I have a real fondness for reference books, and especially ones that help me to identify aircraft units. This comes from many years of military aircraft photography and the slide trading hobby, something that basically took up all my free time for nearly 15 years until it just became too much and I stopped. Often I would get a slide of an aircraft and have not a clue as to the unit to which it belonged. I had a tail code and perhaps a color band and that was it.

Well, Brian Rogers, who is also big into military aircraft photography, has produced a guide to USAF flying units to help us out. He has chosen 1978 as the starting point as it was the last year of the old Air Defence Command and the year that unit maintenance was returned to the unit and not under one big base-wide command. This time period covers the most dramatic draw-down of USAF units since the end of WWII, with some disappearing forever and others moving into other missions. How the USAF determines what units go and what stays is a mystery to many of us, but I do know that they try to keep those that are historically significant.

A huge amount of work has gone into this book and its 272 softbound pages. It begins with a section on how to use the book along with wing and squadron designations. A lot of abbreviations in here so this preface is appreciated. Then a couple of sections on USAF and Reserve Wings. In here it lists the wings, where they were in 1978 and any changes since then to 2005 when this book was completed. This includes reporting commands and any tail codes or fin markings applied to its aircraft.

Then we get into the meat of the book, its squadron listings. These are listed in alphabetical sections and cover Airlift, Air Refueling, Bomb, Fighter, Flight Test, Flying Training, Miscellaneous, Reconnaissance & Air Control, Rescue & Special Ops, Tactical Air Support, and Air Force Reserve squadrons. This is followed by a section on Air National Guard units.  This section also includes what and where they were in 1978 along with any changes in mission or aircraft since that time. It also shows what units are now no longer with us. The table includes the squadron nickname and any fin codes/colors.

The last section in the book is on Tail Markings and Unit Designator indexes. In here, you can look up a tail code and if you have other information such as fin stripe colors, you can match that to a specific unit.

There are several color sections and black & white photos throughout the book, the majority of them taken by the author. It is unfortunate that Midland has done a less than sterling job of reproducing them as aside from the cover images, they are all too contrasty and too dark.

Overall, this is an incredibly useful  reference book, not only for those into plane spotting who want to know what they've seen but also for the archivist who has a photo and cannot figure out what unit it belongs to. It is also interesting reading in its own right and gives a good look at what has transpired in the USAF over the last 28 years.

May 2006

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