Does the idea of obscure Luftwaffe stuff excite you? Are you the type that thinks they have seen all the photos there are of the Luftwaffe? If that describes you, then go out and get this book. You won't be disappointed. In this book you will find a huge assortment of pictures of the rarest Luftwaffe birds around: ones with red stars on them. Starting from WWI and going on through the end of WWII, this book has such wonders as a pair of He51s wearing the red star, or a Ju-88A-0 still coded D-AXVM. There are, of course, plenty of Bf109s and Fw190s, along with other interesting late-war aircraft such as the Me410 and the Ju388. The jets make an appearance as well, with some absolute incredible pictures of such strange types as the DFS 346 Supersonic Rocket Aircraft. The Russians got a number of experimental aircraft at the end of the war, and this was one of them. Taken aloft under a Tu-4 (just like the X-1 and the B-29 in the U.S.), it made its first flight in 1949 and its first powered flight in 1951.

With 160 pages, including three pages of line drawings and seven pages of color illustrations, this book gives us a great glimpse into this little-known piece of history. If you are a modeler and like all these neat Luftwaffe planes that are coming out, but don't want to do the usual, this book will cure that. It gives you plenty of unusual markings for all the usual subjects.

Will Riepl

In all of US Navy history I don't think that there has been a carrier-based jet more modified than the Douglas A3D Skywarrior. From bomber to tanker to ECM platform, this plane has done it all, and this book leaves no stone unturned in showing this. Lots of drawings from the T.O. are present, and the 137 pages are filled with lots and lots of pictures showing bumps and bulges and swollen tails and noses. If something was done to an A-3, it's in here. The family is covered from the XA3D to the A3D-2A, and there are such oddities as the Raytheon Army A3D, the NACA Ames Lab A3D, and the Whales of Hughes. This is a great reference for those of you who want to do something different with that Hasegawa A-3 kit. Just be sure to have a lot of putty for all those bumps. Now if Monogram would just come out with a 1/48 Whale, I'd be happy....

Will Riepl