Here is the latest in a Squadron/Signal's Walkaround series. I am quite fond of this and their other similar books and am always pleased when I see what I consider to be improvements in the series.

The He-111 was Germany's mainstay bomber during WWII and operated from day one until the end of the war. Ostensibly developed as a high speed airliner, the type was easily converted into a bomber once Hitler decided to build up the German military in 1935. Though reaching obsolescence by mid-war, there was nothing really to replace it. The Ju-88 had taken over much of the offensive bombing by this time and so many He-111s returned to its initial design premise and served as a transport for cargo and VIPs.

The 111 served in many Axis allied air arms including Rumania, Hungary and was sold to China and Turkey among others. The Spanish were given a number of aircraft and eventually built them under license at CASA. When the war ended, so did the supply of Junkers engines so these planes were converted to Merlins and flew until the late 1960. A few were used as warbirds, but the last flying Spanish 111 was crashed by the Confederate Air Force in 2003 and no others have been made airworthy.

Two extant He-111s exist in museums. One is a transport version at the RAF Museum in the UK. The other is an He-111P that was painstakingly restored in Norway. It is thanks to these two airframes that we have this walkaround as these are used for the majority of images used in this book.

In tune with others in this series, we get superb looks at the cockpit area, gunner's stations, bomb bay, wheel wells, engines, and various external areas. This is additionally enhanced by an excellent selection of period images. I like that there are four full pages of full color profiles and a nice batch of operational images of the different versions, making this a superb reference for modelers and those interested in the aircraft.

September 2012

My thanks to Squadron Products for the review copy. Get yours today at your favorite shop or on-line retailer.

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