Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft

by Peter Westwick Narrated by David de Vries

Overview

On a moonless night in January 1991, a dozen US aircraft appeared in the skies over Baghdad. To the Iraqi air defenses, the planes seemed to come from nowhere. Each aircraft was more than sixty feet in length and with a wingspan of forty feet, yet its radar footprint was the size of a ball bearing. Here was the first extensive combat application of Stealth technology. And it was devastating.



Radar has been in use since the 1930s and was essential to the Allies in World War II, when American investment in radar exceeded that in the Manhattan Project. The atom bomb ended the war, conventional wisdom has it, but radar won it. That experience also raised a question: could a plane be developed that was invisible to radar? That question, and the seemingly impossible feat of physics and engineering behind it, took on increasing urgency during the Cold War.



Combining nail-biting narrative, incisive explanation of the science and technology involved, and indelible portraits of unforgettable characters, Stealth immerses readers in the story of an innovation with revolutionary implications for modern warfare.

Editorial Reviews

The New York Times Book Review - Thomas E. Ricks

Peter Westwick's Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft is a readable and valuable contribution to Cold War history.

From the Publisher

"[A] valuable contribution to Cold War history." — Tom Ricks

"In his elegant Stealth, Peter Westwick balanc[es] a modest level of technical detail with a keen eye for the people involved, drawing on extensive interviews and oral histories. The vividness Mr. Westwick achieves is all the more impressive given the secrecy of the stealth world." — Konstantin Kakaes, The Wall Street Journal

"A rich, compelling, and eye-opening book." — Daniel J. Kevles, author of The Physicists

"Westwick does a good job of explaining the engineering principles at work, the competitive instinct of the engineers—which motivated them more than did a patriotic desire to gain the upper hand over the Soviet Union—and the advantages of a close partnership between the private sector and the state." — Lawrence Freedman, Foreign Affairs

"This concise, highly readable history of the creation, development, and application of one of the most important technologies of the Cold War brings clarity and a thorough understanding to this complex subject." — F. Robert van der Linden, Science

Library Journal

12/06/2019

Westwick (Blue Sky Metropolis) meticulously probes two highly competitive and contentious U.S. corporations, Northrop and Lockheed, from 1976 to 1988. Located in California, these companies developed and produced the first generation of radar-proof aircraft: the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk fighter and the Northrop B-2 Stealth bomber. The Nighthawk was presented to the Air Force in 1982 so pilots could acquaint themselves with the craft's flight characteristics, including late-stage stealth. By contrast, the B-2 was awarded a design philosophy completely different from the Nighthawk, opting for a smooth surface that would act to nullify the enemy's incoming radar energy. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Westwick explains, defense specialists and economists argued there was no longer a need for two radar-invisible aircraft, and resultant U.S. military cutbacks threatened the B-2 program in the early 1990s. Westwick describes how during the Iraqi Desert Storm campaign, Nighthawk aviators questioned these reductions by destroying almost half of their strategic targets in Baghdad with minimal losses. VERDICT This authoritative contribution to the history of aviation will be welcomed by academics and general readers of flight, military theory, and aeronautical engineering.—John Carver Edwards, formerly with Univ. of Georgia Libs.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940176236019
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	05/04/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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