F-4 Phantom

<p>‘A stone cold classic. One of the best military aviaton memoirs ever written’ Rowland White author of <em>Vulcan 607</em></p><p>‘I only have to think Speed and I am at 600 knots in seconds. Think Height and I am gazing down from a eight-mile-high perch within one minute. Think Freedom and I am wrested away from a dank cold world cloudbase at 300 feet through a brief shock of cloud to emerge into a golden blue world another dimension crystal clear for miles and miles’</p><p>Fighter Pilot. Robert Prest had never wanted to be anything else. And even as a boy he had set his sights on flying the awesome McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. The big twin-engined interceptor offered an irresistible combination of charisma power and performance. Air combat strike gunnery bombing and rocketry the F-4 was jack-of-all-trades master of most.</p><p>From the lonely pursuit of Soviet intruders out over the North Sea and strength-sapping high-g dogfights to maintaining Quick Reaction Alert on Germany’s Eastern border ready to scramble Battle Flight at a moment’s notice Prest and his fellow aviators stood toe-to-toe with a powerful opponent. But the defence of the West came at a cost and comrades in arms would pay with their lives.</p><p>No other book so vividly brings to life the high-pressure high stakes high-speed world of an RAF fighter pilot on the Cold War frontline. But it’s more than that. In capturing a sense of the wonder and magic of flying Prest’s book ranks aviation classics from writers like Saint-Exupéry Richard Bach Cecil Lewis and Ernest Gann.</p><p>‘The best book I’ve ever read about flying fast jets for the Cold War RAF. Both thrilling and elegaic F-4 Phantom makes poetry of complex exacting world of the fighter pilot. This is as close as you’ll ever get to flying the Phantom yourself.’</p><p>Rowland White author of Vulcan 607</p><p>‘What First Light does for Spitfires and the Battle of Britain Robert Prest does for the F-4 Phantom in RAF service … Superbly written.’</p><p>Royal Aeronautical Society Insight</p><p> </p><p>Perfect for fans of books like Skyfaring Apache First Light Tornado Down Fate is the Hunter or Sagittarius Rising</p>