“On Thursday, 15 June 1955, thousands of people as usual were on the streets of downtown Buenos Aires. Some curious citizens had heard something about an air parade, and they were in the Plaza de Mayo looking up at the sky. At around 12:40 p.m., some Naval Aviation North American AT-6, PBY-5A Catalina and Beechcraft AT-11 planes appeared on the horizon, But they were not there for a parade; they were there to simply bomb Government House in an attempted coup against Juan Domingo Perón. This raid left behind more than 300 dead, 600 wounded and dead everywhere. The Army units that should have been mobilized to support the uprising never did. The coup attempt was aborted within a few hours. But unlike the bombing of the city of Guernica in 1937, the planes that bombed and the pilots who flew them were national forces. Perón would be finally overthrown three months later by the so-called Liberating Revolution.”
What's New
This is the 5th volume of a new Key Books Series Historic Commercial Aircraft. This covers the Airliners worldwide from 2000 to 2010. This covers all types of aircraft across the global airlines flying in this period. The book contents consists of many photos with individual captions describing the details of the aircraft and the operators.
During my Airline interiors career I work on the interiors for a lot of the aircraft shown on this book and is a great collection of Aircraft types and Liveries.
All the photographs and write up in this book really help to show the variation of aircraft and airlines using then during this period.
I recommend this book to everyone with an interest in Commercial Aircraft and or Airlines. Also great for commercial aircraft modelers. After reading this book I look forward to adding more of this series to my library.
Volume Five of this series chronicles aerial warfare primarily in the New Guinea theatre in the critical period between September and December 1942. It can be read alone or as a continuation of the previous four volumes which span the first nine months of the Pacific War.
By early September the strategic picture in the theatre had changed markedly within just six weeks. From their new Buna beachhead the Japanese Army commenced a Papuan mountain campaign which threatened the Allied bastion of Port Moresby. Meanwhile the battle for Guadalcanal was raging, with the outcome of the wider Pacific War in the balance.
Against this background a strengthened US Fifth Air Force took the fight to the IJA with direct air support. While this was being conducted by P-39s, P-40Es, A-20As and B-25s, raids by B-17s against Rabaul aided US forces in the neighboring Solomons. RAAF Beaufighters, Beauforts, Bostons and Hudsons also contributed substantially to these efforts.
This review is of the Italeri 1:48 scale Lockheed Martin F-22A Raptor, kit #2822, a 2022 reissue of their 1999 kit with new decals. The kit claims to represent the F-22A production version. See Photo 1.
If you have won an award at an IPMS contest and it was an engraved wooden plaque, chances are it was made by Bases by Bill. Bill and Wes Wedeward have been supplying custom awards to shows for several years including the 2018 and 2019 IPMS National Conventions.
The awards are available in several sizes with 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and special award options available. The bases are made out of the finest hardwoods and use laser engraving and can have hand painted color accents.
Bill supplied us with 2 examples. The first is a 4” x 3” rectangular award and the other one is 8.5” at the base and 6.25” tall with a rounded top. The engraving is perfect with all words easily readable.
He also sent me pictures of several other options they have done in the past.
Pricing varies by the size of award, details, type of wood, etc. and from what I can see on their site their prices are very competitive especially for the quality of their products.
The Unimog 404, also called the Unimog S and Unimog 404S, was developed by Mercedes Benz from 1955 to 1980. Unimog (taken from UNIversal Motor Gerät, or universal power unit) is a small, capable, 1.5 ton offroad truck that reached a production number of 36,000 for the German military during the Cold War. The Unimog 404 could be driven in either 2x4 or 4x4 mode, being at home in the outdoors or cruising up to 60 km/hr on paved surfaces. The Unimog has a folding canvas roof with a frame and canvas cover for the cargo area. Despite its German origins, the first Unimog 404s were produced for the French Army who wanted the spare wheel moved from the cargo bed to an undercarriage location on a newly designed down swept frame to provide more space for troops and cargo.
Trumpeter has recently released several WWII German, truck-mounted Flak platforms based on the Mercedes Benz L4500A, including the subject of this review. As with previous releases, Trumpeter continues to stick to its roots in providing interesting and often one-of-a-kind subjects for a competitive price.
The L4500 was a heavy-duty truck built by Daimler-Benz from 1939–44 in the Mercedes-Benz plant at Gaggenau, and from 1944–45 by Saurer. The long-bed vehicle was built as both a rear-wheel-drive truck (L4500S) and as an all-wheel-drive truck (L4500A). The German Wehrmacht used the L4500 with armored cabins as Flak trucks during World War II. Due to the lack of production material, the cabin was replaced with the simplified standardized Wehrmacht cabin and the mud wings with simplified wings in 1943. The L4500 chassis was also modified as a halftrack for use on the Eastern Front.
Mortons Media Group was established in the 19th century and has been producing book-length publications since the early 2000s. The company established a dedicated books division in 2019 and Mortons Books has already earned a reputation for publishing high-quality titles by authors who are true experts in their field. For the best reads on rail, aviation, nostalgia and history, look no further. This book is part of their imprint: Tempest Books addresses all aspects of aviation history are covered in authoritative detail. The aviators and aircraft of the Second World War are profiled by our titles alongside more modern fighters, bombers, reconnaissance aircraft and transports. 'Secret projects' and experimental designs are also an important part of the Tempest Books portfolio.
Modeling powerhouse Italeri has re-released an old classic; the British Crusader Mk III, this time with updated decals and an all-new figure set. The Crusader was used extensively in the North African campaign and, while ideally suited for combat in desert terrain, it’s light armor and moderate armament were not able to adequately match the German anti-tank guns and vast mine fields, causing substantial losses on allied forces.
Opening the Box
After building newer kits with hundreds of parts, photo-etch sheets, brass barrels, and multi-part track links, opening the Italeri Crusader box was breath of fresh air.
The 1/48 scale Hobby Boss A-10 was a very welcoming kit when it was first released in 2007. The A-10C represents the third release, after the A-10A and N/AW A-10 two-seater, of this kit and outdoes the older Monogram and Tamiya kits in every way!
The Hobby Boss Thunderbolt II arrived packed beautifully and well protected as is standard for this Chinese model company. No more than two sprues were contained within their own plastic bags, with some delicate parts being wrapped in a cellophane material. The box art showed a great photo of the first painting option.
One of the highlights were the three decal sheets provided and the painting options offered. The instruction manual was Hobby Boss’s standard black and white booklet, with clear steps proceeding through the build. The painting and decaling instruction sheets were large, colorful and glossy. A great addition was that the color charts included six different paint manufacturers color recommendations – Nice!!!