a lot about Vietnam ordnance, get the volumes on Skyraiders No 77 about the USN and No 97 about the USAF/VNAF and the volume on B-57 Canberra units of the Vietnam war (No 85). I haven't seen the info that's in the B-57 book anywhere else and some of the "funny bombs" were also used by F-4's. Cheers, Stefan. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
onescale Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Hello Jeffrey, as stated by STEN8 the Phantom series by Squadron is highly recommended! A lot of pictures! I also like the Osprey series very much. Not as much pictures as in the Squadron books but some pictures I did not see elsewhere. In the newer books by Osprey the color profiles are very nice and inspiring, so are the reports! And they are not expensive! Best regards, Jens Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I have the new Ginter book. It has some good F-4 photos, but they are a small fraction of the overall book. Lots of good F-105 photos, as well as B-47s, B-52s, F-111s, etc. The text is more recollections by the people who were there, rather than an overall history of the USAF's air war. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Harrier/Viper Fan Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 Not specific to Phantoms, but I have this book in my library: "Spirit in the Skies" was published by World Air Power Journal :)/>/> . I have this book also and covers a lot of aircraft but there is a nice section on the Phantom I would recommend this for info on the Nam war. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JeffreyK Posted July 28, 2014 Author Share Posted July 28, 2014 Thanks a lot for your help guys, I'll check out your recommendations and keep my eyes open at shows for any second hand copies of the OOP ones. Cheers Jeffrey Quote Link to post Share on other sites
mrvark Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 The Phantom Story by Thornborough & Davies and Clashes by Marshall Michel are two of my go-to references. The former explains a lot about some of the lesser known aspects of the F-4's war and has a killer appendix that covers all the USAF units-when, where, what model jet, tail codes, etc. The latter has few, if any, photos, but if you want to understand how the air war was fought in NVN, is a must have. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Ben Brown Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 FYI: I just picked up "Vietnam Air Warfare" used for $4.49 shipped from Amazon. There are several more for less than 10 bucks. Jeffrey, you might be able to get a copy shipped to the UK fairly inexpensively. Ben Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Slartibartfast Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 ...And Kill MiGs is a nice addition. A decent number of photos and the stories behind each Phantom kill and a couple of Thud victories. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Pete Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 I must say I love the Osprey "...units in combat" series. The latest Vietnam F-4 book is about USMC Phantoms is No 94 and it has more ordnance content than the previous USN and USAF titles (No 45 and 55 about the USAF and No 26 and and 30 about the USN). The other books could be quite useful for you as well. For example, there is a good shot of 2 Falcon AAM's on an F-4D's inner pylon in No 45. The reason for this is that the USN and USAF titles focused on MiG killers, which doesn't require a very large range of ordnance. The USMC book focuses on all the missions flown, hence the wider coverage of different loadouts. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
11bee Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 One Day in a Long War - May 10, 1972. Written by Jeff Ethell. A great book about probably the ultimate air battle of the war. Highly recommended. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
metroman Posted July 28, 2014 Share Posted July 28, 2014 CLASHES - like Mr. Vark mentioned: fantastic insight into how the F-4s fought the MiGs. Never knew a thing about the IFF sniffing that our F-4s developed that could tell what a distant contact was with no other information. Also USAF Phantoms by Anthony M. Thornborough... very nice. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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