History

This book covers the aeronautical activities of Americans in the military from the beginnings in the American War Between The States (Civil War) to the end of World War I. Actually, balloons were used by both Union and Confederate forces during that war, and there was some balloon activity up through the end of World War I. After the Wright Brothers made their first flight in 1903, experiments were conducted by Americans to develop military aircraft, although after the Wrights showed the Europeans how to build a practical and controllable airplane, more progress was made in Europe, so that by the time the United States became involved in the war, the British, French, and Germans were far ahead of us in military aviation technology. The U.S. had used a few airplanes in Mexico before our involvement in Europe, but not with great success.

KittyHawk at long last produces a SeaHawk version of the BlackHawk kit that they produce. This is the SH-60B version with other SeaHawk variations also being released at the same time. The box is noticeably big and stuffed full of plastic sprues and includes most of the parts that are for the other variants, so you have a lot for you spares box remaining when the kit is completed.

In the box is:

• 11 x light grey sprues
• 2 x clear sprues
• 2 x decal sheets
• 1 photoetch detail set
• 1 instruction booklet

While you get 11 runners, you also get plenty of unused (spare) parts that are for the other variants of this helicopter. All the runners are extremely well molded with very little flash and fine detail. Although I did find three parts that were not fully molded and had to do filling and scratch building parts to complete these. The decals allow you to finish the aircraft in 6 extremely colorful versions.

The planning, execution and consequences of Operation Vengeance – the interception, shoot-down and death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the architect of Japan’s surprise attack upon the U.S. Fleet at Pearl Harbor – have generated a sizable literature. This Osprey title, the 53rd in its Raid Series, is a succinct but comprehensive summary of that material.