AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Enduring Freedom (Combat Aircraft)

Overall, a good book. I would have liked to see a few more stories on actual missions. Looking forward to reading the book on OIF.

Cool stories.

Great book of the units involved.

Good exhaustive book on the AV-8B contributions to OEF.

thank you

This 104th title in the "Combat Units" series completes the Marines' AV-8B saga treated by Osprey.Author Nordeen is quite effective in detailing the main characteristics of the "jump jet" and the operational record in the harsh Afghan theatre.A good introduction illustrates the Harrier II evolution through the years, clearly underlining how an effective and powerful war machine the AV-8B is now and how many differences there are under the skin compared to the AV-8B deployed in "Desert Storm".Basically the Harrier evolved from a "STOVL Skyhawk" to a "STOVL Hornet" and the recent upgrade in the avionics and communications sets put them in the centre of a netcentric battlespace, enhancing its capabilities, effectiveness and flexibility.Nordeen then makes very live description from the cockpit side and from the maintenance line, underlining the differences between the land based operations and the "from the deck" ones.Much drama is also introduced by the "grunts" tales in the battlefield, often saved by the resolute attacks by the AV-8Bs.This book covers many other topics, among this the unpredictable and deadly Taliban attacks against US bases. The deadliest one was that perpetrated on Sept. 14th 2012 by the Talibans against the Camp Bastion USMC's base, with two US soldiers dead six AV-8Bs destroyedThe usual top level of the illustrations in this series is maintained through the 24 profiles by the famed Jim Laurier that illustrate the main weapons configurations.Good photos and Battle Orders schemes of the USMC squadrons involved in the Enduring Freedom campaign perfectly integrate a true "must to have book" for all modern warfare aviation enthusiasts

I've owned these books before. The problem with these "Osprey" books is that (1), They're paperbacks. With the so-called "perfect binding" (which is anything but "perfect"...), after a while, the spine's fail & the pages come out. (2), With less than a hundred pages, how much information can you put into a thin book like this..? Good color photos, sure - but so what..? The text(s) are short and not very informative. These books are, in my opinion, written for younger people who want an initial "introduction" to the airplane. There's just not enough room for any meaningful (ie, "lengthy") textual description of anything that might otherwise be of interest to most afficianados of either the Harrier jump jet, or any other aircraft.For those reasons, I will not buy any more "Osprey" books. They're made too cheaply (quality-wise), and they're too thin (content-wise) for me to have any real interest in them. Schiffer Aviation Publications, as an example, produces FAR more excellent publications and books on aircraft than you'll ever find with Osprey publications. My opinion.

Great info and data for the scale model builder. Excellent color profiles.

Another great book from osprey,

GREAT TRANSACTION - THANKYOU

Verry mutch.