Reviewed by Ken Bowes

 
Osprey's F-14 Tomcat Units of Operation Enduring Freedom is available online from Squadron.com

Osprey Publishing continues to document the various aspects of recent US led operations in South West Asia, having covered both OIF and OEF in some detail. Back in Osprey Combat Aircraft Number 52, author Tony Holmes covered in some detail the use of the F-14 in OIF from March 03 till the last cruises in 2005. Now he switches his attention to operations in and around Afghanistan. F-14 units were amongst the first to respond to the crisis of September 11, and building on recent combat experience in Kosovo, took the fight into Afghanistan in roles which the Tomcat had not been conceived for, such as Forward Air Control (Air) and Strike Coordination and Reconnaissance (SCAR).  Squadrons such as the Black Aces had worked hard to develop this doctrine in Operation Allied Force and this experience was to count as Carriers in the process of in-chopping and out-chopping from 5th Fleet converged in the North Arabian Sea.

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Holmes follows a conventional and familiar format in this book. Starting with the reactions of various Tomcat crews to the sudden events of September 11, he then steps through the process of planning the air war. The second chapter details the air war, from the first strike, through to the increase in op tempo as US Special Forces and conventional forces infiltrated into Afghanistan to support the Northern Alliance and Pashtun opposition groups. As is customary for this series, the narrative is heavily illustrated with first-person accounts of particular incidents and mission highlights, such as the description of a strike on a Taleban SA-3 Site in vicinity of Kandahar.

The next two chapters cover the specifics of operations in support of ground forces. This includes accounts of supporting both SOF A Teams and more conventional operations. A large amount of this section is a chapter on Operation Anaconda, where a large Taleban force fought ferociously against US and Allied special forces, inflicting many casualties but suffering themselves at the hands of Tomcat and other tactical and strategic aircraft. No punches are pulled, with criticism being expressed of the poor planning and coordination between units which impacted heavily on the early progress of the operation. Holmes wraps up his narrative with a summary of VF-211s final operations in Afghanistan in November 2003. With the Tomcat now withdrawn from service, this section acts as a bookend to operations that commenced not long after September 11 and for other aircraft types continues to this day.

As mentioned earlier, this volume contains a lavish number of first person accounts from the aviators that took the Tomcat into combat.  Also as usual for the Osprey Combat Aircraft series, included in this volume there is a useful appendix covering all the units which have operated the Tomcat in the Afghanistan Theatre. 21colour profiles of Tomcats from all units fill the centre pages, supported by another 21 scrap views highlight nose and tail art and mission log details as applied to the aircraft. Modellers are well served with the photographs and aircraft details which would support an accurate model of an OEF Tomcat. The captions also contain a wealth of useful notes, including discussion of various ordnance loadouts carried by different squadrons, always useful to finish off an accurate replica. The majority of included photographs are small, but in common with many of the volumes on recent US subjects, includes a generous amount of colour.  The Tomcat evokes a lot of emotion amongst enthusiasts and yet again Osprey has published an excellent book which has done the subject justice.

Highly Recommended.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing for the review sample

Review Copyright © 2008 by Ken Bowes
Page Created 5 March, 2008
Last updated 5 March, 2008

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