 American
Secret Projects
Fighters & Interceptors 1945-1978
By Tony Buttler
Midland Publications, ©2008
ISBN 978-1-85780-264-1
Hardbound, 240 Pages
Available from Specialty Press for $44.95
Building on previous titles covering British, German, and Russian secret
projects, Midland Publications has come out with their latest in the series,
this time turning towards the United States and their fighter/interceptor
designs between 1945 and 1978. Just like those other countries, the US
had their own project aircraft, and this book does a great job of highlighting
them.
The book begins, logically, with the early jets, and these are separated
into two chapters: one on Air Force jets and one on Navy jets. Both had
very different requirements and the evolution of those designs reflected
those differences quite well. Many of the Air Force designs revolved around
all-weather capabilities and supersonic flight, while the Navy’s
goal of carrier-borne aircraft kept sizes small. Following these early
designs comes the Century Series, most of which ended up in production.
These aircraft had many follow-on projects that never materialized, and
the impressive F-103 and F-108 are shown in this section.
Following those is a chapter on the interesting developments surrounding
vertical flight, as well as lightweight fighters that gained popularity
in the late 1960s. A chapter entitled “Boat Fighters” offers
some of the most interesting aircraft designs of the time, which led to
the flight testing of the Convair F2Y-2 Sea Dart.
Throughout the book are copious photos showing the various drawings,
models, mock-ups, and test aircraft that arose from all of these projects.
A separate color section brings many of these to life as well. While what-if
and project aircraft might not be everyone’s interest, it is fascinating
to read through these descriptions and see how the engineers and designers
evolved through these into operational aircraft.
My thanks to Specialty Press
for the review copy.
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