Subject: Re: Hi Steve - review of Specialty Press B-47 book follows...
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Nicholas Moore" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 16:06:32 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nicholas Moore 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Friday, August 13, 2010 2:56 AM
  Subject: Hi Steve - review of Specialty Press B-47 book follows...

        Specialty Press

        Boeing’s B-47 Stratojet by Alwyn T. Lloyd

        SPR07071  from HobbyLink Japan http://www.hlj.com/

        Product article by Nick Moore

        You’d have to be a communist not to like the B-47 Stratojet. Developed in a time when the fear was so great and the defence spending budget so unlimited that some of the best looking heavy bombers took to the sky – the Cold War. Now in warmer times we can admire the hardware. Specialty Press have a track record of producing excellent books characterised by a combination of newly published photographs, technical drawings and diagrams providing a comprehensive description of the subject. 

        In this 276 page book, author Alwyn T Lloyd, covers the design of the B-47 in eleven chapters through prototypes into production, crew training, operation, modification and experimentation. He concludes with Appendices A through F which provide additional colour photographs and data concerning production numbers, units and markings, model numbers and accident rates.

        The book contains a wealth of images such as production facilities, shots of crews, engine maintenance scenes, wind tunnel testing, payloads, transportation, crashes, refuelling and of course many shots of experimental versions and its use as a test bed. The shots of the B-47 within production facilities would have to be my favourites as so many secrets of the aircraft’s structure, not apparent in operational photos, are given away in these images. The scale of these manufacturing operations is also always impressive to observe.

        The written history in the book is equally fascinating and highlights the perils of operational flying in so called “peacetime”. The author has tapped into the knowledge and experience of the people who built, flew and maintained these planes. One anecdote tells of manoeuvrability tests using a defector’s Mig-15 versus the B-47 to see if the big plane could shake the little fighter – the answer was no but not for want of effort from the B-47 driver. 

        This book would seem to be an indispensable resource to modellers of the B-47 in that it provides that dimension in detail and insights into the wear on the body of the plane not apparent in the many glamour shots from the era. The technical drawings provide further accountability for serious scratch builders and some fascinating history provides inspiration for modellers wanting to tackle a particular plane. Finally the colour images of Appendix A give  you some great bare metal finish shots.

        Very much recommend.

        Boeing’s B-47 Stratojet by Alwyn T. Lloyd 2005

        Published by Specialty Press

        ISBN-13 978-1-58007-071-3

        ISBN-10 1-58007-071-X

         

        This book is available here: http://www.hlj.com/product/SPR07071

        My thanks to HobbyLink Japan (http://www..hlj.com/) for supplying this review sample.

        Nick Moore 13 August 2010