I have been familiar with the various book series that Kagero has produced over the years – all aimed at the modeler - but this was a new line to me. “Douglas DB-7 A20G Havoc” is Number 2 in the “Club 1/48” series. Number 1 covers the Junkers Ju 88A-4 and is by the same author.

This is a softcover publication, with 45 pages in a nice, high-quality semi-gloss finish and a stiff outer cover. Text is in Polish and English. Printed on the cover is “free masking foil”, which I usually take to mean a masking set for the canopy in Kagero publications. This turns out to be a 1/48 decal. The website says this book includes a decal, so this is as planned. Probably just a translation issue. I appreciate the little ‘extras’ Kagero often includes in their publications and am probably more likely to use the decals than the masking sheet.

This set includes 5 medium (280) grit sanding sticks. To help those of us who are visually oriented, the sanding sticks are a nice orange color, which will help distinguish them from Squadron’s other sanding sticks quickly as each grit is a different. The sanding sticks have a nice thick piece of styrene in the center of each stick to give them some rigidity, which I found useful when sanding larger flat seams such as the wing seam on my original issue Airfix Vulcan.

The box advises you that the sanding sticks can be cut and shaped to fit specific needs or shapes, however they are not easy to cut due to the styrene piece in the center of the stick. I ended up using large house scissors and a sharp Xacto in order to cut off a part of the sanding stick.

The book contains seven chapters with an introduction, epilogue and end notes. In the introduction you are exposed to the reasons of the Red Flag from its inception in 1975. The photos in the book are those taken between 2018 & 2020. The next section of the introduction provides the reader with the best location for the pictures. All the pictures provided in the book are in color and are of excellent quality. Red Flag operations are located at Nellis Air Force Base. Chapter One deals with the support aircrafts used by The Red Flag organization. The support aircraft includes the EC-130H; Boeing E-3B Sentry; the KC-135 Stratotanker and the HH-60G Pave Hawk. Some of these aircraft are not stationed at Nellis Air Force and they come from all over the states. The second chapter takes you into "strategic Interdiction." This chapter deals mostly with the use of US bombers such as the B-52 and B-1 and gives us a sample of their use in interdiction operations.

Bases by Bill produces display bases, display cases, and associated products. This particular item is part of their Painted Display Bases line. It is made of hardwood cut in a 10” diameter round shape with a thickness of ~¾”. The base is painted on the top and sides, with this particular one displaying the Messerschmitt logo in black and white. Quality is very good. The paint finish has a light satin coat. It looks durable. The bottom is sanded smooth and has a horizontal keyhole slot cut toward the upper side so that it can be hung on a wall.

The book covers the first winter in Russia through the Canadian landing at Dieppe and is divided into 11 chapters covering the main events during the third year of the war. The sources of the photos are from England, Germany, Japan, USA, Russia and personal archives. As far as I know this is the first time that a compilation of all these photos has been made.

The photos are sharp and of very good quality and show good detail. The battles covered by the book include: Hitler's First Russian Winter, Rommel and the Fall of Tobruk, Tojo Attacks Pearl harbor, Japanese onslaught in Southeast Asia, Tokyo Attacked - The Doolittle Revenge Raid, Battle of Coral Sea and Battle of Midway, British Target St. Nazaire Dry Dock, Operation Biting-The Bruneval Raid, RAF starts Area Bombing: Target Civilians, Hitler Battles for the Caucasus Oil Fields and The Canadian Landing at Dieppe.