History

Colonel Thomas J.J. “Jack” Christian’s personal mount was an early P-51D-5-NA, serial number 44-13410, Code E2-C, with “LOU IV” painted on the port side of the engine cowling, forward of the cockpit and just rearward of the exhaust manifolds. The aircraft was named after his wife, Marjorie Lou Ashcroft Christian. The name “ATHELENE” was painted on the starboard side of the fuselage forward of the cockpit and below the exhaust manifolds. LOU IV was the most photographed P-51 Mustang of World War 2, and was an early P-51 D-5-NA (with the “bubble” canopy) without the stabilizing tail fin addition of the later definitive –D models. Additional photographs better indicate LOU IV’s colors and markings, including a yellow propeller spinner, a yellow engine cowling, a bare metal fuselage with a mottled camouflage pattern of dark green and /or black on the top surfaces, and “invasion stripes” beneath the fuselage roundel and on the bottom of the wings.

Avonmore Books is an Australian publisher specializing in military and aviation history, with a particular interest on the early period of the Pacific War. Avonmore prides itself in being the only mainstream Australian military history publisher producing full colour, illustrated books. While expensive to produce, we strive to produce titles that are a pleasure to own and read, and which incorporate first-class profiles, illustrations, and maps. To date, Avonmore Books has published 25 aviation books.

The F/A-18E Super Hornet is the US Navy’s truly ubiquitous aircraft. It’s their main fighter and attack platform as well as its electronic warfare aircraft, the E/A-18G Growler. Model manufactures followed the Navy’s lead and have produced numerous kits of this aircraft in all the popular scales. Consequently, Kagero recently released a publication in their “Kit Build” series about this fighter. The paperback chronicles model builds of two Super Hornet kits: Academy’s 1/72 scale and Eduard’s 1/48 scale F/A-18E’s. Color photos document progress of the build while short paragraphs of text offer further explanations. The last four pages of the book contain eight color profiles of “E” and “F” versions - four apiece. As a bonus, a small masking sheet for the canopies of 1/72 and 1/48 models is included in the book.

This book takes an in-depth look at the development, selection, and early flight tests of the Volksjager (people's fighter) concept or what became known as the He 162. In the waning years of WWII, the Luftwaffe was desperate for a point defense fighter that could be produced in great numbers with a minimum of strategic materials. Although Germany had a jet fighter in the form of the Me 262, it required a lot of materials to build the airframe and two engines. The philosophy of a small single engine fighter was to build enough to station them close to all the potential Allied targets. This requirement meant the Volksjager could be a small aircraft with limited range. With a minimum of training, it was hoped that He 162 would provide the defense Germany so desperately needed.

The VC-10 has always been one of my favorite civil aircraft since I was a kid and watching them take off from Heathrow Airport. So, I could not miss the chance to review this book.

Chapters

• Introduction
• Design and Development
• Engineering Excellence
• Into the Air
• RAF Service
• Other Operators
• VC10 Variants
• VC10 & Super VC10 in colour
• Modelling the VC10

The book goes into great detail on the full history of the aircraft and its use and variants over its operational service life. I found this book fascinating and made me aware of a lot of facts I have never heard before. The writing style is clear and concise. The images are awesome and give a lot of useful views for modelers and anyone interested in this aircraft.