This book comprises twenty-two segments each covering a different aircraft design. The heavy fighter concept was one that was tried out by many different nations. In theory these aircraft were to perform a variety of missions such as ground attack, bomber protection/escort as well as reconnaissance without the aid of single engine fighters. More often than not it was found that the heavy fighters needed their own single engine fighter escort for protection on missions.

Many of the aircraft covered in this book are by lesser-known designers and thus the aircraft themselves are lesser known as well. Many of these designers struggled within Stalin’s government where failure was almost certainly to catch the ire of the communists in charge. The communist government and Stalin’s purges lead to an exodus of many bright technicians and engineers. This in turned caused issues with the ability to design reliable engines thus requiring many to be imported.

Brengun brings us an improved version of the metal 75 gallon drop tanks used on all types of US fighter aircraft during WWII. You get two tanks cast in resin, a PE fret with caps and a small decal sheet with labels and stencils for the tanks. Casting blocks are attached to front of each part and come off easily. A little touch up was required since the attachment points from the blocks left minor dimples and there were a few pin holes to fill. I painted the tanks aluminum per the directions. The PE caps fit the provided recesses just right. Decaling proved easy as they went down with micro set. The only gripe here is the stencil blocks are just colored stripes without writing on them.

Before the days of night vision goggles and infrared sensors, US bombers needed a system to illuminate the target area before or during bomb release. Introduced in 1942, the M26 parachute flare was designed to do that. Designed to mount onto the same shackles used to secure bombs, this flare system was activated at release by a wire attached to the fuse on the nose. At the pre-set time, the flare would deploy a parachute and a shield that prevented the burning flare from blinding the bombardier. This model of the M26 could burn for up to three and half minutes at a brightness of 800,000 candlepower. There are a number of these empty canisters on eBay for those who collect such things.