num_pages: 352
description: For more than a decade at the height of the Cold War the US Air Force operated a covert top secret training program called CONSTANT PEG. In 2006 the program was eventually declassified and the incredible story of America's secret MiGs emerged. For the first time one of the original Red Eagles - Col. Gailliard Peck Jr - reveals what it was like to learn to pilot secretly obtained Soviet aircraft enabling American pilots to train against the hardware they would have to face if the Cold War ever ran hot.America's Secret MiG Squadron is the story of a group of incredibly brave military pioneers who put their lives on the line to establish a training program that would prepare the US Air Force for a potential Cold War battle with Soviet aircraft. As a F-4 Phantom II piolot in Veitnam Col. Gail Peck had been shocked by the technicalolgical abilities of the Soviet-built aircraft and at the poor level of training available to US pilots to aid them in their battles with the Soviet MidGs in the skies over Veitnam. Working with the support of Gen. Hoyt S. Vendenberg Jr and under conditions of extreme secrecy the CONSTANT PEG program was launched with Peck as the original Red Eagle.This is the fascinating history of the men who trained to fly and maintain covertly obtained MiGs which for the first time provids an insiders persepective personal anecdotes and photographs revealing how Peck battled bureaucracy and skepticism to ultimately establish the premier fighter pilot training center - the real Top Gun.
language: English
title: America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Project CONSTANT PEG
publisher: Osprey Publishing