Book Review

Aircraft of the Fighting Powers, Vol. III, by H. J. Cooper and O. G. Thetford. Edited by D. A. Russell, M.I.Mech.E. (The Harborough Publishing Company, Ltd. £1 1s.

It is with extreme pleasure that we draw readers’ attention to the third volume of Aircraft of the Fighting Powers, which covers military aircraft of 1942. In present circumstances, this well-produced book, with its art paper, excellent photographs and scale plans, is more than usually welcome. It follows on the standard set by the two preceding volumes and describes the leading military aircraft of 1942 with a detailed specification, description, recognition notes, photograph and one-seventy-second scale plan of each machine reviewed. British caution has resulted in only seven new British types being released, and the bulk of the 160 large pages is devoted to American aircraft, while liberal space is devoted to Russian, Netherlands, East Indies, Japanese, Italian and German machines. The British types covered are the great Lancaster I, the Beaufighter II, the D.H. Mosquito, the Hurricane in bomber form, the Miles Master III, the Whirlwind and the Hotspur II glider. This book is definitely one of the few really good things the war has produced. Apart from the scale plans, model makers are well catered for by the Aircraft Marking Compendium, while there is a colour plate of Hurri-bombers as a frontispiece. This publication now carries a useful amount of advertising, and rightly so.