This book looks at all of the piston engine fighter aircraft used by Sweden from 1925 to 1946 and their paint schemes. Each aircraft is covered with many period pictures, some even in color. There is a section on the operational history, a listing of production numbers, as well as a chart detailing the individual aircraft history of all aircraft of each type that served Sweden. Each aircraft section ends with color notes spelling out the colors used for each. While not in FS numbers, these callout will still prove useful to the modeler. The book is more of a history of these aircraft in Swedish service with color information included than it is an in-depth analysis of the colors used on these aircraft.

I found each aircraft’s story to be interesting and, in some cases, entertaining. The caption of photo of a crashed J-1(Phoenix D.II/III) which has come down nose-first in a forest, reads, “Pilot Ablom had an argument with the ground while flying J 1 s/n 3145.” The Swedes flew quite a conglomeration of aircraft, especially during the Second World War. Aircraft such as the P-35, P-51, and one Vultee P-66 from the USA, CR-42s andRe-2000s from Italy, Mosquitoes from the UK, and J-21s and J22s from Sweden itself, all serving side by side. It is interesting to read about the Seversky P-35 and the very similar, if not outright, copy of it – the Reggiane 2000 in Swedish service – together. The color call outs are most helpful. but when we get to WWII they are not all translated into English. Most of us are familiar with the Italian color names but not so much the Swedish colors. While “Olivgron” is easy to read as “Olive green”, “Ljust blagra” is not so obvious – but Google translates that to be “pale blue-grey”. This is the only complaint that I have about this book, and it is a very minor one.

Of particular interest to me are the sections covering the SAAB J21 pusher engine fighter and the FFVS J22. Both of these aircraft are not as well known outside of Sweden as they should be, and this book will help to correct this.

The highlights, in addition to the information on all these various aircraft, are the addition of wartime color photos and color photos of surviving museum birds. When coupled with all of the beautiful color profiles that MMP has become known for, this is a really excellent tome!

I really liked this book! It is one that provides a lot of information for the aviation historian, between the war historian, WWII historian, and immediate post-war historian, in addition to the modeler! For the modeler there are a lot of interesting color schemes and aircraft that one does not see done that often to add spice to your collection and any contest. Most of the WWII and post-war aircraft are available in the two major scales of 1/72 and 1/48. I, for one, hope that Special Hobby will scale up their J-21 to 1/48, as there are a couple aircraft from this book I would like to build. I can enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone with an interest in aviation history, Swedish Air Force history, or anyone who even thinks that they may want to model any of the aircraft covered within!

Our thanks to Mushroom Model Publications for the review copy and my thanks to IPMS/USA for the review opportunity!