The Douglas built A-20 havoc first flew on October 26, 1938. Designed by Jack Northrop and Ed. Heinemann, Douglas produced over 7000 of them, making it the most produced light bomber.

Originally ordered by the French, the American Army Air Corps quickly caught on and placed an order three months later. Nearly half of the production run went to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease Act. Many feel it was one of the most versatile combat aircraft of the war, being in service from before the war, all the way through to the end, serving in nearly every theater and utilized by most Allied nations. Its roles included bombing, ground attack, strafing, torpedo attack, photo recon, night intruder, and interceptor.

Casemate Publishers is the distributor of MMP Books and they have started a new line on their series “Single”. This new line is focused on vehicles and the first installment of the series cover the self-propelled artillery SU-76M, a mainstay of the Soviet Army during World War 2.

As all the books in the “Single” series, it is devoted to a unique subject. The book has some period pictures of the SU-76M in service during World War 2 and it has an extensive walk-around style section, including detail images of the running gear, gun, hull, fighting compartment, etc.

The book also includes a 3-view line drawing in 1/35 scale and some color profiles as well.

Recommended.

I would like to thank Casemate Publishers and IPMS/USA for the review sample.

This is the first of a two-book series on the American counterinsurgency against the Viet Cong. Hunting the Viet Cong - The Counterinsurgency Campaign in South Vietnam, 1961-1963, Vol 1-The Strategic Hamlet Programme covers the early American involvement in Vietnam before Americans were officially committed as combat troops, serving as advisors to South Vietnam.

Dr Darren Poole teaches military history at the University of Chester and University Centre, Shrewsbury, United Kingdom. Dr Poole has degrees in Geography, Education, History and Military History with over 20 years of experience. Dr Poole’s dissertation focused on the Vietnamese Strategic Hamlet Programme, and his research is evident with over nine pages of bibliography and nine pages of footnotes. The main point that sticks out is his focus on researching the “’unheard voices’ of conflict. These include, for example, the peasants caught in a cross-fire in South Vietnam and the view of the Viet Cong themselves.”

Scale Aircraft Conversions (SAC) is a Texas based company that has been marketing resin and white metal parts for scale model aircraft for well over 20 years. In perusing their website, it’s hard to find an aircraft kit for which they don’t make a metal landing gear set. There are currently about 228 available sets in the 1/48 scale jets list alone. I’ve used them at least a half-dozen times in the past and they have proven to be of high quality with excellent fit.

Brengun continues to expand its line of accessories this time with a photoetch set for the Revell 1/48 Focke-Wulf Ta-154

The fret includes a single fret focused on details for the cockpit of the aircraft with a photoetch seat, seatbelts, instrument panel (including a piece of clear film used for the dial faces) side console details and gunsight.

In addition, this set includes the dipole from the radar antenna and other radar-altimeter and navigational antennas.

Replacing the plastic parts by this PE set will provide a more-to-scale looks, while simplifying the overall assembly of the radar antennas given that the dipoles and braces are a single piece. Well done Brengun!

Recommended.

I would like to thank Brengun and IPMS/USA for the review sample.