This is the second installment from
Jake Melampy of Reid
Air Publications covering F-16 units past and present. The Viper
Story, Part II focuses on the Test and Training units of the U.S. Air Force, to
include Air Guard and Reserve, as well as the U.S. Navy.
This is the first of Jake’s books to come in hard cover and is laid out
like all the others. It opens with a brief history and mission description of
the test and training wings flying the F-16 before moving on to the specific
units themselves. Chapters are in numerical order of the units and give a brief
history of each wing and squadron.
Each chapter title page contains unit specific information, badges and Wing
tail flash. This book is literally filled with color pictures of each
squadron’s aircraft showing specifics of block type and markings. Ever having
the modeler in mind, Jake includes photographs of colorful squadron badges,
travel pods, and even wheel chocks.
There were a few personal surprised in the book being the USAF Aggressor
Wings and the Navy Adversary Squadrons. In this aspect, Jake photographically
covers all the various paint schemes worn by these units.
Another nice surprise came when I got to the chapter covering my unit, the
178th FW, Ohio ANG. This chapter was in two sections, starting with
the block 30 aircraft currently assigned. There is a nice two page spread
covering the resident Mig-killer, 86-0262. The second section includes the newly
acquired Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mission to train the Royal Netherlands Air
Force using their F-16 MLUs.
Conclusion:
This book provides and excellent single source reference for anyone
interested in the units that flew the General Dynamic / Lockheed F-16 in the
Test and Training role. The overall quality of this book is very good in that it
has a sturdy hard cover and is printed on fine, satin paper.
All the pictures are all extremely well taken covering the many phases of
flight, from ground taxi to air to air shots.