Skybreak

In August 1990, Iraqi forces under Saddam Hussein invaded the small emirate of Kuwait. The Kuwaiti defenses gave way within hours to the Iraqi Army's assault. The United States then led a coalition of thirty-four nations in Operation Desert Storm, an air and ground campaign whose aim was to drive the Iraqis out of Kuwait.

The men of the US Air Force's 58th Fighter Squadron fought at the front of that effort, flying F-15C jets against the Iraqi Air Force. Many of these young aviators had never seen combat, and they faced some of the most advanced Soviet-built aircraft of the period, including the MiG-29 'Fulcrum.' Their confidence in their training did little to lessen the odds they faced.

On the first day of the air war, January 17, 1991, Captain Jon 'JB' Kelk shot down a MiG-29, claiming the first aerial victory of Desert Storm. Over the following engagements, the squadron repeatedly defeated the Iraqi Air Force.

In less than thirty days, the 58th Fighter Squadron flew more than 1,600 combat sorties and destroyed sixteen Iraqi aircraft, more than any other coalition air unit. The book draws on hours of interviews and archival research by author Mike Guardia to present a frank account of modern air combat, told by the pilots who fought it.