This book is not so much a “what-if”, but more of a "what might have been" story. Everything is based on surviving tech orders, ads, and other papers that show what the RAF wanted to use the TSR.2 for, as well as the schemes it would have worn and weapons that would have been carried. Like its Canadian cousin the Avro Arrow, it has become the stuff of myth and legend.

The book is profusely illustrated with artwork, showing various markings and paint jobs that will give the modeler looking for something other than the prototype’s white paint scheme a lot to ponder. Like wise, the various weapons load outs will spark the modeler’s imagination.

I found this to be a well-researched and laid out book. The author has done his best to cover all possibilities of the what, where, and how of aircraft assignments. Also included are operations had the TSR.2 entered service.

Crusader III (Naval Fighters # 87) is a paperback book measuring 8-1/2” X 11” and consists of 92 pages. The cover and pages are printed on polished paper. The book is full of sharp black and white photographs only with accompanying text. Also included are 3-view drawings, comparison tables, line drawings and performance charts.

The author begins by setting the stage for one of the closest aircraft selection competitions the Navy ever experienced. It began in 1953 when Vought’s F8U-1 Crusader beat out McDonnell’s entry for a high-performance day fighter. When the Navy went looking for an all-weather (night) fighter, the competition began.

Thompson states, “The Navy also preferred to deploy two different carrier-based fighters with complementary attributes…” In addition, having different fighters with different engines in a carrier group ensured a degree of safety in case one engine or aircraft type had a problem.

Since the 70^th anniversary of the Battle of Britain is upon us, many companies of interest to the modeling community will be coming out with all sorts of items. The company that this review will encompass is the Kagero Publishing Company. Among their many products are books, magazines, calendars and paintings.

This review is of the new series, “Battle of Britain Part 1”, which covers the Luftwaffe aircraft involved in the Battle. In the beginning of the book is a generalized three page article of the Battle of Britain and information on the Luftwaffe color schemes and how to translate what the color bars painted on the aircraft designate. This is in English text with captions next to each aircraft in English and Polish, explaining the details of each aircraft.

I'll admit to being a little confused when I requested this assignment. I was expecting something else. Still, these are very welcome components as I have two 1/72nd scale Spitfire Mk.V’s in my “to-build” pile.

The Spitfire was among the earliest production fighter aircraft to adopt a 20mm cannon as armament; with the “B” arrangement for the cannon being introduced in the Mk.I and Mk.II models that fought the Battle of Britain. While the success of the armament was spotty at that time, it became the standard on the Mk.Vb [the same guns also found their way into the initial production Sea Fury]. The earliest Mk.Vc Spitfires also used this pattern of gun barrels before going to the “beefier” barrels as standard (parts that Master also offers separately). So these parts are not only compatible with the Spitfire Vb, as advertised.

I’m not a war gamer, but I’ve been curious about it for a few years now so I jumped to the opportunity to review a war gaming book.

Fields of Glory is a series of war gaming books oriented to the ancient and medieval ages. This current book is the first of the series expanding into the renaissance era and as such is the rulebook.

The book has a historical introduction to the military doctrine of the renaissance era including pros and cons of different military formations of the time (tercios, keils, cavalry, etc).

Then the book moves into what is needed in order to be able to play, before diving into details of troops, battle groups and in general, the rules of the game, including movement rules and combat phases like impact, maneuvering, shooting and melee. Each rule is demonstrated with examples, which makes understanding and learning of the rule much simple.