The MiG Diaries

Authors: Lionel Reid & Eduardo González Sarría

GENRE: SA nonfiction / military aviation

RRP: R385

ISBN/EAN: 9781990956546

EXTENT: 440

RELEASE DATE: April 2023

Reviews

This unique story offers a holistic description of the war in the skies over Angola where the narrative places the reader in the cockpit such that you can almost feel the oppressive tropical heat. It reads like a novel but has the ring of truth that can only come from veterans who had the advantage of an accurate contemporary diary. Eduardo González Sarría and Lionel Reid must be congratulated on producing a worthy candidate for the aviation book of the year. It can be thoroughly recommended and if you choose to read just one aviation book this year – this is it. Outstanding!

I can recommend this brilliant historical work about the Angolan war in the air to any aviation enthusiast.

Memoirs of a senior Cuban MiG pilot combined with brand-new perspectives from South African, Cuban, Angolan and Soviet combatants provide the most thrilling and complete account yet of air combat during the Angolan conflict.

ABOUT THE BOOK

What was it like to fly a MiG or Mirage in combat over Angola?

Most books on the Angolan Bush War, especially those in English, present the South African perspective of events. Now a former MiG-23 Squadron Commander of the Cuban Air Force has collaborated with an ex-SAAF pilot to paint a remarkable new picture of the aerial conflict over Angola in the 1980s.

In The MiG Diaries, the recollections of Lt-Col Eduardo González Sarría are blended by Lionel Reid with those of air combatants from the Angolan, Cuban and South African air forces. Many are being published for the first time. Using their own aviation knowledge and experience of the conflict, Sarría and Reid combine the accounts of these diverse combatants – former comrades and foes – to provide original insights into, and a more holistic description of, what happened in the skies over Angola. The results, often quite different from what the opposing sides had believed, reveal a surprising, and more complete, picture of events.

The wonderful sketching pencil of Sean Thackwray, himself a former fighter pilot, helps to bring this unique story to life, along with select images, including many not seen in print in South Africa.