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Upcoming Book About Operation Eldorado Canyon


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On the night of 14-15 April 1986, an armada of F-111Fs, EF-111As, KC-10As and KC-135s launched from three bases in England. They made their way into the Atlantic Ocean, through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea to join Air Wings from the USS America and USS Coral Sea to attack Libya in retaliation for their support of numerous terrorist attacks. Operation Eldorado Canyon is the story of that raid from the viewpoint of the people who planned and flew the mission.

 

This book explains how these missions were executed in a way that non-flyers can understand, but with a level of detail that professionals will appreciate. The individual aircraft that participated are identified as are their bomb loads, routes of attack, and their results.

Relevant events leading up to the raid are reviewed as are the subsequent actions and reactions, good and bad, that eventually resulted in Libya becoming a failed state.

 

Jim ‘Rotro’ Rotramel was an F-111F Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) who helped plan the raid. A first-time author, his photographs have appeared in numerous books and he is well-known in the plastic modeling community as “mrvark”.

This 256-page book will be published by Harpia and released in late March 2023 in Europe and late June in the U.S. It will be formally announced in October with an MSRP of $64.95.

 

It’s already available for pre-order from Casemate Publishers. A discount will probably be available closer to the release date. As I understand it, if you pre-order, you will be granted any subsequent discounts. 

 

And, it is also showing available for pre-order with a 25% discount at Barnes & Noble.

hap_2032_oec_cover_256pages_v6d_u1.jpg

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Looks like I'll be adding this book to my library. 

I was too young for the first go, but remember it well from the news. The op in 2011, provided me with my own experience with Libya. 

Bravo Jim. 

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Thanks to all for the kind comments and interest. A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) This book won't be available until next spring in Europe  and summer in the U.S. We aren't even going to start serious editing until October, so there is a long way to go. I've been assured that discounts will be available, but I'm not sure what percentage or when they'll be available. I normally order from Amazon and when I've pre-ordered before a book is published and a discount is subsequently given, it gets automatically applied to my order. I expect all the other sources do the same thing. Probably a good way to estimate what kind of discount to expect would be to look at other similar-sized Harpia books to see what kind of discount was offered for them.

2) So far as I know, Harpia books haven't been turned into Kindles.

 

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I am looking forward to Jim's book with great anticipation. He is my go-to expert for F-111s and US military weapons in general (his artwork that I've seen is detailed, accurate, and gorgeous). With respect to where you purchase his book: An author gets royalties from the publisher based on its sales of the book. If you're one-and-done writing a book, that might pay for the beer for a while. However, the author gets a little more if most people order the book from the publisher, in this instance Casemates Publishing, because the author gets a little more royalty per book than if someone orders from say, Amazon, which demands a deep, deep discount from the publisher, reducing his sales and therefore the author's royalty. If you order from Casemate, your cost will be a bit higher than if you buy from Amazon (be shocked: they don't pass along all of the discount they get to their customers) but Jim's royalty for that book will be a lot higher. Think of Jim. And yourself: it may induce him to write the definitive illustrated book on aircraft weapons that Casemate decides to publish.

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On 9/12/2022 at 6:06 PM, mrvark said:

Thanks to all for the kind comments and interest. A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) This book won't be available until next spring in Europe  and summer in the U.S. We aren't even going to start serious editing until October, so there is a long way to go. I've been assured that discounts will be available, but I'm not sure what percentage or when they'll be available. I normally order from Amazon and when I've pre-ordered before a book is published and a discount is subsequently given, it gets automatically applied to my order. I expect all the other sources do the same thing. Probably a good way to estimate what kind of discount to expect would be to look at other similar-sized Harpia books to see what kind of discount was offered for them.

2) So far as I know, Harpia books haven't been turned into Kindles.

 

Can't wait Jim!! Congrats!!!

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On 9/13/2022 at 8:32 AM, Tailspin Turtle said:

I am looking forward to Jim's book with great anticipation. He is my go-to expert for F-111s and US military weapons in general (his artwork that I've seen is detailed, accurate, and gorgeous). With respect to where you purchase his book: An author gets royalties from the publisher based on its sales of the book. If you're one-and-done writing a book, that might pay for the beer for a while. However, the author gets a little more if most people order the book from the publisher, in this instance Casemates Publishing, because the author gets a little more royalty per book than if someone orders from say, Amazon, which demands a deep, deep discount from the publisher, reducing his sales and therefore the author's royalty. If you order from Casemate, your cost will be a bit higher than if you buy from Amazon (be shocked: they don't pass along all of the discount they get to their customers) but Jim's royalty for that book will be a lot higher. Think of Jim. And yourself: it may induce him to write the definitive illustrated book on aircraft weapons that Casemate decides to publish.

 Just ordered through Casemates, and got $20.00 off by applying for PayPal Credit! 

 

 Tommy, thanks for the heads-up. May I quote you over on HS to help get the word out?

 

 Jim, have you ever considered publishing something (broadly) similar to the Squadron/Signal in combat series? To include your 'Vark modeling tips/fixes, stories or anecdotes and photos from your (and possibly others!) career? Sort of all your online stuff wrapped up in one bag, with experiences thrown in. I'd buy it in a hot minute!

 

 Anyway, thank you, I very much anticipate your book's release!

 

V/R

 

Scott

 

 

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1 minute ago, IAGeezer said:

Jim, have you ever considered publishing something (broadly) similar to the Squadron/Signal in combat series? To include your 'Vark modeling tips/fixes, stories or anecdotes and photos from your (and possibly others!) career? Sort of all your online stuff wrapped up in one bag, with experiences thrown in. I'd buy it in a hot minute!

 

 

Thanks, Scott. Bert Kinzey and I have informally discussed having me re-do his F-111 Detail in Scale. I'm keeping VERY busy in retirement (HA!), so I'm not sure how quickly I can get around to it. (For example, I'm currently about to finish a series of detail drawings of F-105 pylons, while working on drawings of the Mk 7 dispenser family (Rockeye II, APAM, etc.), and AGM-69 SRAM. I've also been involved with the new memorial for the F-111 program at the National Museum of the USAF that will be dedicated on 14 October (the straps were temporary after the models were attached):

220921_f-111_memorial_installed-1-dave_hindt.jpg

220921_f-111_memorial_installed-2-dave_hindt.jpg

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 Jim

 Retirement isn't for the faint of heart. It seems like modeling and motorcycling came more easily when I was working! The memorial looks terrific, I'll have to get back over there come next spring and take a better look. Thank you for your help on it.

 I came across a youtube channel, 10 Percent True - Tales from the Cockpit, has an episode Puffy 12, with ongoing video by Jeff Guinn. Pretty neat This old Infantryman gets to live vicariously through guys like you.

 Thanks for your reply, and best wishes in your endeavors.

 

V/R

 

Scott (AKA the 'Vark mangler)

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