Includes articles, archive photos, 3D illustrations (with 3D glasses), and drawings of the famous warships.

The Grumman F6F Hellcat was constructed in the early 1940s at Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corp. in Bethpage. Unlike its predecessor, the Grumman F4F Wildcat, the Hellcat received a low gear, with widely spaced wheels on the main chassis. Significantly increased both wings and fuselage to accommodate the required fuel and ammunition supply and to provide adequate structural strength. Fixed weapons consisted of six 12.7 mm machine guns. A contract for the construction of two prototypes of the new BuAer fighter was made with Grumman on June 30, 1941. During the entire production period only minor changes were made to the construction to the Hellcat.

40+ color profiles of Phantom II versions showing variety of the camouflage and markings in different countriesAlso plan views showing camouflage and markings

This book is the second in the series of International Railway Memories titles from the publishers of Locomotives International magazine. Using archive colour photographs from the collection of the renowned railway photographer and historian Allan C Baker, the reader is taken on a journey behind Turkish steam in the 1970s. Sit back, enjoy the images, and savour the atmosphere!

116 pages featuring 3 different model builds and 40 pages of walkaround images from the scrapyard Armour. Modelling Scenes from a Russian Armour Scrapyard by David Parker,Mark Neville, and Andy Taylor

The fourth hard copy "Summer Special" from our "Narrow Gauge Net" imprint, the book features articles and photo features on: The Douglas Bay Horse Tramway Teifi Valley Phoenix Ffestiniog Railway Then and Now Myanmar Renaissance at Kempton Park Narrow Gauge 2016 Fairbourne 15 Inch Resurgence Midwinter Harz Teesdale 15 inch gauge visitors Restoring A Compressed Air Loco Time For A Halt

Scale plans in 1/72, 1/48 SAAB 29 Flygande Tunnan variants.A3 size pages in A4 pb. All subversions are shown.

Before the start of the Second World War, British armoured doctrine was in a terrible muddle. Opinion had been divided between the proponents of the tank who saw it as the weapon of break-in, using it as an infantry support weapon, and those who saw it as the weapon of break-out, using it to restore mobility and to destroy the enemy’s forces behind the frontline. In many ways it was a division between those who saw the tank solely through the prism of the experience of the First World War, and those who saw it a decisive weapon for the future. Britain was also conscious of the continuing requirements for imperial policing, in which small tanks and armoured cars had already proved their worth. As a consequence, it was decided that Britain needed three different classes of tanks: Light tanks for the policing role that could also be used for reconnaissance duties in a general war; fast and lightly armoured Cruiser tanks for break-out and exploitation, and heavily armoured but slow Infantry tanks for the break-in.

Douglas SBD Dauntless is one of the most popular American naval bomber of World War II era. The name Dauntless fits well to the aircraft’s “personality”. SBD was build with the aim of dive bombing which quickly were nicknamed as “helldiving”. Interestingly one of the successors of Dauntless – Curtiss SB2C – was officially named “Helldiver”. SBD was a two-seated light bomber and scout aircraft developed in year 1940 and based on Northrop BT-1 airframe. During the next year many improvements were added, such as: self-sealing fuel tanks, stronger armament and better electric installation. The most characteristic element were the airbrakes. They were mounted through almost full length of the bottom wing and halves of upper part of wings. Therefore the braking system was very effective stabilizing the dive, easing the aiming and getting plane from the steep dive. The plane became fully capable war machine. The most popular version was SBD-5 with 1200 HP Wright R-1820-60 radial engine. Almost 3000 SBD-5 were produced. The plane took part in many important battles over the Pacific but definitely the most significant were Battle for Midway and over the Guadalcanal. Dauntless’ were solid and reliable planes and crews really liked them. They quickly gave it a special nickname made from letters SBD – “Slow but Deadly”. Today there are four airworthy SBD’s (all in the USA). 11 more are museum exhibits or undergoing restoration.

The Focke-Wulf Ta 152 was designed as a high altitude fighter, which could engage American heavy bombers and their escorts on equal terms. Work on this aircraft began in 1943 and the design was referred to as Spezial Höhenjäger (special high altitude fighter). The RLM soon gave it the official designation Ta 152. Professor Kurt Tank procured three basic design variants: Normaljäger (conventional fighter), Höhenjäger (high altitude fighter) and Schlachtflugzeug (attack aircraft). The conventional fighter was developed as Ta 152 C version, the high altitude fighter as Ta 152 H and the attack aircraft as Ta 152 B. The conventional fighter was tested with the use of four prototypes, powered by Daimler-Benz DB 603 E and EC engines, rated at 1,800 hp. Production aircraft were to be powered by DB 603 L engines rated at 2,000 hp. The prototypes were completed during 3 November 1944 – 15 January 1945. The high altitude version was given the highest priority, the first production version was the Ta 152 H-0 powered by Junkers Jumo 213 E engine rated at 1,750 hp on take-off, armed with one 30 mm MK 108 cannon and two 20 mm MG 151/20 cannons. The Ta 152 H-1 version had the fuel capacity enlarged by 400 liters and provision for GM 1 or MW 50 installations, temporarily boosting engine power at high altitudes. Production totaled 67 Focke-Wulf Ta 152 aircraft of all versions (mostly Ta 152 H) by the end of the war. Those few pilots, who had the opportunity to fly the Ta 152 H in combat emphasized its high speed, outstanding performance at high altitude and very short turn radius in horizontal maneuvers. Ofw. Josef Keil of JG 301 shot down five Allied aircraft flying a Ta 152 H, thus becoming the only Ta 152 ace.

Mil design bureau, led by Mikhail Leonteyevich Mil, was one of the leading soviet plants promoting combination of helicopters and firepower. Mil was personally involved in the development of pre-war A-7 autogyro equipped with machine gun for its own defence and two more for ground targets destroying. However, this type did not reach mass production. But Mil was since that time thinking about arming the rotorcraft, especially after his practise during design of several Bratukhin helicopters, of which some models were intended for artillery spotting and clearly showed that helicopter can play an important role in the army and can be a part of front lineunits. When the Mi-1 helicopter was test flown for the first time on 20th of September 1948, it was clear a very versatile type was born. It became the first mass produced soviet helicopter with vide variety of special variants both for civil and military applications. It has just entered the regular service with the Soviet Army, when US forces used their Bell OH-13s for attack missions in Korean War.

A collection of illustrated essays from the fourth edition of naval Archives. This issue contains highly detailed accounts of HMS Furious and the Italian heavy Cruiser Pola. With articles, archive photos, 3D illustrations, and drawings of the famous warships. Also includes 3D glasses to accompany a section displayed in 3D images.

North American P-51 Mustang, famed for its service in the US Army Air Force as a long-rage escort fighter over westernEurope, was no less successful in the other three major combat areas of World War Two: the Mediterranean, the China-Burma-India and the Pacific Theaters of Operations.

In the first part of the 30s in the 20th century, the new chapter of the German history has opened – of the Germany that was facing more than only an economical crisis. On 30th January 1933, the office of chancellor of the, at that time still, republic, was taken by the leader of the National Socialist German Worker’s Party (NSDAP) – Adolf Hitler. In a short time the supporters of the superpower politics, braking with the resolutions imposed on the Berlin on the strength of the Treaty of Versailles, signed in 1919, seized both power and control of the country. The birth of the Third Reich was proclaimed, with Hitler acting as the Leader (Führer), at the head of the state. Any restriction, supervised by the international community, was rejected and turned down, what clearly and unambiguosly led Germany on the path towards a new war…

In July of 1934, the Waffenamt (Ordnance Department) ordered the development of an armored vehicle 10 tons in weight and armed with 20mm automatic cannon. In early 1935, number of manufacturers including Krupp AG, MAN (chassis only), Henschel und Sohn AG (chassis only) and Daimler-Benz AG provided their prototypes of Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper 100 (LaS 100) – agricultural tractor, for evaluation by the army. The new vehicle was also known as 2 cm MG Panzerwagen and as VK 622 (Versuchkraftfahrzeug 622). New light tank – Panzerkampfwagen II was to supplement new Panzerkampfwagen I light tank as a vehicle with heavier armament capable of firing armor-piercing and high explosive rounds.