audiobook Supermarine Spitfire: 1936 onwards (all marks) (Owners' Workshop Manual) by Alfred Price; Paul Blackah in History

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Diplomacy; politics and national trauma has dominated the frontline career of the Israeli F-15 to date. In the wake of the losses suffered in the October 1973 Yom Kippur War; the Israeli government opted for technology in an effort to reassure a traumatised population that they would never suffer a surprise attack from the air again. Despite Israel Defense Force Air Force (IDF/AF) interceptors having performed extremely successfully during the Yom Kippur War; they did not achieve the kind of results that allowed Israel to achieve future deterrence. The nation was not only looking for weapons that would win a war; but that would also prevent it in the first place. Post-Yom Kippur diplomacy enabled Israel to purchase the F-15 Eagle; which was then the world's best air-to-air fighter. For the first time in its history the IDF/AF could operate a fighter that was a full generation ahead of all opposing interceptors in the region. The first 'Kill' F-15 Baz (Buzzard) arrived in Israel in December 1976; and three years later it got the chance to prove its worth in combat. Israeli Baz pilots were credited with 12.5 kills between 1979 and 1981; with 33 victories following during the June 1982 Lebanon War. A further 4.5 kills followed in post-Lebanon War skirmishes. Despite all of this combat; no Israeli F-15 has ever been lost to enemy action. Once the jet secured air superiority and deterrence had been achieved along the Israeli borders; the IDF/AF went on to explore the Baz's long-range attributes and as air-to-ground capability. As an example of the former; Israeli F-15s escorted F-16 strike aircraft all the way to Iraq's nuclear reactor in June 1981; and in its bomber role; the type flew the IDF/AF's longest ever attack mission in October 1985 when it bombed the PLO headquarters in Tunis. Diplomacy prevailed again in the 1990s when the US government agreed to supply the IDF/AF with the F-15I Ra'am (Thunder) to fulfill the long-range surface-to-surface missile (SSM) mission post-Desert Storm. These aircraft also acted as a counter-balance to the sale of the F-15S to Saudi Arabia. A follow-on to the F-15I purchase was the development of the Improved Baz Avionics Upgrade Program; which saw the integration of many of the F-15I features into the older F-15A/B/C/D. From A to I; the extremely capable; and combat-tested; Israeli F-15 force will continue to deter potential enemies well into the foreseeable future.