Army Air Force - RevuAIR

The “Best” . . . Because There is Not Much Out There . . .

By fStop Fitzgerald | 27 May 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

http://landmarkinn.com/project/courtyard-suite/ Martin Aircraft, 1909–1960

http://iccpaix.org/templates/beez3/ALFA_DATA by John R. Breihan

Narkiewicz/Thompson, 1995. 208 pages.

This book is the definitive work on Martin aircraft. The shame of it is that there is only one to choose from and nothing to compare it to.

That said, the book is very good. Compared with other aviation company works, this touches all the bases. It involved significant research, which the author distilled into a very readable, yet still comprehensive presentation. It is well illustrated and cited.

My personal research concerns the MB/MBT series and I was looking to this to fill in some gaps. It provided a bit more detail, but was lacking in some of the information (and was opposed to) what I had found in the Library of Congress and National Archives.

All in all, despite its current high price, this is a good value and must-have for anyone interested in Martin aircraft.

Reviewed October 2013

Not a Review, Just Pointing You to a FREE Book

By fStop Fitzgerald | 25 May 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Battle of Midway: 3–6 June 1942

Washington Navy Yard, DC: U.S. Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy Office of Naval Intelligence, 2017. Reprint of 1943 edition.

Coming up very shortly is the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Midway. This is a really big deal, especially with the Navy, as it was virtually the first solid victory for U.S. forces over the Japanese since the war began for America the previous December 7.

My day job is writing and editing for the Navy’s Naval History and Heritage Command. One of our projects to commemorate the 75th anniversary of World War II is to republish concurrently with the events of 75 years ago a series of booklets produced by the Office of Naval Intelligence immediately after each of the battles. We have just posted the Midway booklet. You can download it—for absolutely free—from our website at: https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/world-war-ii/1942/midway.html

We have also put up Coral Sea, Early Carrier Raids, and Java Sea. Check those out as well.

A couple of caveats. Because these were created at the time, they have the immediacy of the war at hand. There are also errors. These were based on classified reports directly from the combatants and are little sanitized. So don’t be surprised to find that Wildcats did combat with Messerschmitts. Their value is that they take you back to those days when it was not a sure thing that the United States would come out victorious.

While you are there, go into the search field and type in Battle of Midway. You will find more primary source material about the battle than you ever suspected. Want to read transcripts of interrogations of Japanese officials from the battle? Try this link: https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/b/battle-of-midway-interrogation-of-japanese-officials.html

And when you are done, enter your own search terms. We have dozens of FREE books available for the download. This is our home page: https://www.history.navy.mil/ Poke around. You’ll find yourself coming back.