Mikro-Mir MM35-018

Armour in Profile-Armoured Fighting Vehicles USA 1945-2018 By MP Robinson, David Grunnitt, Leif Robinson Armour in Profile: Armoured Fighting Vehicles of the United States Army, 1945-2018 contains profiles of five armoured fighting vehicles that have shaped the strategy and tactics of the United States Army since the end of World War II. From the battlefields of the Korean Peninsula and the jungles of Vietnam, to the plains of Central Europe and deserts of Iraq and Kuwait, these vehicles are iconic of American military might. Beginning with the M47 and M48 Patton tanks, replacements for the M4 Sherman, it goes on to examine the M60 tank and the mighty M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank, a vehicle that is expected to serve as the principal weapon of the U.S. Army for at least another two decades. As well as these main battle tanks, it profiles the 'King of Battle', the M109 self-propelled howitzer, another relic of the Cold War continuously updated to meet the challenges of warfare in the twenty-first century. Finally, the book looks at the 'REFORGER' exercises held in the 1970s and 80s, at the height of the Cold War, and which moved thousands of U.S personnel and vehicles to Germany on an annual basis.

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MDF32 The Vought F-8 Crusader was a direct response to a United States Navy requirement for a modern supersonic, carrier-based fighter. Utilising nearly the identical powerplant of the North-American F-100 Super Sabre and looking like the big brother of the A-7 Corsair, the F-8 Crusader became the world's first carrier-based aircraft to break the speed of sound. [F-8E F-8J]

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US NAVY SQUADRON HISTORIES - NO. 305 WORLD WATCHERS A Pictorial History of Electronic Countermeasures Squadron ONE (ECMRON-1) and Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE (VQ-1). by Angelo Romano Pages: 304 Size: 8.5 X 11 (inches) Format: Paperback with semi-rigid cover Illustrations: 633 mostly color photos, 39 color profiles, 82 patches Publisher: Ginter Books The lineage of VQ-1's "World Watchers" can be traced back to two PBY-5A Catalina "Black Cats" modified for electronic reconnaissance during World War II. In Oct 1951, the unit was formally established as the Special Electronic Search Project (SESP) at NAS Sangley Point, Republic of the Philippines, in Oct 1951. On 13 May 1953, the unit was redesignated Detachment Able of Airborne Early Warning Squadron One (VW-1), and operated four P4M-1Q Mercator aircraft. On 1 Jun 1955, Detachment Able was reorganized into Electronic Countermeasures Squadron One (VQ-1) at MCAF Iwakuni, Japan. This was the first Navy squadron dedicated to electronic warfare. In Sep 1956, VQ-1 received the first A3D/A-3 Skywarrior, or "Whale" as it came to be known, which served the squadron for the next three decades. In 1960, VQ-1 moved to NAS Atsugi, Japan and redesignated Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron ONE. The last Mercator was retired and replaced by the WV-2Q Super Constellations. The "Willie Victor" would remain the backbone of VQ-1's long range, land-based reconnaissance efforts through the Vietnam Era and into the 1970s. The squadron's involvement in the Vietnam War started characteristically, at the very beginning, when a Skywarrior crew was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation for their role in the Gulf of Tonkin incident of 2-5 Aug 1964. For the next nine years, VQ-1 would operate from DaNang, Cubi Point, Bangkok, aircraft carriers on patrol in Yankee Station and other bases in Southeast Asia. VQ-1's aircrews supported countless air strikes and were credited with assisting in the destruction of numerous MiG aircraft and Komar patrol boats. In 1969, The first EP-3B joined the squadron, which began the replacement program for the Super Constellations, which was completed in 1974. In 1971, VQ-1 moved its homeport to NAS Agana, Guam. At that time it absorbed Heavy Photographic Squadron SIXTY ONE (VAP-61) and its former parent unit, VW-1. For a time, VQ-1 consisted of thirty aircraft: sixteen Skywarriors, twelve Super Constellations and two Orions. In Jul 1974, VQ-1 welcomed the first of three EP-3E ARIES I, which served well until retirement, in 1992. On 29 Nov 1988, the last four Skywarriors left the squadron which now flew EP-3E exclusively. In 1991, the squadron closed its permanent detachment at Atsugi, after 30 years and relocated it to Misawa, Japan. In the same year, VQ-1 received the first EP-3E Aries II, an upgraded version of the ARIES I, using modified P-3C airframes. The squadron played a key role in Operations DESERT SHIELD and DESERT STORM. Tasking included strike support, combat search and rescue, communications and over-the-horizon-targeting support to Coalition forces. In 1994, as a result of the base closure of NAS Agana, VQ-1 was notified of the homeport change to NAS Whidbey Island. Coincidentally, in Jul 1994, VQ-1 retired the Navy's oldest operational P-3, EP-3E ARIES I BuNo 148887. Its retirement also marked VQ-1's transition to all EP-3E ARIES II mission aircraft. The next aircraft upgrade, the Sensor Systems Improvement (SSIP) Program, became operational in Aug 2000. On 1 Apr 2001, a VQ-1 EP-3E collided with a People's Republic of China F-8 II fighter, 70 nm off the coast of Hainan Island in the South China Sea. After struggling to regain control of the crippled aircraft, the crew performed a successful three-engine, no-flap emergency landing at Lingshui Air Base on Hainan Island. The crew of 24 was detained for ten days. After the terrorist attacks of 11 Sep 2001, VQ-1 surged aircraft and crews to the Central Command, where missions were flown in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM and NEW DAWN. On 17 May 2012, VQ-1 became the largest operational aviation squadron in the Navy when Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two (VQ-2) was officially disestablished and its personnel consolidated into VQ-1. Today, VQ-1 continues to provide Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) flights over an area of responsibility spanning 17 time zones from the East Coast of Africa to the West Coast of the United States. The World Watchers maintain a constant, forward-deployed status to ensure global support to Combatant, Joint and Fleet Commanders. This book is a tribute to all World Watchers who have served the squadron since its establishment to date. A special mention goes to those crews who were lost in tragic accidents, while serving their country.

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United States Air Force in Vietnam by Lou Drendel & Norm Taylor. Covers all aircraft used by USAF in that conflict with in-depth first person narratives added. The color pages are all photos, the covers are Lou Drendels paintings. Most photos and the two-paintings have never been published before. In addition to the photographic history of a long series of deployments by a myriad of USAF aircraft, from the fighters that were the tip of the spear to the support aircraft that performed logistical and special missions, we have included combat narratives, and a very thoughtful and accurate assessment of the war by retired USAF General Baughn who flew early Rolling Thunder missions, and then was assigned to Saigon at the war's end.

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F-16 Fighting Falcon US Part 1 US Versions by Andy Evans Real To Replicas Red series Number 1 The Real to Replica book series presents, as the title suggests, a publication that has both historic references, aircraft details, colour artwork and modelling projects on a particular aviation subject. Titles will include subjects from World War I through to present day and written by renown authors. F-16 Fighting Falcon Part 1: US VERSIONS by Andy Evans The F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force. Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it has evolved into a highly successful all-weather multirole aircraft, and over 4,600 aircraft have been built since production was approved in 1976. Although no longer being purchased by the USAF, improved variants continue to be built for export customers, up to and including the latest F-16V 'Viper' version. The Fighting Falcon's key features include a frameless bubble canopy for better visibility, side-mounted control stick to ease control while manouvering, an ejection seat reclined thirty-degrees from vertical to reduce the effect of g-forces on the pilot, and the first use of the relaxed static stability/fly-by-wire flight control system, that helps to make it an agile aircraft. The F-16 has an internal M61 Vulcan cannon and eleven locations for mounting weapons and other mission equipment and can carry fuselage mounted conformal fuel tanks and a variety of targeting pods and ECM equipment. The F-16's official name is 'Fighting Falcon', but 'Viper' is most commonly used by its pilots and crews, due to a perceived resemblance to a viper snake as well as the 'Colonial Viper' starfighter on the TV show Battlestar Galactica which aired at the time the F-16 entered service. In addition to active duty in the US Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, and Air National Guard units, the aircraft is also used by the 'Thunderbirds' aerial demonstration team, and as an adversary/aggressor aircraft by the United States Navy. The F-16 has also been procured to serve in the air forces of over twenty-five other nations. The initial production-standard F-16A flew for the first time on 7 August 1978 and its delivery was accepted by the USAF on 6 January 1979, entering USAF operational service with the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 388th Tactical Fighter Wing at Hill AFB in Utah on 1 October 1980. The US Air Force, including the Air Force Reserve and the Air National Guard, flew the F-16 in combat during Operation 'Desert Storm' in 1991 and in the Balkans later in the 1990s. F-16s also patrolled the no-fly zones in Iraq during Operations 'Northern Watch' and 'Southern Watch' and served during the wars in Afghanistan (Operation 'Enduring Freedom') and Iraq (Operation 'Iraqi Freedom') from 2001 and 2003 respectively and Air Force F-16s took part in the intervention in Libya. In this book, Part 1 of the F-16 story, we will look at the origins of the F-16 and its service with the US Air Force and US Navy, as well as the different variants, proposed versions, test platforms and sub-types of the aircraft. Part 2 of the F-16 story will look at the International Versions and their operators and both will include colour artwork and how to model the F-16 in popular scales. [General-Dynamics Lockheed-Martin]

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Colour Conundrum Compendium No.3 84 pages By Paul Lucas Guideline Publications is pleased to announce the third 'Colour Conundrum Compendium'. This volume collates two groups of articles, the first dealing with the RAF's 'exotic' Tropical Land and Sea Schemes and colours from 1933-1945, while the second deals with the unusual RAF Photographic Reconnaissance Schemes and colours from 1939-1945. As with Compendium No.2, this volume contains new material that has not been previously published in Scale Aircraft Modelling. These two new Conundrums contain material that dovetails into the Tropical Land and Sea Schemes section in such a way that the result is a volume containing more information on the development and possible use of these schemes than has ever appeared in any one place before on three themes: the RAF in the Second World War, the Post War Fleet Air Arm, and related products of the United States' aviation industry that are intertwined with both the other subject areas. To this has been added a completely new chapter on the B-17Cs of 90 Sqn in 1941, which along with the 4 pages of updates presenting new findings on some of the subjects, makes for an additional 12,000 previously unpublished words. Quoting extensively from primary sources, the articles also provide valuable insight into the organisation and administration of the air force, and the many thousands of documents and memos that passed from office to office behind the scenes, providing background and understanding that add depth and focus to a model, as well as an opportunity to understand why a specific colour scheme may have been either selected or rejected. With original research based on surviving records in the National Archive at Kew the aim of these articles is to throw fresh light upon some old questions, to challenge some long held views on aircraft camouflage and markings, and to pose new questions that had arisen as a result of the research to which the answers were not yet known.

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Republic F-84F Thunderstreak and RF-84F Thunderflash. Fraught with engine and aerodynamic teething problems that resulted in its missing the Korean War for which it was intended, the F-84F Thunderstreak, initially seen as languishing in the shadow of the more well-known and proven F-86 Sabre, matured to become a formidable fighter-bomber that served not only with the USAF's Tactical and Strategic Air Commands, but also with numerous European air forces for many of which it also offered the first experience in swept wing jet fighter operation. It provided a much-needed deterrent during the critical early years of the Cold War and the 1960s, especially with NATO air forces, where it normally replaced its straight-wing predecessor, the F-84 Thunderjet. No fewer than 2,711 examples of the Thunderstreak were built, so that for a time it was the fighter most in widespread use in Europe, becoming the backbone of the Alliance's combat element. In contrast, its service with the USAF was rather short-lived when newer fighters such as the F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom with superior and supersonic performance supplanted it in service. However, with the outbreak of the Vietnam War, when these modern fighters and the USAF's other more valuable combat aircraft were deployed to Southeast Asia, the USAF recalled the Thunderstreak for another spell of frontline service in defence of mainland United States. It was only the French who used it in anger when it carried out strikes on Egyptian targets during the Suez Crisis of 1956. Sharing the Thunderstreak's main characteristics including its vices and virtues, its offshoot, the RF-84F Thunderflash, was considered to be the best photo-reconnaissance fighter of its time, capable of carrying six cameras in its abundant nose in 15 different combinations. The Thunderflash, too, was exported to most of NATO's air forces, as well as to the Republic of China Air Force where it carried out routine overflights over mainland Communist China in a hostile environment. The French, too, used it in a firing war, again in Suez, while the Turkish Air Force similarly employed it during its brief war with Greece in 1974. Again, the advent of such types as the RF-101 recce Voodoo and the RF-4C Phantom replaced it in USAF service, while the F-104 was the type that most replaced it in NATO air arms. But both the Thunderstreak and Thunderflash remained in service for a long period in some of the European air forces, the last Thunderflash being retired from the Greek Air Force in 1991. This latest Warpaint title gives an account of these two types' service, with detailed lists of serials, squadron service, production and variants in 80 pages of text accompanied by no fewer than 190 colour and B&W photos, eight pages of colour artwork by and foldout scale drawings, describing the development and operational career of these remarkable aircraft. This book is written by Charles Stafrace and is superbly illustrated by Richard J.Caruana.

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Douglas C-54/R5D Skymaster and DC-4 The Douglas C-54 Skymaster, a direct adaptation of the civilian DC-4 while still on the production line, became the outstanding long-range four-engined transport aircraft of the Second World War. With its origins as a civilian airliner, it served chiefly on the long-distance haul of Air Transport Command of the United States Army Air Forces on the Atlantic and Pacific routes, where it cut flight hours between the United States and the theatres of operation thousands of miles away. The reliability of its airframe and engines was put to good use also on the India-China 'Hump' route, which was described as the most arduous of all within the responsibility of Air Transport Command. Like its smaller Douglas stable mate the C-47, the C-54 boasted legendary reliability, and was the preferred long-range transport from among its contemporaries. A special VIP version was built for use by the President of the United States, Franklin D Roosevelt. The Royal Air Force also used it in small numbers during the Second World War, one of which was outfitted as a VIP aircraft for use by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The U.S. Navy acquired it under the designation R5D. All production having been commandeered by the USAAF on the outbreak of war, no civilian DC-4s flew during the war. After 1945, however, hundreds became available for use by civilian airlines, which converted them into airliners with passenger seating and comfort, or used them as freighters. Douglas re-opened its production line for new builds in 1946, but the cheap price of the second-hand market kept back this production to only 79 examples. Also in 1946 Canadair ventured to build a Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered version, which it named North Star, used by both military and commercial operators. The DC-4 was a common sight in the immediate post-war period up to the 1950s flown by leading European and United States airline liveries, until it started to be replaced by Douglas's own DC-6 and DC-7. The aircraft came in handy during the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, during which it hauled food supplies and even coal to the beleaguered German city, and again during the Korean War, airlifting the wounded to Japan and the United States. Dozens of variants of the C-54 were employed in a wide variety of non-combat roles such as air-sea rescue, scientific and military research and missile tracking and recovery. No fewer than 1,315 examples of Skymasters were built in the United States and Canada, flown by 35 air arms of other countries in a variety of versions and roles, and full information on serials, versions and other remarks are all included in very detailed tables in this book. The Aviation Traders Carvair cross-Channel car ferry is not forgotten in this account, and a chapter is dedicated to this unique aircraft converted in Britain from standard C-54s. This new 96 page Warpaint publication written by Charles Stafrace contains 200 colour and B&W photos plus eleven pages of colour artwork by Richard Caruana.

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Grumman F9F Panther When the US Navy decided to enter the jet age it was no surprise that it turned to Grumman for its first carrier borne jet fighter bomber with a recon option. The first design produced by the company was a mighty beast, more akin to a bomber than a fighter. Unfortunately American jet engine development was concentrating mainly on the turbojet, a slow process as little was really known about manufacturing such a powerplant. Back to the drawing board and Grumman designed a small straight winged single engined machine that would be powered by a centrifugal engine. However, America was going through an 'American stuff only' period therefore an overseas powerplant was put of the question, or was it? The problem would be solved by having the Rolls Royce Nene license manufactured by Pratt & Whitney as the J42. As insurance the Allison J33 was selected to power one batch of aircraft although all were converted to the J42 later. The resulting aircraft would be designated the F9F Panther and would enter squadron service at a fairly steady pace although this quickened once the United States found itself embroiled in the Korean War. The Panther proved itself to be a tough bird although there was the odd mix 'n' match that resulted in a blue tailed fly! The remaining Panthers would finally leave USN service in the early 1960s. The only overseas operator of the type was Argentina who also used them as carrier aircraft. This book is written by Kev Darling and is superbly illustrated by Richard J. Caruana.

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Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 by Nikolay Yakubovich The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco followed on from the successful MiG-15 design providing the Soviet air forces with a high-subsonic fighter aircraft that was able to hold its own against many of the NATO aircraft of its day. MiG-17s first saw combat in 1958 in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis and later proved to be an effective threat against more modern supersonic fighters of the United States in the Vietnam War. Produced in the USSR from 1952 and operated by numerous air forces in many variants, the aircraft was license- built in China as the Shenyang J-5 and Poland as the PZL-Mielec Lim-6. This latest addition to the Warpaint series follows on from the acclaimed title on the MiG-15 and draws on original Soviet documentation to provide a very thorough technical and historical account of the aircraft's development and service. Once again author Nikolay Yakubovich has provided an authoritative text backed up by historical images and colour artwork and scale drawings to the same standard by artist Andrey Yurgenson.

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Back in stock! Cessna Bird Dog Warpaint Special No 4 Author: Des Brennan. Cessna's Bird Dog was designed and built to serve in what some might regard as the unglamorous field of Army co-operation at a time when attention was more often focused on a growing array of gleaming silver, nuclear-capable jet fighters and bombers deemed essential for a seemingly inevitable Third World War. Nonetheless the Bird Dog was flown sometimes by multiple services and by a wide range of nations on every continent. The Bird Dog served in numerous internal and cross-border conflicts and was from the 1950s into the 1980s, and with the UH-1 Huey helicopter epitomised the role of the United States air power in operations over South-East Asia during the 1960s and into the 1970s. This superb 68-page book is written by Des Brennan with superb colour profiles by Mark Roolfe.

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