**AS FEATURED IN THE TELEGRAPH**
The ultimate fighting machine...
The unflinching memoir of the elite combat pilot who flew it in action...
And his nail-biting story of training Prince Harry.
'Rounds slammed the ground all around the Taliban. He hit the earth face first, vanishing into the foggy confusion of desert conflict. The Apache's engines rumbled on as we orbited, hoping to see immediate harsh, hard proof that he was no longer a threat.'
Steve Jones is a former senior British combat pilot flying with the Army Air Corps (AAC), and Apache At War is his vivid and uncompromising account of flying 'the ultimate fighting machine', the Apache AH1 attack helicopter in action. From patrolling 'Bandit Country' in Northern Ireland in the late 1990s, to taking out Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in the mid to late 2000s, with active service in the Balkans and Iraq along the way: Steve Jones offers the taut, gritty, and graphic reality of flying in military service.
Besides his time spent in the air, Steve Jones was also a qualified instructor on the Apache. He brings us a first-hand account of his time spent teaching the then 'Lieutenant H. Wales' - Prince Harry - to fly and fight the aircraft. He tells of mentoring the hard-living prince, of equipping him with skills that would later bring out the best in him in Afghanistan, offering insights into Harry the soldier and pilot far removed from the media figure that we all know so well.
Immediate, dramatic, peppered with military insights and laced with laconic humour, Apache At War is a testament to the vital work of combat helicopter pilots, as well as an intimate salute to a truly remarkable aircraft. Steve Jones spent twenty-seven years in the military, earned his stripes as a ferocious war pilot, and has been decorated eight times. He fired the UK's first controversial thermobaric missile; helped track and kill Most Wanted Taliban commanders; and taught Prince Harry to wage war from an attack helicopter.
Jones had been the UK's youngest trainee military pilot when he signed up. He went on to serve with the Army Air Corps in the Balkans, in the Gulf War, twice in Northern Ireland, and three times in Afghanistan. Along the way he secured the Queen's Commendation for Bravery after pulling comrades from the burning wreckage of a crashed helicopter.
Steve Jones left the army in the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1, the highest non-commissioned rank in the British Army. Based in Aberdeen, he now flies helicopters servicing the North Sea oil industry. A senior Army Air Corps pilot's memoir of flying combat helicopters in action - and notably the Apache, the most advanced and capable aircraft of its type in the world. An elite combat pilot's story, vividly and authentically told The author is a highly skilled and experienced combat pilot. As one of Britain's rare breed of attack pilots, he underwent Special Forces training before taking charge of an Apache - the world's most advanced combat helicopter. Contains a first-hand account of training Lieutenant H. Wales - aka Prince Harry - on the Apache, including a hair-raising night-flying test that nearly went badly wrong US AH-64 Apaches are built by Boeing, but the type differs in significant ways from the British version, which is built under licence by AugustaWestland and designated AH1
