Fire in the Sky: Flying in Defence of Israel Hardcover by Amos Amir (Pen and Sword)

This book is very interesting. The author gives a lot of personal insights into combat flight operations and the Isreali Air Force.

The flying combat descriptions in the book are riveting. The insights into the casualty rates, the pressures of command, the fear factor etc described by the author in every mission are very engaging and enlightening. However, a few things caught my attention; perhaps it's different in the IAF but to American fighter jocks the illuminated gunsight is called a `pipper' not a `peeper' and enemy aircraft are called `bandits' not `bogeys' (unknowns). Another major difference in the author's account of the IAF is they all seem to call each other by first names regardless of rank or difference in rank. That's very interesting. In American air force I'm told, it's either address each other by your call sign (avoids the rank thing) or you do address one another by rank first, then last name. Very interesting insights into the IAF

I searched high and low for a used copy of this book (hardcover) and finally broke down and paid the freight for a new copy because the used just weren't that much cheaper. However, for as high a price as this book demands either new or used, I was expecting a little better organization to the book and within each chapter.

For example; the chapter order is a bit perplexing; about every other chapter is progressing through the author's earlier pre-IDF life and mixed between chapters of his combat flight experiences from the 1967 Six Day War forward. I guess this is to give the author a softer, human side to balance the battle-hardened warrior, steely-eyed fighter pilot side. But the stories don't seem to have much in common with the adult-life chapters either side of them.

There also seems to be a lack of continuity both in the chapter order as well as sometimes within the chapters themselves. For example, Ch 23 goes from agony of having to wash out an otherwise-near perfect flight cadet for clutching up in times of cockpit pressure to 2 years later when the author gets assigned to fly the acrobatic airshow for the flight cadet graduation crowd to how he almost killed himself practicing for an inverted flight portion by confusing which way to move the stick when upside down and finishes with brief mention of how he emphasized his own military career over his family and it had began to strain his marriage. Leaving the reader wondering what was the point of the chapter and where was the continuity?