If you are like me, you have to agree that perhaps one of the most colorful periods around was during the 1950's, 60's and early 70's when US Navy aircraft wore the Light Gull Grey and White camouflage scheme. The relatively light colors were a perfect backdrop for the sometimes gaudy squadron color schemes that were applied to a wide variety of aircraft.

It is with that as a background that Model Publishing presents its first book. This is the initial volume in what is to be part of the Naval Aviation Archives (NAVA) series which is scheduled for quarterly publication with 'CAG 1 1938-73' and 'NAF/NSA Naples' being the upcoming volumes.

But back to this one. The folks at Model Publishing have decided that the photos are the real draw and so have gone to extraordinary lengths to provide the finest they could. All of the color photos have been digitally restored to their original brilliance. What's more, many of them are full page size so that we can all enjoy the color and detail of the superb photographer of William Swisher, who contributed the vast majority of images that are in this edition.

During the late 1950s, the US Navy started annual weapons meets. Initially starting off on a small scale, they were first held at NAAS El Centro in 1956 and comprised only a handful of squadrons from the East and West Coast. The 1957 and 1958 meets each increased the number of participating units and were also held at El Centro. In 1959, the USAF handed over the Yuma air base to the Marines and that is where the final, and largest of the Weapons Meets were held. It is also where a vast majority of the photos in this book were taken as the photographer was given free reign of the ramp by the base commander. An opportunity that he took full advantage of.

The book is basically divided into two sections. First includes a biography of William Swisher and Carl Marion as well as a brief rundown of each of the individual events, quoting the articles in Naval Aviation News for these events. The majority of the book concentrates on Bill Swisher's photos from the 1959 event. This is divided by unit and provides a brief history of the unit and the aircraft it flew, those who participated in the event, and two photos. One photo is a full page image of an aircraft that participated in the event, while the other is a smaller shot of a representative type later on in the unit's history. For example, the VA-85 entry has a huge photo of an AD-6 that took part in the event with the later aircraft being an A-6E photographed in 1978 by the author. While I would have liked to have seen a second shot of the 1959 aircraft, the later images are very nicely done and do complement the unit's page.

This is a book that is a MUST HAVE for the enthusiast and modeler alike. It would be super if some decal sheets came about because of this series as there are some very colorful schemes involved. At the moment it can only be ordered direct from the link below.

My thanks to Model Publishing for providing the review sample.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and quickly by a site that has over 250,000 visitors a month, please contact me or see other details in the Note to Contributors.

Back to the Main Page

Back to the Books Index Page