Warpaint Books Series – serie

The Junkers Ju 86 is one of those fascinating types developed in the 1930s by a Germany re-arming in secret, and was a twin-engine monoplane configured as both a medium bomber and ten-seat airliner. First flown in 1934 and introduced in 1936, it featured Jumo 205 diesel engines and a smooth stressed skin design. Although initially used by the Luftwaffe and trialled in the Spanish Civil War, it proved inferior to rivals like the He  111, becoming obsolete by 1939. Later high altitude variants extended its service life with the Luftwaffe, but its service, both civilian and military, with countries as diverse as Chile, Hungary, South Africa, and Sweden make up the bulk of its story.

The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engine high-wing propeller-driven short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft developed and manufactured by de Havilland Canada. It has been mainly operated as a bush plane and has been used for a wide variety of utility roles, such as cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application (crop dusting and aerial topdressing), and civil aviation duties. It has been used by military armed forces in a variety of roles worldwide and has seen conflict in both the Korean and Vietnam wars. Production lasted 20 years and when it finally ceased in 1967, a total of 1,657 DHC-2 Beavers had been constructed since the first flight in 1947. The Beaver was designed for flight in rugged and remote areas of the world and today hundreds of Beavers are still flying ?"many of them heavily modified to adapt to changes in technology and needs. This is the second de Havilland Canada type in the Warpaint Series written by author Adrian Balch with over 100 rare photographs from his extensive archives, nearly all in colour and many never seen before, supported once again by excellent colour profiles and drawings by artist Sam Pearson. With the Airfix Beaver kit recently reissued, this is a must for modellers of the type and aviation historians alike as this is the first comprehensive publication published on this type in so much detail.

Now you see it. Now you don't! The F-117's retirement may have seemed premature, but has it really gone? The informative text traces the story of this remarkable aircraft from its Have Blue origins to its withdrawal from active front line service, and takes a look at some of the recent sightings of the aircraft that suggest there may be a role of some sort for it yet. This latest Warpaint includes all the usual expertise and research that has made the series the benchmark for aviation reference material. With full history, development, walkaround, and colour artwork and plans, author Andy Evans documents fully this landmark stealth design.

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes, etc. Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes, etc.

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes.

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes.

It was not until October 1941 that the name Wildcat was bestowed upon it. By December 1941 production of the F4F was well in hand and the F4F was built for export or Lend-Leases, Grumman had been able to supply approximately 242 F4F-3 and -3A fighters to 11 US Navy and Marine Corps squadrons.

The Vickers Wellington was one of those aircraft that seemed to go on for ever. In spite of the glamour and publicity gained by the Lancaster & Halifax, Wellingtons flew operationally for much longer during World War 2 and were still in side spread use for some considerable time afterwards as a trainer aircraft both for pilots and multi-engine aircraft and as crew trainers. Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes, etc.

Designed with both the aircraft enthusiast and the modeller in mind, this series offers a comprehensive and accurate account of a single aircraft type within each issue. Drawings provided in both colour side and plan view with 1:72 scale plans, kit decal and accessory lists, squadrons, units and individual aircraft serials in codes, etc.

As the mighty battlewagon ploughed through the waters of the Pacific few would have noticed the little aircraft perched on the ships stern. To many it was 'old, slow and ugly' while to others it was veritable life saver. The name of this unsung hero: the Vought OS2U Kingfisher. Designed initially for gunnery spotting duties the Kingfisher was lightly armed defensively although once America entered the war it soon found itself toting depth charges. Manned by a crew of two that consisted of a pilot and the guy in back who did everything else the little spotter aircraft soon earned itself a solid reputation. It was the rescue mission at Truk that made the aircraft famous. After a heavy raid upon Truk the crew spotted their own airmen struggling in the water. Setting down the little Kingfisher soon found itself festooned in rescued aircrew. The little engine managed to drag the overweight machine to a meeting with a submarine where all were rescued, the slowly sinking aircraft being sunk. The rescue efforts of the Pacific Kingfishers plus those of the Martin Mariner (also in this series) formed the basis of the air sea rescue concept in use today. Outside of the US Navy the OS2U was flown by the USCG,USMC, the Fleet Air Arm, various Latin.

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.

When the Wessex first entered service with the Royal Navy in 1963 the Sikorsky S-58 had already been in US service for 8 years. The enterprising Yeovil company exploited to the maximum the airframe's sturdy build.

The full story of the first true Multi-Role Combat Aircraft, the OV-10 Bronco, still flying operationally after nearly six decades of service, is told here for the first time in a bumper 104-page Warpaint. Detailed first-hand information gathered over many years has enabled the author to bring together the many facets of this remarkably versatile aircraft including precursors, competitors and prototypes, through Vietnam and combat service with some eleven US and foreign Air Arms, and its part in the development of modern precision weapons, to its astonishing array of uses since. These include fighting drug cartels in Columbia, fires in California, mosquitos in South Carolina, and ISIS in Northern Iraq. Also, finally covered in full and accurate detail are the German 'jet' Broncos. The world's largest restoration project and current training of US and NATO JTACS bring the story up to date.

The Vickers VC.1 Viking was a British twin-engine short-range airliner derived from the Vickers Wellington bomber and built by Vickers-Armstrongs Limited at Brooklands near Weybridge in Surrey. After the Second World War, the Viking was an important airliner with British airlines, pending the development of turboprop aircraft like the Viscount. The Valetta was a military derivative of the Viking developed in transport and training variants for the Royal Air Force, while the Varsity was a versatile twin piston-engined aircraft developed from the Viking and Valetta but with a tricycle undercarriage and ventral pannier for bomb-aimer training, among other changes. It was brought into RAF service in 1951 for crew training as a replacement for the Wellington T.10.

During the 1960s, Dassault commenced development of what would be-come the Mirage F1 as a private venture, alongside the larger Mirage F2. Work on the F1 eventually took precedence over the more costly F2, which was cancelled during the late 1960s. The Armée de l'Air took great interest in the fledgling F1 to meet its requirement for an all-weather interceptor aircraft.The Mirage F1 was of similar size to the Mirage III and Mirage 5 and was powered by the same SNECMA Atar engine that had been used on the larger Dassault Mirage IV, however, unlike its predecessors, it had the layout of a swept wing, but mounted high on the fuselage, and a conventional tail surface as used by the F2. Although it had a smaller wingspan than the Mirage III, the Mirage F1 nevertheless proved to be superior to its predecessor, carrying more fuel while possessing a shorter take-off run and greater manoeuvrability. This latest addition to the Warpaint series includes all the usual reference and historical material that has made the series the go-to source for modellers and aviation enthusiasts alike.

Bringing together numerous untried technologies the Boeing Aircraft Company launched its most significant bomber, the B-29 Superfortress. Although beset by development problems and having suffered the loss of the prototype and its Chief Test Pilot Eddie Allan, the company pushed on to create the first long-range strategic bombers. Once the Pacific Islands had been captured the B-29 Bomb Groups began bombing raids on the Japanese Home Islands. On the other side of the Himalayas further bomb groups launched attacks against targets in Japan. As combat experience grew the focus turned to destroying as much as possible of its production facilities, mainly by firebombing areas known to have these targets.

This latest authoritative work of reference to join the Warpaint series charts the rise of the helicopter in both military and civilian use throughout the vast territories of the Soviet Union from the mid-1950s. The Mi-4 was the first successful series production type, and its widespread use with the Soviet Army and Navy saw fundamental changes to tactics and doctrine. Lavishly illustrated with original images, the story unfolds in detail and tells how the Mi-4 went on to serve globally, ranging from China to Cuba, through Africa, India, and the Middle East, and was to remain ubiquitous both in military and civilian use throughout the Eastern Bloc, and with Soviet client states across the World.

The Pembroke originated as a development of an idea sponsored by Lord Brabazon towards the end of World War II, when he chaired a committee whose brief was to assess the civil aviation requirements after the end of hostilities, and recommended several specifications for civil aircraft required to keep Britain ahead for both home and export sales. A twin-engined transport emerged from Percival called the Merganser in 1947. This was refined and in 1950 the Prince was born, being immediate-ly snapped up by companies as there was nothing similar on the market at the time. The Royal Navy were quick to order the type as a communications aircraft and could see the potential for it as a navigation trainer. With an extended nose for radar and other equipment, Percival were quick to assess that as being suitable. Named the Sea Prince, the Royal Navy ordered three of the early short-nosed variant as the Sea Prince C1 for communications, forty-one of the T.1 version built for navigation and anti-submarine training, and four C.2s as a transport version of the Sea Prince T1.

The US Navy's experience in the Korean War showed the need for a new long-range strike aircraft with high subsonic performance at very low altitude that could penetrate enemy defences and find and destroy small targets in any weather. The Grumman A-6 Intruder was designed with these needs in mind and was a true bomb truck. From the jungles of Vietnam to the deserts of Iraq the Intruder proved its worth, able to catty a plethora of weaponry and pack a mighty punch. From the Intruder airframe the KA-6D tanker variant was derived, along with the specialised EA-6A Intruder and then the EA-6B Prowler, a sophisticated four-seat electronic warfare variant, packed with jamming equipment and electronics.

Derived from the earlier Curtiss 75 Hawk the P-40 Warhawk was an attempt to update the original design for more modern warfare. Unfortunately the aircraft that first emerged was seriously underpowered, undergunned and suffering from stability problems. Although not an auspicious start for a fighter design the Curtiss engineers and those of Allison, the engine builders, finally resulted in an aircraft that was worthy of the appellation fighter. While the P-40 would never really gain the fame of other aircraft destined to play their roles in the forthcoming global conflict it would carve out a niches for itself in the deserts of Arabia, the icy Arctic and across the Pacific. Thus in the hands of experienced pilots determined to wring the best out of tools to hand the P-40 was more than able to match the best that the enemy could throw at it. The first claim to fame for the P-40 was with the American Volunteer Group better known as the Flying Tigers created to support the Chinese Government in repulsing the Japanese invaders. Sporting shark mouths on the nose panels these early aircraft, sometimes working in desperate conditions, repulsed the invaders with great skill and held them at bay until America joined the war.

One of the great unsung fighters of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force was Nakajima's Ki-43 Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon). Codenamed 'Oscar' by the Allies, the aircraft was frequently mistaken for the Navy's A6M2 Zero by those encountering it in combat, to the extent that it was widely referred to by its adversaries as the 'Army 0'. Highly regarded in Japan, where it was much more widely recognised than the Zero, the Ki-43 was the only Japanese fighter from the Pacific War to see active service with other air forces, being supplied to both Thailand and Manchukuo by the Japanese, but also seeing use by France in Indochina, and by the air forces of Indonesia, the Republic of China, and North Korea, who pressed abandoned but airworthy airframes into service, some of which survived into the early 1950s.

The Dassault MD.452 Mystère was a straightforward development of the successful Dassault Ouragan with a 30-degree swept wing and modified tail surfaces. The aircraft saw extensive service with the French air force, evolving first into the Mystère IVA, and the Super Mystère, which was the first Western European supersonic aircraft to enter mass production IVA, and the Super Mystère saw extensive combat use with the Israeli Air Force, while other operators of Mystère deriviatives included India and Honduras While aimed at both the general aviation enthusiast and the scale modeller, this latest addition to the Warpaint range follows on the heels of newly-tooled kits from Czech manufacturer Special Hobby, and is designed to help add both detail and context to a modelling project.

This latest Warpaint title covers the Aero L-39 Albatros, a a Czech-designed jet trainer and light attack aircraft developed by Aero Vodochody during the 1960s as a successor to the L-29 Delfín. It first flew in 1968 and entered service in 1972, becoming the standard jet trainer for Warsaw Pact nations. With over 2,900 units built, the L-39 be-came one of the most widely used jet trainers globally, praised for its reliability, ease of maintenance, and versatility. Building on this legacy, the L-159 ALCA (Advanced Light Combat Aircraft) was introduced in the late 1990s, developed to replace aging Soviet-era fighters in the Czech Air Force, first flying in 1997 and entering service in 2000.

The essential Warpaint series celebrates its milestone 150th release with a subject close to the hearts of all military aviation enthusiasts, telling the all-to-brief story of the Harrier II in British service. Lavishly illustrated with contemporary photographs covering all aspects of the aircraft's development and operational service, this account starts with the replacement of the RAF's GR.3s with the GR.5, followed shortly by the even-more-capable GR.7, and ends with final deployment of the type to Afghanistan as part of Joint Force Harrier.

Making its first flight on 24 June 1960 the prototype AVRO 748, G-APZV, became a very successful rugged replacement for the many DC-3 Dakotas flying around the world. In production, it became the second most successful British turboprop transport aircraft and was only superseded in numbers produced by those of the Vickers Viscount. A total of 381 Hawker Siddeley HS 748 aircraft were built, including eighty-nine manufactured under license by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India, with production running from 1960 to 1988 for this successful turboprop airliner and its military variant, the Andover. The total included, thirty-seven Andovers for the RAF and RNZAF.