The Kurtis Kraft company built some of the first specialty race cars of the post war era. Started by Frank Kurtis in the 1930s, the company would go on to build race cars ranging from midget racers to the “big cars,” that raced the grand prix circuit which included The Indy 500. This model represents a 1955 Kurtis Kraft 500C model powered by a 255 ci Offenhauser engine producing 400hp. These cars could hit 170 mph. Nine of these cars were built. In fact, between 1950 and 1955 Kurtis Kraft cars won four of five Indy races.

This is the second of two volumes dealing with the history of the DeHavilland DH-9A, and continues the story of the postwar development and service of this most versatile biplane. The first volume generated a lot of feedback, so a number of points are clarified, and more details are included, although the main thrust of this issue is the postwar service and development, as well as the Russian copies that were produced as the R-1 after the Bolshevik Revolution. Since there are a couple of kits available of this aircraft, at least in 1/72 scale, the book will be of special interest for those of us who model World War I and “Tween the Wars” airplanes.

A product of the brilliant yet practical designer Ed Heinemann, the Skyhawk was a simple lightweight naval attack jet that served the U.S. Navy and Marines far beyond what anyone expected. One of its standout roles was serving as the mount of the U.S Navy’s Blue Angels aerobatic team from 1974 to 1986. These Naval ambassadors dazzled hundreds of thousands of people with their precision maneuvers, which the A-4, with its phenomenal roll rate, was capable of doing. I had the opportunity to witness these aircraft in action at the Pt. Mugu NAS in my teens. I was looking forward to sharing a shiny blue and gold bird with you until I saw the decal sheet. This is the original Monogram kit we all know which, in spite of its raised panel lines, still holds up against its contemporaries. There are decals for the Blue Angel birds 1 thru 4 but the other option is that of Senator John S. McCain’s A-4E as it looked in June 1967 when he was assigned to the Klansmen of VA-45.