Once again, Mushroom Models Publications has provided us with an interesting book on a subject that few have studied in any depth. This latest edition covers various rotorcraft that were developed by the Allies prior to, during and shortly after WWII.

Though most realize the the Germans operated rotorcraft (mostly helicopters) during the later years of the war, few are aware that the US and Britain also operationally used helicopters in the later years while the British and French operated autogiros early in the war.

Authoris Ryszard Witkowski starts us off with a history of rotorcraft from the early experimental stages at the start of the 20th century up to the initial successes of Igor Sikorsky at the beginning of the 1940s. While Germany was experimenting with tandem rotors, it was Sikorsky who successfully developed the single rotor helicopter of which we are all so used to seeing in the skies.

From there, the book covers the craft of the US, Britain, USSR and France in separate chapters. I found the section on the USSR to be probably the most interesting as I knew nothing about Soviet work in this area, yet the names involved (Mil, Kamov, and Kuznetzov) would be later quite prominent in Soviet helicopter and engine development. I also found it interesting how much work had been done on the military use of autogiros by the British as the French.

Typical of this series of books, there are sections on detail color photos of the many extant rotorcraft from this period as well as a goodly number of profiles on each of the major craft that are covered in this volume. When you add this to the superb selection of period photographs, you have a book that just cannt be beat.

It is another winner from Mushroom Models Publications and a book I most highly recommend. April 2010

You can get this and hundreds of other superb books at www.casematepublishing.com. My thanks to them for the review book.

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