You say you're tired of seeing that same old ten pictures of the Flying Tigers and their airplanes that have been published for the past fifty-five years? Take heart, then - noted aviation artist and historian Thomas A. Tullis delivers the goods here, with a book chock full of photos of the aircraft of the American Volunteer Group. The overwhelming majority of these photos have never been seen before by the general public, most of them coming come from the private collection of the late R.T. Smith.

More than merely documenting the different aircraft of the unit's three squadrons the photos also show the men, in poses that allow us to get an idea of how they felt about things, be it R.T. Smith posed sitting on the nose of his airplane ready to fire a pair of "finger pistols," to photos of other members of the unit with their airplanes. Some very rare color photographs are also included, that document the "U.S. equivalent" camouflage colors on these aircraft, which were all originally destined for the RAF.

The book is also profusely illustrated with excellent color profiles by Tullis of various aircraft of the AVG, including the P-40C modified for aerial reconaissance and flown on the first mission of the AVG over Bangkok on December 16, 1941, by my friend Erik Shilling. The profiles completely document the evolution of markings during the life of the unit, from December 1941 to July 4, 1942, when they became the 23rd Fighter Group of the USAAF.

For the modeler, this book is definitive and highly recommended.

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