Author Alan Durkota succinctly explains this book in his Introduction:

The Army Air Force has 36 aviation-related Medal of Honor recipients in World War Two. One mission to attack oil refineries located at Ploesti, Romania, resulted in five Medals of Honor being awarded. making it the most highly decorated mission of the war. Two of the five will be presented in this volume.

James Doolittle’s raid on 18, April,1942 (sic), shocked the Japanese military and at the same time filled Americans with hope. History would show this mission caused the Japanese military to prioritize their effort to eliminate the American carriers which escaped the attack at Pearl Harbor, thereby setting into motion a series of events, including the Battle of Midway.

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the IPMS Nationals in Madison, WI, in July and was taken back by the variety of ‘specialist’ vendors providing their tools and techniques to the masses. One of the vendors that caught my eye was UMM-USA (Unique Master Models). UMM-USA is an on-line Store, importing and exporting kits, specialized modeling tools and supplies and consulting services. My main mission at the Nationals this year was to find a few tools I’ve been needing and UMM-USA had several I had been looking for.

Also at the convention, UMM-USA provided a few product review samples to the IPMS Reviewer Corp, so I was able to pick up this JHmodels Biplane-Wooden Jig Stand & Transport and a small hole reamer UMM-USA produces, for review (see the review titled: Micro Pyramid – Shanked Reamer RM (2.5mm))

ICM has released a new 1/48^th scale Bristol Beaufort Mk. I, Bombing Raid version with decals devoted to No. 22 and No. 217 Squadron. For this boxing, there is an additional Sprue W (3X) that will turn this Mk. I into a bombing raid ordnance configuration versus the torpedo version of the previous boxings (there is no F2 or torpedo trailer sprue in this kit). This is a 2-part review and PART 1 will review the contents of this kit.

In The Box

The kit box is typical top open with a nice illustration, but it does have a heavier cardboard fully enclosed box to protect all plastic inside. The sprues are packaged in a single plastic bag and the styrene is your typical light gray and clear plastic and will bond well with your usual modeling cement.