This disc from Aero Research continues with their recording of CAG birds. To the uninitiated, a CAG bird is one that denotes an aircraft that could be flown by the Carrier Air Group commander. Of course, he isn't qualified in them all, but each squadron deployed has one plane with his name on it and it has an aircraft number that ends in 00. Smaller dets will simply have the last digit a 0. This is also true of USMC units, even though they may not be part of a carrier air wing.

CAG birds are often thought to be ones with a lot of additional color in their markings, and while this can be true, upon the advent of the greys paint scheme, it might often be simply the nose number or perhaps the markings in something other than grey. Some CAG birds are just as dull as the rest of the squadron's planes.

This CD has 162 images of CAG birds and unusually, this one is listed by unit rather than aircraft type. Nice to see is that this disc has quite a few E-2s in it, something we don't usually see. There are the usual Phantom and Hornets as well as a number of USMC types included. Each one of the images has as much information as is known about the subject, place and date provided.

It makes for an interesting disc that shows the evolution of these markings over time.  You can get more information by visiting www.aeroresearchcds.com.

Thanks to Aero Research for the review CD.

November 2016

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved.

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