The Henschel Hs-129 was a purpose-built ground attack plane which was designed for destroying tanks and attacking enemy emplacements. It wielded several versions of a 30mm cannon and had an armored cockpit and engines to allow for close air support of troops.

Hasegawa has reissued its excellent Henschel Hs-129B-2 kit with the needed decals to make two winter camouflage schemes. The kit comes with nine gray sprues and a clear sprue and a new set of decals. There is also a small poly cap sprue which is used to hold the propellers onto the engine faces. The panel lines are great and the kit is flash free.

Kitty Hawk Models continues their great releases with an F-35B Lightning II. The F-35 is a development from the JSF (Joint Strike Fighter) program and is a short/vertical takeoff and landing plane with bomb, cannon, and missile capability. This version, the “B”, is designed for use by the US Marine Corps and various overseas navies. It does not include a tail hook or foldable wings like later versions.

The kit itself is in dark gray plastic with no flash and excellent panel lines. There are six sprues plus separate parts for the upper and lower fuselage and a forward cockpit piece. There is also an excellent clear sprue which is very thing and crisp. Last are two decal sheets and the instructions.

This book looks at the only enemy aircraft actually to drop bombs on the continental United States, the Kugisho E14Y “Glen”. We are given the history of its development and its technical details, as well as the details of the two bombing missions over the Oregon coast and other operations across the Pacific. It should be noted that the Japanese were the only nation to use submarine-based aircraft in any quantity.

This book begins with a discussion of the first Japanese experiments with submarine-based aircraft, as well as the aircraft preceding the E14Y in service. A nice overview of the E14Y follows, with discussions of its operations for the IJN. One thing of interest is the joint operations of both Japanese and German submarines from the base at Penang (part of modern Malaysia). It even appears that there was a possible exchange between the Axis powers with an E14Y being traded for an Arado Ar-196.