Ed Darack

Ed Darack

 

Air & Space/Smithsonian contributing editor Ed Darack is the author of The Warriors of Anbar; War Moments; The Final Mission of Extortion 17; Victory Point; and three other books. He is the founder of Darack Research, a company that innovates unmanned systems, which grew out of his July 2014 Air & Space article Build Your Own Drone.

US Marine forward air controllers

Welcome to Yodaville

Population: Zero. Threat level: High

In Afghanistan, Marines and Afghan forces patrol under cover of an AH-64 Apache.

Control the Air

On the ground with Marines in Afghanistan, the author sees a different side of close air support.

From A UH-1N Huey helicopter, Corporal Andy Vistrand, a "Gunrunner" in Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, scans the countryside of Anbar province from behind a .50-caliber machine gun.

Air War Iraq

From Al Asad Air Base, portraits of U.S. aircraft and crews in the fourth year of fighting.

Aviators of Marine Attack Squadron 23—the "Ace of Spades"—based out of Cherry Point, North Carolina maneuver their AV-8B Harriers for an aerial refueling mission high above Iraq's Al Anbar Province.

VIDEO: Refueling Over Iraq

Photojournalist Ed Darack watches the action from the open cargo door of a C-130J

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