Here’s a really neat book for modelers. Illustrated and written by renowned profile artist Chris Sandham-Baily, aka Sandworm, RAF Cold War Jet Aircraft in Profile covers 14 different aircraft types designed and built by British companies and operated by the RAF between 1945 and 2010.

The book features over 300 different colour profiles of the following types: Gloster Meteor, de Havilland Vampire, de Havilland Venom, English Electric Canberra, Supermarine Swift, Hawker Hunter, Vickers Valiant, Gloster Javelin, Handley Page Victor, Avro Vulcan, Blackburn Buccaneer, English Electric Lightning, Hawker Siddeley Harrier and SEPECAT Jaguar. Two types most notable by their absence are the McDonnell Douglas Phantom and the Panavia Tornado, both of whose omission is a major fault in my view.

This is the 30^th offering of this series and the 7^th in the detailing of the Tiger I and Tiger II .

The book is divided in 8 section/chapters, and include an Introduction, The Eastern Front- August, 1942- March, The Tiger Units, Camouflage and Markings, Model Showcase, Modelling Products, Technical Details and Product Contact Details.

The book focuses on the first vehicles that left the production line and that went into battle during late 1942 and early 1943. There is a detailed description of the use of the vehicles from 1 August, 1942 through 31 March, 1943. This is followed by a table stating the number of tanks in each Tank Unit in August, 1942.

Next, we go into the reporting of each unit that used the Tiger I during the time previously mentioned. There are several tables indicating the table of operations for units 501 and 503, as well as the allocation of vehicles received, lost, on hand and operational.

This book is really in four parts. The first is a general description of the development and deployment of these two vehicles. It’s not technical and doesn’t go into the internal working of the mechanical “stuff” but it does give you a good idea of how the Scorpion and Scimitar came to be and why the design decisions that were made were made the way they were and how the design has evolved through various modifications/changes. Rounding this section out is a description of the deployments of the vehicles by the UK as well as other users and some organizational charts of Scorpion/Scimitar units. The second part is a series of 13 color profiles of various examples of both vehicles in service with the UK and other countries. Following this is a listing of all the available kits and after-market parts for modeling the tanks and finally there is a section with four sample builds of the AFV club model.

Operation Studie Nord, the German plan for the invasion of Scandinavia was further developed into two separate plans that were to run concurrently – Weserubung (River Exercise) and Weserubung Sud (River Exercise South) for Norway and Denmark, respectively. The plans were drawn up after Germany’s invasion of Poland and during the “Phoney War” (Queen’s English as the book’s author is English). This often-overlooked campaign violated both Denmark and Norway’s neutrality before the German military campaign against France and the Low Countries and took place shortly after the Russian-Finish Winter War of 1939-1940. Besides Denmark and Sweden being neutral, both countries’ monarchs were brothers. The similarities between both countries continued with relatively low numerical military strength and modern weapons; the difference was how the countries chose to respond.

Casemate Publishing continues its series on modern conflicts in Europe with the first volume of a projected two that deals with the creation and evolution of the Soviet air defense system. As with many books in this series, it is richly illustrated with contemporary black and white photographs, maps, and a series of color profiles of Soviet and US aircraft. Using English and Russian sources, the volume provides an excellent introduction to the establishment and growth of the Soviet air defense system. Readers with a passing knowledge of the Russian language will note that in the title the authors use a different form of the familiar word Rodina or homeland. It is not a misspelling but the appropriate grammatical construction.