Designed to replace the Navy's A-4 and A-1 in the mid 1960s, the A-7 Corsair was a superlative aircraft that met all the needs the Navy asked of it. The 1960s was a time when the USAF ended up adopting several USN designs as they did the job and were better than what the Air Force was using. So to replace its really old F-100 and A-1 fleet, the A-7 was chosen. Of course it had to be upgraded so air to air refueling capabilities using the boom system was added as was a more powerful engine and better brakes, to name a few.

The resulting aircraft could carry more ordnance than the F-100 and was a great RESCAP aircraft as it could refuel to stay atop a downed pilot for longer than the A-1 Skyraider. Initially operating with three wings in the US and one overseas, it was doled out to the ANG and once the A-10 appeared, disappeared from regular USAF units as well. For well over 20 years, the A-7 served with the guard, finally being retired in the early 1990s after the USAF rejected a greatly improved YA-7F aircraft.

The book itself is mostly a photo book with a large number of excellent color photos of the A-7 in all the camouflage schemes it carried and serving with all the various units that flew the plane. Included is a brief history of the aircraft as well as a description of the different variants and upgrades made to the aircraft (which really were not many). It starts with the test and evaluation aircraft before going into the regular USAF units and then to the ANG units that flew the plane. The book contains a superlative walk-around section that includes excellent cockpit photos of both the D and K variants. I can see that these images were made during the Iowa ANG's deployment to Germany back in the early 1990s. The final section of the book includes four view illustations of the various camouflage schemes the plane carried. In with the rest of the images are some experimental camo schemes as well as the two special schemes carried by the aircraft.

It makes for one of the best books I've read on the USAF/ANG A-7 oand I'm looking forward to other editions in the series. It is one that I can easily recommend to you for enjoyable reading, superb photos and illustrations as well as an excellent reference for the modeler and history buff alike.

February 2010

My thanks to AirDoc for the review book. You can find these at your local hobby shop and if not, ask them to order them for you. You can also order direct by e-mailing them at www.airdoc.eu

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