Charles Satfrace – författare

The Catalina was flown in the most trying conditions in all theatres of war, from the Arctic by the Soviets and the US Coast Guard, to the tropics by the US Navy and RAAF. Mainly used by the US Navy and the RAF's Coastal Command for ocean patrol, it excelled in the night intruder raids carried out by the famous Black Cats in the Pacific. But perhaps its most essential role was that of the rescue at sea of downed airmen, which task Catalina crews often risked their own life to accomplish. With four pages of 1:72 scale plans, colour five-view, 36 colour profiles, ten black-and-white and twenty colour photos.

Controversy and competency is the best way to describe the first variable geometry combat aircraft to enter operational service anywhere in the world. This was the F-111 Aardvark, the typical Cold War 'below the radar' strike bomber. It was born in one of the most politically-motivated and incompetent procurement processes ever, and experienced a troublesome gestation period with spiralling costs in development and production, and an unimpressive first deployment to Vietnam in 1967.et, all this was forgotten when the F-111 matured and proved itself to become a devastating weapon and a formidable penetration strike aircraft in its second tour in Southeast Asia in 1972-73, helping to prove that its sophisticated attack and terrain-following radar systems enabled the delivery of a large number of ordnance with unerring accuracy at ultra-low level in a hostile environment.