A new book in my library. (4 Viewers)

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Workman like and of specialized interest, this edition of Naval Fighters (NF) will only appeal to a very limited group. The modelers section and US Navy reserve squadron coverage were deferred to a later volume covering USMC Skyhawks. The volume at 177 pages was a large edition for Naval Fighters in 2001 and provides a sparse 6 pages of text plus two pages of performance charts on the last two pages. The technical illustrations and photo gallery run about another 45 pages or so and do provide some meaningful details of the aircraft that might be of some use to modelers.

Except for maintenance personnel, pilots or die-hard Scooter fans, it's hard to think of who else this volume might appeal to.
 

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Cool stuff guys up there guys,

So the second book in the series arrived today. Fall of the Japanese Empire. The first book was Beyond Pear Harbor if you did not know and is the book on the left and a great read. Book 2 is slightly different then book one. Book two covers airmen of the IJN, USAAF, USMC, USN where as book one was exclusively IJN personnel. There are 19 chapters in book 2 and each chapter is about one man. 11 of the chapters are on individual men of the IJN. 2 on USAAF. 3 on USMC, 3 on USN. These are stories told by the men that where there.

Both books are in English. I prefer the paper in the first book as it is semi gloss to the second one as does not have semi gloss pages. Even though very close in number of pages the first one is way heavier in weight due to the kind of paper used. Both are hard cover and roughly the same amount of page. I read the first one a while back but may have to reread it now that the second one is here. A quick scan of both books shows no duplicate names for the IJN personnel in the second book that was in the 1st book so all new info. Also of interest are some of the pictures came from there personal collections of the men interviewed so a few I had not see. If you are looking for lots of aircraft pictures then this is not the book though plenty of pictures of the men interviewed both in the past and current when the author interviewed.

So far that's all I can tell you about the second book as it just arrived but can't wait to dive in this weekend.

 
Looks like great book Jim. (Dammit....Just lost my little blinky line that shows where to type by pressing a wrong key......again. Off to the Google to find how to fix this for about the 100th time)
 
Rogozarski IK-3 a Kagero publication. A mail order discount business, Edward R. Hamilton in Falls Village CT. They charge $4 shipping so I always buy a bunch at the same time. I have bought from them about 35+ years and they just went up from $3.50 to $4 shipping no matter how many books, but it comes Postal service Media mail so 2 to 3 weeks. Always well packed, no damage.
 
All these new sources! My wife is going to hate you guys!
 
Micdrow said:
Many thanks Wayne, I really recommend them. Lot of info you don't get to hear about or read about including the Japanese views of how they looked and saw the war from individual people.
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Thank you for the recommendation. Now on wish list.
 


If you own the first edition you will be buying Volume Four to cover the Bombers which are now noticeably absent. (It's okay. Spend the money, you'll be happy you did.)

Massively rewritten and revised, this is essentially a new standalone volume and not a revised edition. This new volume has approximately 15% more pages than the 2004 addition and as mentioned above deletes the bombers. The book is very comprehensive in covering British fighter development in terms of single engine, multi-engine, turret fighter (Chapter 5 is titled "Turrey Fighters and Night Fighters".) Naval fighters, etc.

Because the scope includes up to 1950, some Naval "fighters" such as the Blackburn Firebrand and the Westland Wyvern which have traditionally been relegated to foot notes in other books receive excellent coverage here under a heading of "Strike Fighter".

One chapter has been included to provide cursory coverage of engine, propeller, and other technology developments including a few interesting pictures of raw compressor forgings, propeller manufacturing, etc. It is probably the weakest chapter in the book and the reader would be better off finding other sources if they want to know more.

Of the appendices, Appendix One British Fighter Projects Summary will probably of the most interest due to its coverage of projects by the small and "also ran" firms such as Airspeed, Folland, and Martin-Baker. This appendix also includes a few line drawings of some these proposed aircraft.

Overall? This book is lavishly illustrated with photographs, line drawings, brochure art, and photographs of a few manufacturer style models. (Some are contemporary scratch-built.) The text does an excellent job of describing each aircraft and does so in a manner that gives the reader an understanding of the various factors and circumstances that were driving each development such as engineering or manufacturing resources, lack of materials, etc. My only disappointment was coverage of some of the ad-hoc Fleet Air Arm fighters such as the Sea Gladiator and Sea Hurricane were noticeable by their absence.

Highly recommended without reservation and a must buy for anyone interested in British aircraft from the interwar to post-war period.
 
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