IN COLD WAR SKIES
NATO and Soviet Air Power, 1949-89
by Michael Napier, Osprey Publishing, 2020, $40.
British historian Michael Napier lived a bit of this history as a participant in the Cold War, an ongoing confrontation in which the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact glowered at each other from the Arctic Ocean to the Black Sea. >
> From 1949 to 1989, the state of the art in aviation—among other means of mass annihilation—advanced while both sides nervously wondered whether some incident somewhere on the peripheries might upset the nuclear balance of power that was the principal factor preventing the war from turning “hot.” In his new book, Napier reveals the decade-by-decade evolution of the aircraft employed during the conflict, along with the strategies and tactics for their use.
The comparison of NATO and Warsaw Pact forces, as well as chapters devoted to neutrals such as Sweden who armed themselves to keep clear of the antagonists, is complemented by a colorful and comprehensive collection of photographs. Arguably the most intriguing feature of the book, however, are the pilots’ accounts of occasions when a bomber or reconnaissance plane would stray into the other side’s airspace, to be duly intercepted and escorted back to its side, and the less publicized incidents when the interloper was shot down, as a number of former Soviet aircrews describe themselves doing—actions that held potentially dire consequences. These firsthand memories are what truly make a worthwhile purchase for anyone with an interest in the aerial side of the four-decade faceoff. And at just $40 this profusely illustrated coffeetable book is a real bargain.
