BOOKSHELF Title: ‘Finnish Fighter Colours – Volume 1: 1939-1945’
Author: Kari Stenman illustrated by Koroline Holda Publisher: Mushroom Model Publications UK Price: £35.00 ISBN:
978 8363678074 Format: A4, Hardback 208pp
have shelves full of books covering the major powers and although some books flirt with the camouflage and markings of smaller air forces, it is good to see this substantial volume devoted to one of them.
I Mushroom always provide value for money and because of
the amount of information it covers, this volume is restricted to six aircraft types – Bristol Bulldog, Fokker D.XXI, Gloster Gladiator, Fiat G.50 and Brewster 239. Each aircraft type is dealt with individually, first with a photograph heavy service history, followed by the artwork
illustrations. As all the types
were ‘foreign’ imports,
the
colour schemes initially reflected the schemes used by the source country, however Finland
subsequently added their own schemes and
unit
markings and this is where you will need a combination of aftermarket decal sheets and artistic skill if you’re going
model some of the aircraft. It
is where the unit artist has been let loose that you have to worry the most. Many aircraft of this period had 'kill' markings and in this case they varied somewhat. It seems that they could not decide whether to put them on the fin, rudder or nose. Luckily for us the excellent profiles will be of help, particularly when defining the actual shape of each symbol.
For example on the Fokker D.XXI some aircraft had a simple
brush stroke for each ‘kill’, on others it is an aeroplane top view. The Gladiator is ‘fun’, some are in standard RAF colours and others have disruptive dark green over aluminum – which varied from aircraft to aircraft. There are other 'fun' schemes illustrated, which I will leave to you to discover, but look out for the white crocodile...
Moving on to the Fiat G.50, we get the usual ‘kill’ markings,
but one pedantic artist uses a white front view, each one being the correct shape of the aircraft shot down. As you move further through the book you will find other fascinating detail markings, but, as I said, it is for you to discover them. However one thing I did notice was that on one Brewster 239 the artist was a little less ambitious with his front views and made them all the same shape.
This is a remarkable piece of work, which is aimed at both
the enthusiast and the modeller, with over seventy large format colour profiles, some of them showing the heavy weathering that some of the aircraft received in such a harsh arctic environment.
With a paint conversion chart listing all the colours with their
FS equivalents you are all ready to go. And if you want to know about Volume 2, when it is published – watch this column.
Highly recommended. Ernie Lee
80
WWW.SCALEAIRCRAFTMODELLING.CO.UK Title: ‘Arab MiGs, Volume 5, October 1973 War: Part 1’
Author: Tom Cooper and David Nicolle, with Holger Müller, Lon Nordeen and Martin Smisek
Illustrated:Tom Cooper Publisher: Harpia Publishing UK Price: €35.95 plus p&p from Harpia US $69.95 from Casemate 978-0-9854554-4-6
ISBN: Format: 256p, softbound H
arpia Publishing's brilliant Arab MiGs series remains amongst aviation history's most vital, and vibrant, re- search quests, and the recently released Volume 5 cat-
egorically confirms that, but whereas previous volumes spanned years, this one essentially details days – ie Part 1 of the October 1973 War.
As before, Addenda/Er-
rata initially adjust, amend, explain and ex- pand the previous vol- umes, the contents then segue to illuminating notes on ongoing re- plenishment efforts, final ‘War of Attrition’ actions, Soviet involvement and combat, and Egypt's massive anti-aircraft umbrella to shield at- tacking forces from Is- raeli air superiority.
Wartime accounts to
of the Egyptian and Syrian fronts begin on the afternoon of 6 Oc- tober 1973, and once combat coverage commences, the authors competently course through the con- flict's first 48 hours, including commando operations and Iraqi participation.
As before, Harpia's dramatis personae include more than
MiGs with Sukhois, Skyhawks, Hips and Phantoms amongst others taking bows, and Iraqi Hunters playing parts – but MiG- 17s and MiG-21s clearly seize centre stage.
Some nitpicks intrude. My rusty Arabic aside, I'd transliterate
Operation Badhr as ‘Badr’; what exactly is an ‘old baby’ on p144; the unit key is incorrect for the map on page 170; the acronym ‘HAS’ might baffle novitiates; and defining ‘Fall of the Third Commonwealth’ and the ‘Day of Judgment’ might better illumine Israel's visceral panic.
But Harpia's reliance on eyewitness testimony remains my
core concern, with no official Arab records available, however, the authors frankly admit the risks of calibrating Arab anec- dotes against Israeli and other sources, and they openly wel- come additional information.
Air orders of battle, tables, sidebars, abbreviations, annota-
tions, selected bibliography, index and five appendices ably augment the account. Colour and b&w photos, diagrams, and maps further support this study. Over 50 of co-author Tom Cooper's unfailingly excellent colour profiles, many with corre- sponding dorsal schemes and paint matches, superbly illus- trate the Arab warplanes’ camouflage.
A terrific tome. The text hints that substantial parts of Vol 6
are complete, so here's hoping that we don't have to wait an- other year for Harpia's next illuminating ‘Arab MiGs’ instalment!
Robustly recommended! David L Veres
With thanks to Harpia Publishing for the review copy:
http://harpia-publishing.com/ Available in North America from CASEMATE:
www.casematepublishing.com
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