Historical Background

The DO-335 was designed as a heavy fighter for the Luftwaffe, and featured a pair of DB-603 engines, one mounted in the nose, and the other mounted aft of the center of gravity, with its propeller located behind the tail surfaces of the aircraft. This push-pull arrangement eliminated the drag usually associated with a second engine, and allowed much higher speeds. It was intended to counter the British DeHavilland Mosquito, which was causing severe problems for the Luftwaffe in attacking German night fighters trying to counter the RAF’s night bomber offensive. There were several prototypes built, each differing in minor details. Some were single seat, while others were two seaters intended for night fighting, although few, if any, were equipped with radar. The aircraft had an impressive performance, but very few were built, and they never went into Luftwaffe service units, as the war ended too soon.

Historical Background

This book tells the story of the development and operational career of the Nakajima B5N Japanese Navy torpedo bomber, known as the Kate to the Americans, who developed a sophisticated identification system which avoided the linguistic problems associated with adapting the Japanese language to American use. In general, fighters had boys’ names, while bombers and other types used girls’ names. Therefore, Zeke, Nate, and Jack were fighters, while Nell, Betty, and Kate were bombers. The story of the development of that system is another story.

Ammo bunkers were used in Vietnam at Fire Support Bases-FSB (artillery emplacements) for the storage of ammo, powder, and fuses. Built with any available material including 105mm wooden ammo crates, metal culverts, PSP, or wooden planks these ammunition bunkers were everywhere a FSB was located. Some of these structures were also used as personnel shelters.

Tiger Werke has done the modeling community a service by providing not one but three different style of ammo bunkers that are suitable for any 1/35 scale Vietnam-era fire base diorama or vignette This particular review revolves around TW-35217, the Type III Ammo Bunker. This style shows a section of culvert stacked with sandbags protecting a small bunker that was constructed from empty, wooden ammunition crates.

Tiger Werke is adding to its line of resin diorama accessories with a U.S. Vietnam Ammo Bunker. The company has two other types of ammo bunkers available but this missive is only concerned only with the Type II version.

These ammo bunkers were ubiquitous in Vietnam during the U.S. participation in that war. Used at fire support bases (semi-permanent artillery emplacements) as a means of protecting ammunition for the artillery pieces. They were somewhat of a DIY project as most of these structures were constructed using the empty wooden ammo crates and loads of sandbag reinforcement for the roof. Often the ammo bunkers would be incorporated into the sandbag or earthen parapet surrounding each gun emplacement. These ammo bunkers were also used as personnel shelters (in the event of a mortar attack) or for other storage.

The Airbus Atlas A-400M is a 4 engine, turbo prop, military transport filling a place (size wise) between the Boeing C-17 and Lockheed’s C-130. It is operated by the French, Italians, Britain and others.

This soft cover book is made using high quality paper and is superbly put together. It shows the aircraft in its various air force colors, variants and an extensive pictorial excursion around it. There are hundreds of beautifully detailed photographs of every part of the A-400M, from close ups to action shots of the aircraft on the ground and flying.

The reader of this book is taken on a “walk around” of the subject aircraft in pictorial form and each picture, or series of pictures includes a brief explanation of what we are looking at. The book starts with an introduction and history of the Airbus A-400M, followed by a few pages on the different variants produced and Air Forces that flew them.