Product Description

One of the world's classic military action-adventure novels. Patrick McLanahan leads a crew of engineers aboard the "Old Dog" to destroy a Soviet ground-based laser site.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #470468 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

From the Publisher
6 Hours, 5 CD's, Abridged

About the Author
Dale Brown was a much decorated US Air Force Captain aboard B-52s and FB111 fighter bombers, and participated in numerous top secret tests and exercises held to simulate an actual strategic war. He became a recognised expert on air warfare and appeared on American TV as a commentator during the Gulf War. Only a man with Dale Brown's background could provide the detailed authenticity that makes his novels such compulsive reading.

Customer Reviews

Awesome..Brillaint...Superlative...Etc, Etc...
This is up there with 'Red Storm Rising'.

This book grabs you in the first few pages and keeps you on the edge of your seat from there on in, a technologicaly brilliant book.

I have read this book so many times and enjoy it every time,. about to buy my 'umteenth' copy as I have worn all the others out.

Trust me here, buy it and enjoy it, time and time again...also try please 'Red Storm Rising...

Brown's first & best
I first read this as a kid & loved it. 14 years later it still seems pretty good, if a touch dated. "Flight of the Old Dog" compares very favourably with Tom Clancy's better (& older) books. It shares some plot with "Cardinal of the Kremlin" and is very much of Reagan's "empire of evil" era.

The plot is fairly simple- the Soviets develop a very powerful laser on the Kamkatcha peninsula (very close to where in real life Korean airlines flight KAL007 was shot down) & use it to destroy america's "Star Wars" weapons platform. The US send bombers to destroy the site, but everything goes wrong leaving the "old dog" (a heavily up-armed & stealthy version of the 50 year old B-52 stratofortress) and her rag-tag crew of test-pilots & civilian contractors as the only force that can stop the Soviets from zapping every plane & satellite the US launches.

This book introduces Patrick MacLanahan & the "dreamland" complex in Nevada, both of which will be horribly overused by Dale Brown over the past 15 year. In this book at least the novelty of the high-tech weapons still feels fresh & interesting & despite it many advantages the old dog is still vunerable & dependent on the skill of its crew.

This certainly deserves 4-5 stars. If you like it try Harold Coyle's "Team Yankee" or Clancy's "Red storm rising". Both are Cold War classics and far superior to Brown's recent tepid efforts.

Blinding
Quite simply cold war phobias at the very pinnacle of the profession. Clancy presents the more refined book overall, but this book is not about smoothness, this is about sheer power. This is my favourite book, and I also loved Red Storm Rising by Clancy