Almost anyone who has seen any documentary of the war in the Pacific has seen images of the very badly damaged aircraft carrier USS Franklin. This book is her story and tells the story of how the “Big Ben” became “the ship that would not die.”

The book begins with the shakedown cruise, where the crew becomes familiar with their new charge and her operations. The story then moves on to her first combat and continues on through the significant combat operations that “Big Ben” was a part of in the central and western Pacific. Throughout the book are many personal accounts of the sailors and aviators who crewed the carrier, which adds a great personal touch to the history told within.

The Soviet Union’s first purpose-designed ground support aircraft, proposed in 1938, the Il-2 first saw production and combat action in 1941 as a single-seat platform. As a result of heavy losses from enemy fighters, the 2-seat version with a rear gunner station was fielded in 1943, and proved to be a crucial element in the Red Army’s defeat of the invading Nazi forces. With over 36,000 units produced, the Shturmovik was and still is the most-produced aircraft in aviation history, and accounted for nearly 1/3 of all Soviet aircraft produced during “The Great Patriotic War.”

Dragon has released their 10th StuG III Ausf.G kit with a production model with the very specific timeframe for December, 1943. The kit contains 15 sprues, one brass photo-etched sheet, two nickel-etched side skirts (schurtzen), two bags of magic tracks, one sprue of clear parts, braided tow cable wire, and a small Cartograf decal sheet. This being a Smart Kit, we get these PE and nickel extras, but no turned metal gun barrel.