Osprey Publishing, in cooperation with The Tank Museum, has published a guide of “the 40 most iconic tanks of the 20^thcentury.” Each of the tanks covered in the guide receives three pages that include a one page history, an extensive list of specifications, two full color drawings and detailed descriptions of each drawing.

Much of the histories will already be known to students of armor, but I did find bits about the covered vehicles that are new to me. The full color drawings are exceptional and show the tanks in a used condition with many covered in crew gear and other equipment. The majority are side profiles, however there are many views from the front or rear quarter. The lists of specifications are fairly extensive for the size of the book and are useful for comparing the different vehicles. Finally, the picture narratives provide additional details on the particular tanks in the drawings.

Short History

The Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is a ground attack aircraft designed for the United States Navy and Marine Corps. The delta winged, single-engine A-4 was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company’s chief designer Ed Heinemann. The aircraft was later produced by McDonnell Douglas. The A-4 was originally designated the A4D under the Navy’s pre-1962 designation system. The A-4 was in response to a call by the US Navy for a jet-powered attack aircraft to replace the older Douglas Skyraider. Ed Heinemann opted for a design that would minimize size, weight and systems complexity. The little Skyhawk quickly began to be called by other nicknames such as “Scooter”, “Kiddiecar”, “Bantam Bomber”, “Tinker Toy Bomber”, and one of its more famous of nicknames, “Heinemann’s Hot Rod”.

The AN/APG-66 radar system was developed by Westinghouse (now Northrop Grumman) in the 1970’s for use in the General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) F-16 Fighting Falcon, and entered service in 1979. The radar was utilized in both the A and B versions of the F-16, and was later replaced by the AN/APG-68 system. The AN/APG-66 weighed in at 362 pounds and was a multi-role, x-band unit with a range of 160 nautical miles. In addition to the F-16 A and B, variants of the radar was also installed on the F-4EJ (Japanese export version of the Phantom II), British Hawk 200, US Navy T-39N, and New Zealand A-4 aircraft. The modes of operation were range-while-scan, track-while-scan, velocity search, and gun director.