Rating: 
Summary: excellent, engineering and "by-the-seat-of-your-pants"-wise
Review: This is an excellent foundation for any figher simulation fan (and probably real fighter pilot, but I didn't meet any). Although I have a PP and 200 hours logged, playing fighter sims, especially WWII variety, is a different ballgame, and a very hard one to figure out. This book gives a solid foundation onto which one can build flying and killing skills. The engineering appendix is just beefy enough to define terms cleanly and the book itself is covering all aspects necessary in a very clean and thorough way. Basic and Advanced Flight maneuvers are all there, 1-1, 1-2, 2-2 tactics, tactics when fighting in non-equivalent aircrafts, guns, missiles and performance aspects are all thoroughly covered. The author even goes to the extent of covering fixed wing vs. helicopter tactics, although not without a shot of irony. One of the most usefull things is the description of typical mistakes commited by rookies in maneuvers. The only improvement I could think of would be the description of drills that one should employ to train specific aspects of combat. And yes, it's nothing one reads quickly, the book is rather like fois-gras, a small slice every time ;-)
Rating:
Summary: The issue is not flying, we're talking COMBAT here
Review: When I got the book I was already an able flyer in the online sim world. With help of the book I have become a good (but not the best ;-) ) virtual pilot.I don't think it's strange that people are enthousiastic about this book. Although the reading itself is pretty dry, the message behind it is very exciting. The book starts with simple BFM (Basic Flight Maneuvers) that are the base of all maneuvering in combat. The writer then moves on to other topics like ACM (Air Combat Maneuvers), Energy management, use of missiles, use of guns, and various smaller topics. All topics are clearly explained with schematics and descriptions of actual combats where specific tactics were used. As a World War 2 simulator fan I enjoyed the part on Gunning and energy management very much together with the ACM topic. For fans of modern warplanes the section about missiles is very interesting too. In all topics multiple scenarios/tactics are described, with their respective answer to them. There is an answer to every tactic. This doesn't mean however that there is a step by step handbook on how to fight in the virtual (or real) sky. There is none, because all situations are different, and every pilot and plane hasd their own strong and weak points. The Writer of this book stresses this often, and makes you understand that Air Combat is truly an art which you can master with practice, dedication and help from this book...
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