Combat in the Sky

Fought in the skies over North Vietnam, the air war between Vietnamese People’s Air Force (VNPAF) and U.S. airpower lasted nearly eight years with hundreds of thousands of combat missions carried out and nearly four hundred dogfights. Combat in the Sky: Airpower and the Defense of North Vietnam, 1965-1973 is the English edition of the definitive North Vietnamese work on Vietnam War airpower. In this book, Đồng Sỹ Hưng depicts the relevant events in chronological order from the first air battles such as the one at Dragon’s Jaw Bridge (April 1965), to the Linebacker II Campaign—or as it was known by the North Vietnamese—the ”Điện BiÊn Phủ in the Air Campaign” (December 1972). Dong then writes about the signing of the Paris Peace Accords (January 1973), and the VNPAF’s attacks on TÂn Sơn Nhất Airfield (April 1975).

The air war in Vietnam was the first modern conflict in which the two opposing sides used jet combat aircraft equipped with air-to-air missiles. In addition to his analysis of the strategic calculations, especially by the North Vietnamese, and the operations carried out, the author also details the technical characteristics of the weaponry used, as well as the changes in tactics applied in each phase of the war. In doing so, Dong provides the most unique perspective of this aspect of the conflict available in the English language.