American Military Training Aircraft
By Matt Bittner
Author: E.R. Johnson
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-7864-6269-8
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 471
A couple of years ago I reviewed another McFarland book titled American Military Transport Aircraft. E.R. Johnson has followed up this title with a book dedicated to American training aircraft with the subtitle "Fixed and Rotary-Wing Trainers since 1916". The contents are as follows:
- Acknowledgments
- Forward
- Preface
- Training the American Air Armada
- Series I - Fixed Wing Trainers, 1918 to 1947
- USAAS, USAAC and USAAF
- USN, USMC and USCG
- Series II - Fixed Wing Trainers, 1947-1963
- USAF and US Army
- USN and USMC
- Series III - Fixed Wing Trainers, 1962 to Present
- Series IV - Rotary Wing Trainers, 1942 to Present
- Appendix I: Training Gliders
- USAAF, USN and USMC, 1934 to 1945
- USAF, 1957 to Present
- Appendix II: Fixed and Rotary-Wing Trainer Aircraft Designation Systems
- Glossary
- Bibliography
- Index
The beginning of each series gives a broad overview of each branch's trainers before going into a chronological breakout of aircraft type. While there are no color profiles there are scale drawings. Unfortunately it's not a constant scale but there are "scale bars" for each drawing. Depending on the aircraft the section could have more than one photograph associated with it - for example, there is only photograph of the Mohawk XPT-7; however, there are plenty of photographs of the T-6 Texan.
This is an excellent overall view of Unites States of America training aircraft for all branches of service. If you need more detailed information than you'll need to look elsewhere. However, it's the coverage of all trainers where the book really shines.
By all means pick this book up if you have any interest in US training aircraft.
My thanks to McFarland & Company Inc. Publishers for the review copy.