AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom

By Lon Nordeen

In the 1970s the USMC bought the AV-8A Harrier from the UK whose VTOL capabilities allowed it to serve as a tactical aircraft that could deploy with Marine forces on amphibious assault ships and provide air cover and close air support from large deck aircraft carriers. Third in a trilogy on US Marine Corps Harrier IIs in combat, it will be the first volume to cover the whole story of the AV-8B's service employment during peacekeeping operations and then in Afghanistan. With profile artwork for all frontline AV-8B units detailing the unique colours and markings applied by each squadron, this volume presents the widest variety of first-hand accounts of AV-8B air operations and missions by pilots and ground forces involved in Operation Enduring Freedom published to date.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing Ltd
• Release date: Jul 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781782003465

Lon Nordeen

Lon Nordeen worked for more than 40 years in aerospace at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and then as a manager of marketing communications and business development for a wide range of McDonnell Douglas/Boeing products (including the Harpoon/SLAM ER missile) and as a technical writer in defence, aviation and military technology. He has a long-term interest in aerospace, defence technology and military history. He is the author/co-author of more than 12 published books on these subjects, including four for Osprey. Lon lives near Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Reviews for AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom

[shrike58 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

On the whole a workmanlike accounting of the type's service in Afghanistan, though when most of the drama comes from fighting the environment and coping with a tenuous logistical train in a country that was probably not worth the years of effort invested there are limits to what you can say. What it took to operate the Harrier off amphibious carriers at the end of a long tether is the part that most made me perk up. The cover is a tip-off to the character of the work; detailed but grey and washed out.