"Blue Goose" Command Aircraft of the USN, USMC, and USCG 1911 to 1961
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Naval Fighters Number 100
Authors: William A. Riley & Thomas E. Doll
Publisher: Ginter Books
ISBN: 978-0-9892583-8-8
Binding: Softcover
Pages: 128
It's hard to believe, but the Ginter Naval Fighters series has reached its 100th title, and for the subject of this centennial publication they chose a colorful and fascinating bundle of aircraft: Command Aircraft. These aircraft spanned all types and featured interesting colors and markings. Often relegated to a photo or two in books covering the individual aircraft types, this book presents these Command Aircraft all together, providing what is undoubtedly the most thorough visual history of these planes.
The book follows the progression of these command aircraft chronologically, starting with the early biplanes from before the First World War. From there it goes into the golden age of Command Aircraft, the 1920s and 1930s, where we see the most colorful aircraft. Moving into World War Two, the Command Aircraft adopted camouflage, as did virtually all other aircraft, and post-war continued that trend with aircraft wearing similar colors to standard line aircraft.
The book presents these aircraft through copious photographs, including a handful of color photos. While many of the subject aircraft, especially during the 1930s, were of rare types, the fact that they were Command Aircraft usually meant that high quality photos were taken of them. Many of these photos are in the pages here, making this an excellent reference for the modeler. In addition to that, the book has a handful of color profile illustrations to complement the photos and highlight some of the interesting colors and markings found on these Command Aircraft.
This is a nice way to celebrate the 100th Naval Fighter title, and offers up some colorful options to some common aircraft types. My thanks to Ginter Books for the review copy.