This book is a revised and expanded edition of an original book on ANZAC Spitfire pilots that is now out of print. This book gives accounts of the service of ten pilots, seven from New Zealand and three from Australia who served in the China-Burma-India theatre, Europe and the Middle East while flying Hurricanes and Spitfires.

The stories within are based on actual accounts of these pilots sourced through memoirs and/or personal interviews. The pilot’s opinions are frank and uncensored and make for a fascinating read. There is a good teaser from the authors about Squadron Leader Jeff West’s further knowledge of the loss of Douglas Bader. Sadly he passed away before the follow-up interview could be conducted.

As always, this excellent publication comes in full color, printed on high quality glossy stock with this issue containing 65 pages. There is an outstanding array of modeling subjects done by some of the finest craftsmen in the world. It is published by AFV Modeller Ltd. and this issue contains the following articles:

Any of us who suffer from AMS (Advanced Modeler Syndrome) are never satisfied with the “stock” kit, even one as fine as Tamiya’s F-16 series! Luckily there is a cure for those who love that insane level of detail but don’t have the time to do it ourselves, and Aires has long delivered the goods. This cockpit set continues to provide the quality we expect from Aires, however there are a few issues with getting it into the advertised kit it was “designed” for.

History

The Focke-Wulf 190D-9 was a superb aircraft but situations in the war prevented it from being really effective. The production of the aircraft was done by sub-contractors with final assembly taking place at various locations. Occasionally, the sub-contractors couldn’t keep up; such is the case of this version of the 190. It appears that approximately five aircraft received the Ta-152 type tail at the Mimetall factory, but the exact number is not known. There is photographic evidence of at least two aircraft. The Germans did not see the quandary that they would cause model builders in the future but they didn’t have any different designations to denote the new tail.

The Story

Although many companies in France produced fighters during the interwar period, Nieuport manufactured two landmark fighters beginning with the end of World War I. The Ni-D 29 biplane fighter appeared at the end of the war, and was produced for the Aeronautique Militaire during the twenties, as well as in several foreign countries. Export models were also sold to Belgium, Italy, Siam, Argentina, Spain, and Sweden. By the mid twenties, it was obvious that a replacement would be needed soon, and Nieuport then developed a high wing monoplane replacement, the Ni-D 62 series, many of which were built with a small stub wing, making it sort of a biplane. There were numerous variations in the production models, with differences in powerplant, wing arrangement, and fuselage structure. These were first built for the French, but later, many were sold to Spain, Romania, and Brazil. These aircraft served for many years, some being used as trainers as late as 1940.