The first flight of the famous C-130 “Hercules” turboprop aircraft was on August 23, 1954, with the first production C-130 making its maiden flight on April 7, 1955. The aircraft has been in continuous production since, with over 2500 manufactured to date.

Written by Robert Pied and Nicolas Deboeck, this incredible book is an invaluable resource for modelers. Its 196 pages with over 550 photos show the C-130 in incredible detail. Photos of the interiors of the wheel wells, many open panels, and interior photos that show parts of the “Herk” that, until now, mostly maintainers saw. I was a maintainer (also known as a “Crew Chief”) who worked on C-130 “Herks” for over 25 years, and this book brought back many memories.

Saab has a long history of producing excellent fighter aircraft that are often at the leading edge of technology. The AJ 37 Viggen is a prime example of that legacy. Pied and Deboeck tell the story of this potent fighter through pictures and their associated captions. This book is part of HMH’s “Aircraft In Detail” series that is now up to a dozen volumes of front line fighter aircraft with the exception being one about the C-130. Most of the photos are of the two Viggens flying with the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight.

The AJ 37 entered operational service with the Swedish Air Force in 1971 as an attack fighter with the photo-recce version, the SF 37, following in 1973. A more advanced interceptor version, the JA 37, was delivered to the Air Force in 1974. The Viggen’s 2-seater was the flight trainer version, the SF 37. 2007 saw the last of the 329 multi-purpose fighters retire from operational service.

Casemate & HMH Publications presents to us another excellent book from their “Duke Hawkins” series, providing a close up of the "Legacy" Hornet in all its versions: A, B, C and D including the ATARS version. Over 400 photos show every side of the famous jet in service with the US Navy, USMC and the Air Forces of Spain, Finland, Canada, Switzerland, Malaysia and more.

The first thing I noticed upon opening the cover is, there aren’t any chapters proper. Rather, the book is divided into “sections”, each notated in the upper right-hand corner of the right page. Sections include: