 The General
Aviation Handbook
A Guide to Postwar General Aviation Manufacturers and
their Aircraft
By Rod Simpson
Midland Publications, ©2006
ISBN 1-85780-222-5
Softbound, 320 Pages
Available from Specialty Press
for $54.95
General aviation may not be the biggest area of scale modeling, but
interest is growing. This book presents, in encyclopedic form, a general
overview of the world’s general aviation manufacturers. From a modeling
perspective, there is enough information in here to greatly excite one
to build some of these subjects, with enough detail to assist in the further
research that will be needed to build, say, a Fournier RF-6B (an attractive
aircraft with a rather interesting bubble canopy that opens up and back).
The book is well indexed, so you can quickly find a specific aircraft,
but I found the most enjoyment from simply picking the book up and flipping
to a random page. Each manufacturer has a mini-history covering the production
of the various general aviation types. Complementing these are hundreds
of photos, both in black and white and in color, showing many of these
aircraft in widely varied color schemes. From the bizarre-looking Transavia
Skyfarmer (I believe one of these was used in a Mad Max movie) to the
sleek Gulfstream G-V (wouldn’t we all love to have one of those
to flit about the world!), the photos bring to life the incredible variety
of general aviation.
If you are interested in some of the commonly seen, but not commonly
modeled, aspects of aviation, this will be a great book to have. My thanks
to Specialty Press for the
review copy. |
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