This month's book vote sees five Dual Aviation titles battling for your support. Read the full descriptions and have your say by filling out the form below. Plus, check out the results of last month's Elite Vote on the Book Vote Page.

 

B-29 Superfortress vs Japanese Nightfighters (1944–45)

Beaufighter vs German Flak Ships (1941–45)

VLR P-51 Mustangs vs Japanese Fighters (1945)

Coalition Aircraft vs Iraqi SAMs (1991)

Sea Fury vs MiG 15 (Korean War 1950–53)

 

B-29 Superfortress vs Japanese Nightfighters (1944–45)

The US strategic bombardment of Japan succeeded due to the B-29’s ability to strike Japan at night with impunity. Yet the reasons Japan’s night air defences, especially its nightfighters, failed is rarely examined. This book looks at the battles between B-29s and Japanese nightfighters, flown by both the Japanese Army Air Force and Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force, revealing why Japan fell short against the B-29.

 

Beaufighter vs German Flak Ships (1941–45)

It was whilst serving with RAF Coastal Command targeting German convoys in the North Sea, and on operations over the Mediterranean from Malta and Egypt, that the Beaufighter met its most deadly foe – the unglamorous but effective Vorpostenboot, or ‘Outpost Boat’, known simply to RAF crews as Flak ships on account of their heavy anti-aircraft armament.

 

VLR P-51 Mustangs vs Japanese Fighters (1945)

As war in the Pacific neared its end in 1945, USAAF P-51 pilots based on Iwo Jima clashed with a variety of Imperial Japanese Army Air Force and Imperial Japanese Naval Air Force fighters over Japan in one of the last aerial campaigns of World War 2. The air battles that took place in the skies over Japan in 1945 were some of the most intense of the Pacific War, as P-51 pilots braved long overwater flights from Iwo Jima to bring their weapons to bear against Japanese fighters attempting to engage the B-29s the Mustangs were escorting.

 

Coalition Aircraft vs Iraqi SAMs (1991)

During Operation Desert Storm, Iraq’s elaborate, extensive and costly Soviet and French air defence systems should have inflicted a telling blow on Coalition aircraft. However, thanks to sophisticated electronic counter-measures aircraft like the EF-111A Raven and EA-6B Prowler and anti-radiation missiles fired by US Navy F/A-18s and USAF F-4G Phantom IIs and F-16CJs, Iraq’s air defence and surface-to-air guidance radars were devastated within a few hours of the commencement of hostilities.

 

Sea Fury vs MiG 15 (Korean War 1950–53)

When the Korean War broke out in 1950, it caught the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) somewhat by surprise, and on the wrong side of a rapid development curve in combat aircraft technology. While the Royal Navy carried out the first deck-landing of a jet fighter in 1945, post-World War 2 austerity meant the FAA would only operate piston-engined combat aircraft in the Korean conflict. In doing so, its aircraft (specifically the Sea Fury – the ultimate propeller fighter) would have to go up against the new generation of swept-wing aircraft typified by the ground-breaking MiG-15, which arrived in-theatre in December 1950.

 

Last month, we asked what you would like to see published in our Elite series. Thank you to everyone who voted and provided feedback. The results were very close and the gap between first and second was only eight votes! Check out the full results below to find out more!

 

Battle Tactics in the Ancient Near East (20.2%)

Ancient Greek Battle Tactics 800–148 BC (12.4%)

18th-Century Battle Tactics (18.7%)

World War I Machine-Gun Tactics (24.2%)

German Armour Tactics 1939–45 (24.6%)