One of the newest titles in the Casemate Illustrated Series is Military Dogs of World War II by Susan Bulanda

The book starts with an introduction on dogs in the military and their military roles as Ambulance, Communication, Draft/Sled, Sentry, Mine-Detection, and Messenger Dogs.

The second chapter covers Dogs in the United States Military, and the third chapter covers Great Britain and the Commonwealth. Smaller chapters follow covering the USSR, and the Axis, and a chapter titled Going Home. A nice list of Sources gives the reader a place to look for more detailed information and further reading. The book concludes with a good Index to quickly find relevant information for reference.

Detail & Scale’s original volume on the B-24 Liberator and its variants was published in 2000. Since the first volume was published, more information regarding the B-24 and its variants has become available and more photographs of the B-24 in service have surfaced. In addition, the authors were granted access to the interiors of the B-24D preserved at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and the PB4Y-2 Privateer preserved at the National Museum of Naval Aviation, to take reference photographs.

The book is primarily a visual reference book, so there is just a brief overview of the B-24 and its many users around the word. The history section includes a nice table explaining the two letter suffixes used to designate where a particular aircraft was built. As explained later in the book, the suffixes can be very useful in narrowing down some of the details of a particular aircraft due production differences between the various manufacturers/plants.

Two Bobs has released a decal sheet covering an anniversary scheme for the 309th Fighter Squadron “Wild Ducks” back when it was flying the F-16 C/D.

Two paint schemes are provided in this sheet. The first one is a striking mix of blue, grey and white strips with Donald Duck holding a lightning bolt on the blue rudder. The second one is a great looking desert camouflage for the first F-16 to claim a kill on an Iraqi Mig-25 with an AIM-120 (although at the time of the kill the airframe was wearing the standard two-grey livery).

I want to point out that both schemes are special commemorative schemes for the 80th anniversary of the 309th FS. Both schemes were designed by Ssgt Michael Cichonsky (portrayed in the instructions sitting on the tail of the F-16C) and both look amazing.

The decal sheet includes all stencils needed for both aircraft, meaning one sheet allows you to build both the -C and the -D. You don’t even have to choose which one to build!

Volume 25 of this series is dedicated to the Panzerwaffe and its many variants/types. The Panzerwaffe ordered 54,147 vehicles/AFVs in 126 versions on 28 different chassis. The book gives you a small representation of the vehicles/AFV built by the Germans during WWII. Although it is true that the German vehicles/AFV were top of the art in their time, they could not compete against the sheer quantity of Allied war production. That being said, the Germans, although under a tremendous amount of pressure due to fighting against superior numbers, still made good use of the equipment provided to them. The German Panzerwaffe defeated Allied opponents in many cases through superior training, tactics and not infrequently, by sheer bravado of their troops.

The AN-M30A1 was a World War Two era general purpose (GP) 100-pound bomb that entered service in 1942. The AN-M30A1 was a slightly modified AN-M30 US Army developed bomb, differing in the base plug/plate construction, and the use of a different adapter-booster. The bomb served the US for about 20 years.

From the Bulletpicker website

These bombs are all general purpose high explosive bombs.

To overcome the erratic flight of these bombs when dropped from high altitudes by very heavy bombers, the tail assembly of the 260 pound Fragmentation Bomb M81 replaces the customary tail unit, which is two inches shorter, for such missions. Use of the Cluster Adapter M22 permits single suspension for four GP Bombs AN-M30 or AN-M30A1.