United States Navy and Marine Corps fighters 1918-1962 Review

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(More customer reviews)United States Navy and Marine Corps Fighters is another in the series of aviation history/modelling guides produced in the mid to late 1960s by English publishing house Harleyford and reprinted under license in the US by Aero Publishers. There were around 15 volumes in this series; some carried the statement "This is a Harborough Publication" while others had "This is a Harleyford Publication." Both types were published by Harleyford but what was the relationship between the two entities is irrelevant...we are here to discuss the merits of the contents.
Having sung the praises of other volumes (Aircraft Camouflage and Markings: 1907 - 1954; Lancaster: The Story of a Famous Bomber and Spitfire: The story of a Fmous Fighter), one would assume the same will occur here.
In a manner similar to its sister volume on Army and Air Force fighters, this volume tries to be too much with too little. Instead of providing a comprehensive overview of marking disciplines - an objective that should have been seen as impossible to achieve in the extant Harleyford/Harborough format over roughly 200 pages - the authors provide a erratic and inconsistent presentation of markings during the 50 odd year period. The diifculty in this approach is further exacerbated by the inclusion of one-off experimental and low-production models that are included - to this reviewer's mind - for little or no reason other than to do so.
In fact, therein lies my biggest complaint about this book. Its title implies a compendium while it delivers esoteria.

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