Some Future Titles of Interest for SPF Members

For my dear Tony Buttler,

and about the American Secret Projects ASP5, for Fighters and Interceptors,it takes so
long,and we want to hear a good news my dear.
From Tony:

I am just about to start US Experimental Fighters of WW2, and then ASP: Jet Fighters will follow that. If all goes according to plan, the latter should be published late in 2024.

Very best wishes,

Tony.
 

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For my dear Tony Buttler,

and about the American Secret Projects ASP5, for Fighters and Interceptors,it takes so
long,and we want to hear a good news my dear.
From Tony:

I am just about to start US Experimental Fighters of WW2, and then ASP: Jet Fighters will follow that. If all goes according to plan, the latter should be published late in 2024.

Very best wishes,

Tony.

OK and many thanks my dears,Tony and Paul MM.
 
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More information:

 
The Bell 47 Helicopter Story. Massive 731 pages, photos (B&W and color) and drawings. Covers everything and every version of this helicopter. There is a small amount on R&D (Wing Ding, Souix Scout), and a couple of jet trubine designs that were not made. Probably the first helicopter that I ever saw back in the early '60's, it has remained one of my favorites. Obtained my copy at Vertical Flight Society (https://vtol.org/store/product/the-bell-47-helicopter-story-9403.cfm). $89.95, but I found it well worth it.
 

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Eject! Eject!

New book for May 2023 from John Nichol with interviews with aircrew who know exactly how it feels to eject from an aircraft at high speed, both in peace and in war. Also traces seat development since the 1940's.

Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (May 25, 2023)
Length: 400 pages (Hardback)
ISBN-13: 9781398509405
Here’s a podcast with the author talking about the book.

 
The bizarre almost Dad’s Army like way in some cases that people in the UK were supposed to be warned of impending nuclear war. But covers a lot more than just that.

 
View: https://twitter.com/CobraBall3/status/1669729033972531206?t=RjJTjbu03RTJPOkt2geTZg&s=19

If posted before, please let me know, and I will delete this message.

AVAILABLE AUTUMN 2023
Throughout the Cold War, the close proximity of the Soviet Union and its allies to NATO countries and neutral Sweden dominated intelligence demands in the Baltic region, leading to extensive aerial reconnaissance operations. This book covers early ELINT (electronic intelligence) missions by Swedish WW II vintage Junkers Ju 86s as well as American and British RB-17s, PB4Y-2 Privateers, Lancasters, and Mosquitos.
Additional chapters chronicle jet-age ELINT missions undertaken by SAC RB-47s and RB-57s along with RAF Canberras and Comets from England, as well as USAFE RB-50 and C-130 COMINT flights from West Germany. Concluding chapters describe SAC RC-135, U-2, and SR-71 sorties—plus those by RAF Nimrods—as well as regular reconnaissance flights by Sweden, Finland, West Germany, France, the Soviet Union, Poland, and East Germany.
This meticulously researched book by distinguished Swedish author Lennart Andersson and former RC-135 pilot and Cold War historian Robert Hopkins uses newly declassified documentth Ns first-hand accounts to tell the story of these diverse and often dangerous missions. Profusely illustrated with many rare and previously unpublished photographs, the book is filled with detailed mission maps, tables and appendices, and will be of great interest to Cold War aviation historians.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION​

ISBN: 9781902109626
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions: 297mm x 210mm
Pages: 200
Photos/Illus: around 200 colour and Black & White photos
 
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I've been going through a helicopter phase lately and came across this one, The Hoverfly File. Out of print from 1997 but I found a copy on Ebay for only $30. The first 30 pages cover development and production, the remainder covers the use by Britain. Lots of photos, profiles, drawings. I found it a nice addtiion to the library and a good one to put next to the Bell 47 Helicopter noted above.
 

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This new podcast talks to former British Army intelligence officer Michael Smith about the close relationship between the US & UK intelligence agencies including the NSA & GCHQ. He touches on signals intelligence sharing but obviously a half hour podcast he cannot go into as much detail as the book will. It made me laugh that so close can the relationship be that they’ve even ignored presidents in the past who’ve temporarily asked them to suspend intelligence sharing. His argument being that the real special relationship is between the intelligence agencies not politicians.


Here’s the book itself.

 
Northrop F-20 Tigershark, Air Force Legends 228, by Paul Metz, Ginter Publishing:

View attachment 702635
Expected in late August

The F-20 was conceived as the next evolution of the Fighter for Export (FX), a concept that had been in place for over 50 years and a formalized U.S. government policy for over 25 years. Northrop invested $1.2 billion of its own money on that policy. However, no production contract followed, not because of any technical deficiency but because of a changing government policy on what our allies would receive in U.S. military aid.

This book traces the development of the 3 generations of a 1955 design called the N-156 which became the T-38 and the F-5A/B. The F-5A/B evolved into the F-5E/F and finally the F-20 Tigershark. Each step in that progression was to keep up with the latest Soviet fighters. The F-20 was designed to counter the Mig-29 and Su-27, 4th generation fighters. The book reveals the unique design goals that produced a reliable, easily maintained, easy to fly, agile fighter-bomber that was affordable for many allied air forces in the wake of WW II. The story is told from the first person accounts (“Tigershark Voices”) of the struggles and triumphs to create a new type fighter in a world of increasingly complex, expensive and maintenance-intensive fighters. Other “Tigershark Voices” bring the reader into the F-5 and F-20 cockpits as the pilots describe flying this breed of fighters.

This definitive Tigershark book features original documents and photographs, most in color and previously unpublished. Original documents of USAF struggles to name the Tigershark the F-20, Presidential directives to build a fighter for export and limitations on sales, performance with no government funding are a few of the many examples of original documents pivotal to the F-20 story.

Also included are the various F-20 follow-on proposals: RF-20A/B, F-20B/C/E/F and Lavi fighters. As with all Ginter books, the F-20 Tigershark also presents information of interest to the scale modeler.

Beyond the detailed color photos, the book has many detailed factory drawings of the F-5 and F-20 with 3-views, cross section cuts and inboard drawings showing structure and equipment in great detail. The cockpit comparison drawings are masterpieces of the graphic arts.

144-pages, 296 color photos, 20 b&w photos, and 135 illustrations.
 
 
Tony Buttler tells me that Propeller Twilight is out now.

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This book examines the last generation of high-performance British propellor-driven fighters, types such as the Firecrest, late mark Spitfires and Seafires, Spiteful and Seafang, Sea Fury, late mark Tempests, Hornet and Sea Hornet, M.B.5 and Wyvern. From about 1942 onwards these extraordinary and very complex aeroplanes brought British piston fighter development to its zenith, but then in a very short space of time the new jet engine wiped this generation away. Perhaps it would not have been possible to take piston power and further anyway but the turboprop might have been a longer-term alternative, though in the end the only British type with this form of powerplant would be the Westland Wyvern naval strike fighter.

Chapters look at the engines involved including the Rolls-Royce Merlin 130 series, Griffon and Eagle, Napier Sabre and Bristol Centaurus, propellor developments (contra-rotating) and then take each fighter type in turn. The coverage described their development and testing and includes quotes and passes from flight test reports.

Additional appendices look at some British one-off designs and testbed programmes, then the only fighter types flown abroad powered by these engine types (the Australian CA-15 and Argentine IAe 30) and finally two similiar unbuilt projects proposed by Sweden (the J 27 Mustang lookalike) and Switzerland (the N-6). Illustrated with over 300 photos, many previously unpublished, this is a must for enthusiasts of World War II aviation and the history of the British fighter.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION​

ISBN: 9781800352735
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions: 280mm x 216mm
Pages: 288
Photos/Illus: Approx. 350 images
 
Please tell me that there will be possible B-2, F-22 and F-117A books included in the Famous American Aircraft series in the future? I seriously want there to be.
 
...and F-4, F-86, P-51, Wildcat, Hellcat...my God...a new library...
 
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AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2023
In this thoroughly researched, detailed and exhaustive study, aviation historian Luigino Caliaro tells the story of the three main fighters to serve in World War II produced by the Varese-based Aeronautica Macchi. The C.200 Saetta (Lightning) was conceived in 1935 by Ing. Mario Castoldi as a short-range interceptor powered by a Fiat A.74 R.C.38 14-cylinder radial engine and armed with twin 12.7 mm machine guns. By war’s end some 1,150 examples had been built. The C.202 Folgore (Thunderbolt) incorporated the German Daimler-Benz 601A in-line engine licensed-built by Alfa Romeo.
Finally, the C.205 Veltro (Greyhound) was powered by the more powerful Daimler-Benz DB 605. The internationally renowned British test pilot, Captain Eric Brown, told the author that the C.205 was ‘was a superb fighter, with a beautiful line and good armament… In my opinion its flying performance was totally comparable with the Spitfire.’
Drawing on company and military archive reports, the author traces the origins of Aeronautica Macchi before examining the design and development of each type, as well as, in each case, production, prototypes and technical aspects. Also covered in this profusely illustrated volume are details of the operational variants and project designs, along with a detailed narrative covering the history of each aircraft in service with the Regia Aeronautica, the Aviazione Nazionale Repubblicana, the Luftwaffe and Croatian Air Legion. Additionally, post-war service with the Aeronautica Militare and the Royal Egyptian Air Force is explored, as well as camouflage, markings, heraldry and insignia.
With hundreds of photographs, drawings and colour artwork, this book forms the most comprehensive and informative account of this trio of aircraft in the English language.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION​

ISBN: 9781800352803
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions: 303mm x 226mm
Pages: 224
Photos/Illus: Approx. 650 photos, colour artworks, detailed art and line drawings
 
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AVAILABLE OCTOBER 2023
If it can be said that adversity generates creativity, then the story of the Heinkel He 162
jet fighter is testimony to such a precept. From the summer of 1944, the adversity
facing the leadership of the Third Reich was formidable. Ironically however, the very
existence of such adversity prompted many inventive and radical designs for the
prosecution of the air defence of the Reich on a determined and even manic scale.
In the closing months of the war, at a time the Allies had assumed that they had
mastered the Luftwaffe jet menace, the combined efforts of a leading German aircraft
manufacturer – Ernst Heinkel AG – and a small team of dedicated civilian and military
specialists achieved an almost unbelievable feat: the production of a new, jet‐powered
interceptor from concept, through development and testing, to operational readiness in
just six months. The accomplishment of the so‐called Volksjäger (the `People’s Fighter’)
project was – and still is – regarded as a `miracle of production'.
Created in desperation by the Nazi leadership in mid‐1944, it was foreseen that
hundreds of mass‐produced, cheap‐to‐build He 162 Volksjäger, flown by hurriedly
trained young pilots using a combination of technology and fanaticism, would defend
the skies over Germany against massive formations of Allied heavy bombers and their
fighter escorts.
In this extensively researched book, aviation historians Robert Forsyth and Eddie J
Creek, draw, for the first time, on previously unused Heinkel company papers to offer a
unique insight into the workings of the Nazi production system in the late‐war period,
as well as other German and Allied documents. Their work is supported by many rare
photographs and accompanied by line drawings and facsimile documents as well as
highly detailed colour artwork by He 162 specialist, Simon Schatz.
This book portrays the whole history of the so‐called Volksjäger project, from its
inception in September 1944 (with the competing Arado, Blohm und Voss and Focke‐
Wulf projects), through Heinkel's extraordinary manufacturing and aeronautical
achievements – often at a considerable human cost – between October 1944 and
February 1945, to the aircraft's operational deployment with Jagdgeschwader 1 and the
planned variants and weapons systems as well as British, American and French testing
of the machine in the late 1940s.
This is the most comprehensive history of this fascinating aircraft to be published in the English language and is a natural accompaniment to the other detailed German aircraft
monographs published by Classic Publications. It will form an essential reference work
to all those interested in the airpower of the Second World War.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION​

ISBN: 9781800352995
Binding: Hardback
Dimensions: 303mm x 226mm
Photos/Illus: Over 350 images
 
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