History

This book is part of a series of excellent Osprey Publications dealing with the history of World War II in the air. This volume deals with the conflicts between the Japanese Army, who were attempting to dominate New Guinea early in World War II, and the United States Army, who were attempting to remove the Japanese and send them back where they belonged. Several JAAF units were involved, using primarily the Nakajima Ki-43-II “Oscar” fighter, opposed by the U.S. 5^th Air Force P-47D units. This story has not been told before.

The story put forward by author Annette Carson, took place over 100 year ago. It is the story of a young man named D’Urban.V. Armstrong. DVA, as he is called throughout the book, was one of many airmen who served during the Great War. Unlike many of the pilots who became famous for their exploits during World War I, DVA survived the conflict, (spoiler alert!!!) only to meet his end two days after the Cease-Fire while flying an aircraft (Sopwith Camel) which he had gained fame having mastered. Ms. Carson writes about the reputation of the Camel being less than positive, and how DVA learned how to control the aircraft, and then instructed others how to control the Camel, significantly reducing accidents during training, (350 men died in Camel-related air accidents during training) and leading to the Camel having a very positive reputation among today’s historians.

This is a new publication from Duke Hawkins Books and is the sixth volume of a series of books that they have recently published highlighting modern jets. This volume focuses on the Eurofighter/Typhoon.

When the book was published, the Eurofighter/Typhoon was operated by 7 countries – England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman and the volume includes at least one photograph of a jet from each country. There is text scattered throughout the book, however, to be honest, most of it is expanded captions discussing the photographs that it accompanies.

In 2019 ICM introduced their newly tooled A-26/B-26 collection. The B-26B-50 kit and the A-26B-15 kit have now been joined by the A-26C-15 released in 2020. The A26B-15 Invader, kit # 48282, and the B-26B-50 Invader, kit # 48281, are available, but my “A-26/B-26” experience is limited only to the A-26C-15, and at every turn, this kit was extremely impressive.

Packaging

The box is a very sturdy cardboard box. The box “lid” flips up when a tab is freed from a holding slot. The parts within are safe and secure in a large baggie. The clear parts are contained in a separate baggie which prevents any contact with other parts runners, keeping the “glass” in pristine condition, and there is a lot of glass because the A-26C-15 is the “glass-nose” variant. The box art is an exceptional example of aviation art and particularly useful during the construction phases of the project as well.

It wasn’t so long ago that 1/32nd aircraft modelers were pretty hard pressed to find pilot or ground crew figures for dioramas they wished to make. ICM has rather single-handedly addressed this issue, and has been busy churning out wonderful sets to complement your 1/32nd scale aircraft collection. One of the latest of these is their WWII British Ground Personnel set.

This simple set consists of three ground crew figures, who seem to be specifically tailored to their excellent Gloster Gladiator aircraft kits. One is ostensibly removing the tail locks and testing the rudder, another is working on the engine and a third is preparing to prep the propeller. All three are useful additions to a good diorama, although obviously not all at once.