It has been many years since I last reviewed one of Model Publishing's books and somehow managed to miss the first volume in the Air Wing 1 history. But now we have volume 2 that covers the period from 1957 to 1973 and I have to say that this is a most impressive book. The layout and printing quality of the images is top notch.

Basically, the authors have divided the book into sections that cover the various deployments of Air Wing 1.  It starts with the June 1957 North Atlantic cruise aboard the USS Forestall through deployments on the USS FDR, which includes its lone Vietnam war cruise. There is a brief move to deploy on the USS Enterprise's shakedown cruise to the USS John F Kennedy where the wing stays for a considerable time. During this time, there were many incidents and crisis throughout the world that required the presence of carrier power. This includes the Cuban Missile Crisis, the 1966 Arab-Israeli war, the Vietnam War and others.

This is the period of the light gull grey and white Navy with all of the color that was part of that time. The book is absolutely crammed with photographs, over half of them in full color from a variety of sources. The authors have the good sense not to place images across 'the ditch' so there is no distortion. You get to see these planes in all of their glorious color markings and can see how markings change over time.

Of course, not all the same squadrons and aircraft types stay with an air wing. As new planes enter and older planes leave the inventory, there are differences. We go from Furies to Crusaders to Phantoms and then to Tomcats for the fighters, for instance. This is accompanied by a number of superbly done color profiles interspersed through the book.

This is a book that is a MUST HAVE for the enthusiast and modeler alike. I know you will be delighted with it.

July 2008

My thanks to Model Publishing for providing the review sample. You can order direct from the link.

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

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