It’s been a while since I bought a Squadron Signal book that dealt with Vietnam. The main reason being twofold. First off, most of the pics in books on Vietnam are well known, meaning they appear in all books on Vietnam. Second, nothing really new (meaning photo book) has come out lately. Until now.

 I walked into my favourite local hobby haunt last Friday and walked passed this book, only to make a sharp right (or was it a sharp left?) to take a look at this book. As I thumbed through it carefully (as I always do with books), I got the feeling that this book should become a new addition to my ever growing library (books on Vietnam are like Phantom decals, you can never have too many ;-) )

 Anyhow, I walked out the door with my new book in a plastic bag. And I finished reading it (yes it has text too) within 2 days.

 The book itself deals with the authors tour of duty in Vietnam and the hardships, friendships, highs and lows of war.

 In contrast with the other books I have on the subject, which have almost all the same pictures, this book has personal pictures, taken by the author. Most of them are clear, some a little less clear, but they give you a personal first hand account of army aviation in Vietnam. An interesting detour from flying helicopters is the chapter where the author gets the “flight of a lifetime” a ride in a twin seat A-1 Skyraider.

 Most of the pictures can be very helpful in super-detailing a Huey, a Skyraider. There are even some pictures of the CH-54 Tarhe (also known as the flying crane).

 I can recommend it to anyone who has an interest in helicopters, army aviation and/or Vietnam.

 Harald Verweij

November 2008

PS as with all, this copy too was courtesy of my dwindling bank account

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.