Book number 1 from what I believe is a new publishing house and for sure a new book series is Valiant Wings' Airframe and Miniature #1, the Me-262. The basis for this series is not only to provide information on the aircraft, but also on available kits and books. I was wondering why no decals and aftermarket, but that would be a nearly impossible task, especially considering how ephemeral these items can be.

The book starts out by providing information on the history of the type, starting with the initial prototype. What makes this book special is that there are drawings and photos of these planes, with each successive improvement noted in the drawings. Each plane in this early series has a bit of a history involved with it that gives some pertinent information on the plane's purpose (testing armament, for instance) and its eventual fate and known flight hours. As the type gets more into production, this information isn't provided, of course. However, we are given information on all the known prototypes.

The differences between series production types is also provided with drawings as are appropriate to note these differences. The book goes into paper projects as well, for they are part of the Me-262 story.

There is a goodly section on camouflage and markings. Here you'll find several pages of very well drawn profiles. All the major production aircraft are covered in this section as well. It is followed by a modeler's section with the author's choice for the best kits in each scale and a build-up of those kits. Next is a section that has drawings of all the prototypes and what needs to be done to modify kits in the various scales to duplicate these planes. A most interesting section indeed.

The very last section is an 'in detail' section were various museum airframes as well as images from the period tech manuals and some period photos are used to explain all of the various bits and pieces of the 262. This is followed by two appendicies; one on books and the other on kits that pertain to the Me-262. This includes kits that were never released, though announced, and also kits that are scheduled to be released in the near future.

 One thing I gleaned from this that I did not know is that apparently, no Me-262 ever had a clear lower rear fin section for a formation light. It seems this information came from viewing images that had been copied so frequently, that a polished section of metal was interpreted as being a clear lens. This feature has been picked up by some very good kits so break out the paint brush and cover over that offending lens!

All in all, it makes for a superb book that should appeal to both the enthusiast as well as the modeler. It is a book that I found quite a good read. It is a great initial effort and a book I can highly recommend to you as a reference.

December 2010

For more on Valiant Wings, including getting this book, visit www.valiant-wings.co.uk. Thank you for the review copy.

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