History

The BR 20 "Cicogna" low wing medium bomber was developed by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Fiat during the 1930’s. It entered service in 1936 and was characterized by its metal frame and retractable landing gear. Modern and fast for the period, it was deployed by the “Aviazione Legionaria” and had its baptism of fire in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War. In September 1940, the “Corpo Aereo Italiano”, consisting of the 13th and 43rd “Stormo da Bombardamento” were similarly equipped with the BR-20. The “Stormi” were stationed in Belgium and supported the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Despite operational comparisons with modern R.A.F. fighters that exposed the BR-20’s limits, it was used for the duration of WW2 on various fronts by several Regia Aeronautica bomber squadrons.

This is a re-boxing of the very good Dragon kit with addition parts and new decals for five different markings. Included in the kit is a very nice instruction manual by Das Werk. The kit can be built in to one of two different versions – the 10.5cm StuH42 or the 7.5cm StuG III Ausf.G.

The kit contains

• 13 sprues molded in light grey styrene
• 1 Lower hull in light grey
• 1 clear sprue
• 1 Photo Etch sheets
• 2 metal cables
• 1 decal sheet
• 1 instruction booklet.

Construction

The kit is includes a lot of unrequired parts as these are for the other StuG versions that Dragon does. The instruction booklet is great and very detailed to assist in the build. There were a couple of minor errors that I list below that I found during the build.

Background and History from Wikipedia

The Panavia Tornado is a family of twin - engine, variable - sweep wing multirole combat aircraft, jointly developed and manufactured by Italy, the United Kingdom and West Germany. There are three primary Tornado variants: the Tornado IDS (interdictor/strike) fighter - bomber, the suppression of enemy air defenses Tornado ECR (electronic combat/reconnaissance) and the Tornado ADV (air defense variant) interceptor aircraft.

Thanks to Osprey Publishing & IPMSUSA for the review copy!

Michael (Mike) McNally, a native Londoner, has authored ten books for Osprey – this is his latest. Mike has written about the battles of Aughrim, Boyne and the Irish Brigade in French service. He is working on German colonial campaigns during WWI, Irish military history and the Marlborough campaign.

Sean O’Brogain is a well-worked artist and illustrator for a wide variety of clients, including the National Museum of Ireland. He resides in Donegal, Ireland.

You get a 9.75 X 7.25 inch size paperback book that follows the usual pattern of Osprey Campaign books – well illustrated in color, chock full of images and maps, easy to digest, and thorough enough to understand the conflict. Mike McNally follows this pattern perfectly. There are the usual eight sections plus Bibliography and Index:

This is the second volume of two published by Hellion covering the history of the Israeli Air Force from its founding to the present. As with other Hellion volumes, it follows an established format. Using a chronological format, the narrative begins where the last volume left off. The text begins with the end of the Yom Kippur War and ends in 2023 with a little bit of forecasting into the immediate future. The book is heavily illustrated with black and white photos. As with previous volumes, it has a series of color profiles of aircraft and a slim selection of color photographs. They also have an extensive bibliography and foot notes for those of you who would like to continue reading on the topic.