This is the kind of book which may not be to everyones liking. Lots of pictures it does not have.What it contains basically covers the units and sub-units of the Japanese Army Air Force in World War 2. Orders of Battle for the major campaigns throughout the war are given, as well as colour illustrations of the vertical tails of the planes operated by every(yes every!) unit in the JAAF inventory. Different schemes for the different chutais(squadrons) are also shown(where applicable). In addition there are coulor plates for the every type of plane from selected units. Finally there are around 100 monochrome photographs showing the actual planes which the colour plates are taken from. An excellent resource for aircraft modellers or basically anyone with an interest in Japanese World War 2 army aviation.

I have looked everywhere for a book that is thorough when it comes to markings on ANY combatant in WW2. This book has it all for the Japanese! From markings to unit information this book is excellent. I am an aviation artist and have had a hard time finding books that have the markings and also go into the organisation of the airforce and unit designations. One more time....this book has it! If you are a modeller, artist or a historian this book packs it all. Great color plates, easy to read charts and diagrams. If you want a book that helps you see and understand Japanese air units and markings...hit add to cart now! You will not be dissapointed.

This book is an invaluable source of information for plastic modelers building the German Tiger II.Color illustrations together with cutaway drawings provide accurate details of the interior layout of the tank.For future reference to the author, the addition of RAL numbers of paint colors as indexed to the colors in the illustrations in the book would be a possible improvement to be considered on this work.

This book is a small gem. Reference on this tank is as complete as can be packed in 48 pages. Not only development history is included, but also are packed gun tables, direct comparisons to opposite tanks, and unit history with order of battle. Unless you plan to buy Jentz and Hillary more complete books, this is a must for the modeller and historian!

An excellent first person treatise on the most delicate of subjects, Public Safety Bomb Disposal. While not revealing anything of an operational or technical nature, so as not to tip the hand to the bombers, the author leads us through a whirlwind tour of many places angels fear to tread. Chock full of details of the fight to keep the streets of Northern Ireland among other places, safe to travel, there are few slow points in the text. An excellent read, looking forward to volume two!

The never-before-told history of bomb disposal in the british military and police forces. Related in a highly professional manner. The author has peeled off the thin skin of smoke from a subject rarely revealed in book format while not revealing any tricks of the trade which would assist potential bomb makers. Worth a TEN star rating alone as a silent salute to all those bomb techs who died in the line of duty. Highly recommended reading. A challenge to other authors to help tell the full story of explosive ordnance disposal. Bravo Zulu Peter Birchall.

This book is an interesting account of a soldier who has been involved in actual combat for almost 20 years of his life.

This career has spanned the British Airborne and Special Forces, Rhodesian and South African Special Forces and as a Mercernary in Africa and South America.

The book itself is a very good read, and conveys much of the reality of modern battle, and also much of it's humour. It's the tragedy that comes through most strongly though, especially in the breakup of Rhodesia, which is still troubled now, over 20 years later, and Callan's massacure of his own troops.

It's certainly a page turner, and I finished the book wondering, "What will he do next?"

Bryn

This is a great read for someone interested in the special forces operations. Such as the SAS, 1 Para, Rhodesian SAS, and mercenary work. The book is an action packed, yet informative read that has a lot of humanity and insight to it. McAleese has led a great life, and an adventurous one at that. If you are interested in learning more about life as an elite soldier or mercenary read NO MEAN SOLDIER.

I really liked this series. I especially like how this hard cover collects the entire run of Milligan/Allreds X-Force into one easy to read volume. Peter Milligan and Mike Allreds work is very spectacular! I had sworn off of Marvel books around 8 years ago but I could not resist the work of two of my favorites. Peter Milligans writing is quick, witty and interesting and I love Mike Allreds drawing style. My only gripe about this book was that the last issue of the series/collection was drawn by Duncan Fegredo and his artwork is possibly some of the worst artwork I have ever seen in any book. After reading through this large collection it was a bit of a letdown to have the "FINAL ISSUE" be drawn in such a haphazard way. I am serious. A third grader could have drawn the book more enjoyably than Duncan Fegredo! His "artwork" is a big detraction and to me, held this book back from being 5 stars. That being said I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes irreverant heroes to read.

I can't say im a big fan of Marvel in general and X-titles are usually unapealing to me, but i am a fan of Mike Allred. Based on my love for Mike Allred's own Madman, i decided to give X-Force a chance and bought the hardcover version which collects the tpbs as well as some other extras. I wasnt disapointed, the writing by Peter Milligan is decent, better than 80 percent of whats out there at least, and Mike Allred's drawing style is clean, and uniquely his own. Laura Allred's colors are, as always, astoundingly bright and beautiful.

The story telling in X-Force is fast paced and teeming with satire. All in all, the book manages to be interesting and hold one's attention, but Id recomend you run to your local comic book store and leaf through the first few pages of the first trade paperback to see if this is really your bag, as the book deals with mature subjects and contains tons of graphic death scenes.

It is about time AF Special Forces gets some recognition. While primarily intended for someone planning on entering AF Special Operations and wishes to prepare for the grueling indoctronation course, it offers an excellent regimine for keeping fit. All too often the public assumes that only Army, Marine and SEAL special forces demand a lot physically and the Air Force is "Soft". With a higher wash-out rate and longer, more intensive training required than any other Special Forces group, CCT's and PJ's often get applicants who fail within the first few days as they are not in condition. A great book for the fitness nut.

I bought this book hoping to get information that taught me a little something about PJ's and what they go through to become one. And it full-filled my needs and exceeded my expectations. I am now on my second week of training with their workout plan and I am loving it and experiencing the change. Thanks

During my first year of AFROTC, we worked out to the above mentioned 12 Weeks to BUDS. That was grueling in and of itself. I purchased this book to prepare for field training, and so far it's pretty decent. People have complained "where's the workout" - it says in the book that they compiled the information so you can mix and match a workout that is good for you. And you don't have to be a physical trainer to do this - the sets are there, the combinations of exercises are there - you simply have to do them. Finish this workout COMPLETELY and I guarentee the book will live up to what it says "you will be in the best shape of your life." Oh, and don't forget the running...

I found this book by doing a search for Mark Pyle as an author in a vain attempt at finding a tape called "Death of An American Dream," which I know he is quoted on, but I'm not positive he authored. But, this book looks interesting. Anything by the last Clipper Captain is a good read to me.

"Pan Am has place of it's own. You call it the world, we call it home." Gone but not forgotten....

I originally was going to submit this review as the author...which in fairness I am as much as any of those listed but withdrew the verbage before the final mouse click for avoidance of legal ramifications.

In 1991, Chronicle of Aviation was originally published in France. It was piloted by a wonderful Air France Concorde pilot by the name of Edouard Chemel and published under Chronicle Publications...the owner a very colorful Belgian by the name of Jacques Legrand. The book was later translated into english by Derek Mercer and new articles and content to attract the attention of english speaking audiences. Ivan Rendall, "Reaching for the Skies," was the original editor-in-chief for England but withdrew at the last moment and Bill Gunston was his replacement. Gunston's name in England is well known, and was thought to increase sales after Rendall pulled out of the project.

I was brought in as editor-in-chief for American content in December of '91 and was a contributing author of well over 70 articles and many, many pictures as well.

The book never did well in the USA but was quite successful overseas. American's and history... well, we are a throw away society, are we not?

Since Chemel and I are notably absent from your author header, I respectfully submit that we both contributed more blood sweat and tears than any of those individuals you have listed.

With respect,

Mark S. Pyle Captain "The Last Clipper" December 4th, 1991

editor-in-chief "Chronicle of Aviation"

I'm a pilot and was looking for the biggest and most comprehensive history of aviation. I found it in this book!
This is the essential aviation book and reference/research tool! Place it on your coffee table -- it will never get put back down! Hardcover, high quality images and articles. Each page looks like a newspaper. It is a tad biased toward Europe, but US aircraft, ever the powerhouse of aviation in the world, is overwhelmingly the majority of articles. There is some editorial embellishing, but not to the point that the bulk of the historical fact is presented.
This book is HUGE! Over 950+ pages! Color and black and white photos, artwork. The book is broken down into chronological history of aircraft from 1500-1992. At the beginning of each year, a huge cover image from some significant happening (or other cool image) appears with the stats for highest altitude, engine HP, speed record, etc. for aviation at that point.
Just when you think its over, there is a 200+ page section on how all types of aircraft engines work, including famous engines, types of fuel, turbo and super charging, turbines, rotary, etc. Then, after that, there is major world airline information including artwork of each aircraft tail and its corporate logo, plus vital stats about each. Neat!
Buy this book, you won't be dissapointed.

Stevenson starts out simply enough with a straight narrative focused on Carraciola, but soon gets distracted and never again picks up the threads.

I would have forgiven some of the purple writing and technical errors, as I would have forgiven Stevenson for barely touching on some of the truly great stories (ie, Varzi's fix at Tripoli and his tragic decline afterwards), but it's the last few chapters where the author spins off into wild, unsubstantiated speculation better suited to a tabloid than any book about historical events that I find completely unforgivable.

1. He asserts that Eberhorst was an incompetent designer (!) partly responsible for Rosemeyer's death.

2. He asserts that Hitler (!) somehow orchestrated Rosemeyer's death, and goes to great length to explain how Rosemeyer, knowing of the plot, bravely and stoicly went to his death to avoid bringing the wrath of the Nazis down on his wife and young child.

3. He postulates that had Rosemeyer lived, his popularity would soon have eclipse Hitler's, and that Rosemeyer would somehow wrench the Reich away from Hitler and lead Germany to avoid the carnage of WWII.

It would be impossible to fabricate more ludicrous theories about the events of this fascinating period. I bought this book because I was starved for more reading material about the subject, and couldn't bring myself to spend the money for the excellent (but expensive) Chris Nixon works. Do yourself a favor, skip straight to Nixon's efforts and leave this sort of bizarre revisionism on the shelf.

Very entertaining book. Plenty of exciting race action and fascinating characters. A great read -- it pulls you right in!

I found Driving Forces to be a educational, entertaining and comprehensive look at the little known world of early Grand Prix racing. Peter Stevenson's automotive expertise and extensive knowledge of the historical subject matter resulted in some facinating insights. His intuitive representation of the drivers and other key figures added a very human aspect of the story that was truly touching. I think it would make a great movie too!

My only complaint about this book is it should have been written as a series of 3 or 4 books. There's is a ton of info in the book, though sometimes it gets a bit overwhelming (especially in the first few chapters).

Lots of information that I never knew, even though this is a subject I love to read up on. The author is able to keep all the info interesting and exciting to read. Lost a lot of sleep by staying up too lake on worknights reading this darned book. :)

A great read for those just getting into terrorism / counterterrorism research, or for the old pros.

To dive right into it: this is a must-have space filling object in the already-read-and-want-to-read-again-department of your bookcase when you're the slightest bit interested in counterterrorism. This book provides a excellent overview of 30 years of terrorism and counterterrorism, worldwide. Although in my opinion too concise in certain points, and the chapters 1 to 3 are 'guilty' of this because of their dry summary of (practically) every terrorist act in these past 30 years (my advice: don't read these chapters consecutively in one day), the overview is detailed, extensive and complete. Especially the chapters regarding to some of the most important counterterrorist operations (for example the raid on Entebbe, and the assault of the Iranian Embassy in London, as well as thirty years of activities in Northern Ireland) are very interesting and may give some new information to the relative layman. These chapters also puts the motives for the terrorists and their acts in a historical point of view, which provides a better comprehension of these acts. And to top it all, I've learned about counterterrorist units I didn't know existed (for example the American ISA or the French 29SA)....... and I have read quite a few books on the subject.

Beside chapters 1-3, the last minor downside in this book is the overextensive attention drawn to the invasion of Grenada by the US military in 1983. Although the counterterrorist units Delta Force and SEAL Team 6 were involved, this operation can not be considered a counterterrorist operation; the use of the word 'invasion' was deliberate. Even the writer points this out after the story about the operation. These cost the book its fifth point, but just marginally so.

Again, for any one interested in the suject: you must have this book as a referncebook, but better to read it; once you have started in this very good read, it's difficult to close it..... and you just get motivated to know more. The world feels just a bitter saver just for knowing the contents of this book.