Lance Cole is the author of this and many other worthy books detailing numerous aircraft types. This book – Boeing 747 is a timely and fitting tribute to one of the all-time classic aircraft and the very first “Jumbo Jet”. As the 747 is being retired by most airlines and carriers after 50 years of faithful service, plus the fact that I personally have flown as a passenger on every model of the 747, except the 747-8, this was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

The colorful cover includes three iconic photos of the 747’s grace, power and size, followed at the bottom by a nice image of -300 in Qantas colors. The back cover highlights three models and an overview of what’s inside the book. Throughout the book, colorful photos adorn each page.

The content index includes:

Mikhail Maslov was born in 1954 in Mary, Turkmenistan, at that time a part of the Soviet Union. His aviation career started during his school years when he became interested in aviation history and began building aircraft models. Mikhail graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute (University) and worked as an engineer at the Tupolev Design Bureau, participating in the development of the Tu-204 airliner, and later at the Central Aero and Hydrodynamics Institute (TsAGI) as researcher. However, his passion for aviation history prevailed and in 1992 he transferred to the TsaGI museum in Moscow where he began his historical research. Since the beginning of the 1990s Mikhail has been actively involved in the restoration of Soviet aircraft to flying condition, and has participated in building I-153, I-16, MiG-3 and Po-2 planes.

The book is volume 38 of Helion & Company’s Middle East@War series and looks at the participation of RAF’s medium and heavy bombers in Operation Musketeer, the Suez War of 1956. The book includes over seventy black and white photographs and seven pages of color profiles depicting the markings of some of the Canberra and Valiant squadrons that participated in the campaign and aircraft of the Egyptian Air Force, along with several maps and order of battle charts.

John Dillon is a former Vulcan navigator and the author of several military history books.

An often-overlooked part of the Suez War of 1956 is the participation of the Royal Air Force’s Canberra medium bombers and Valiant heavy bombers in the campaign. Based in Malta and Cyprus these aircraft were tasked with neutralizing the Egyptian Air Force in order to prevent it from interfering in the eventual assault that was planned to take back control of the Suez Canal.