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Aircraft of World War II (The Aviation Factfile) ReviewIf a reader is looking for a quick reference guide on World War II aircraft, this slightly oversized book gives basic information about and a good idea of what a particular aircraft looked like. Much of the data is presented in a heavy graphics "USA Today" style that sometimes works well.
Each aircraft, regardless of significance or use, gets two pages. The first page includes a short summary paragraph of the significance of the aircraft, an "at war" style action photograph or painting, and a group of small photos labeled "Photo File" above a "facts and figures box with some bullet points of trivia.
The second page is labeled "Profile" with a large side-profile color drawing of the plane and three to four paragraphs about the use and development. A small box gives the quick statistics on a particular version (powerplant, speed, ceiling, armament, dimensions, etc.).
Then the consistency breaks down.
A few profiles have boxes that show the action in key battles where the aircraft was prominent, or a description of how the aircraft was used to dive bomb or attack a tank. Other profiles have a photo/drawing comparison with two or three contemporaries (sometimes enemies, sometimes from the same side).
Most profiles have another box labeled "Combat Data" or "Action Data" where certain aspects of the performance are compared to others in a graphical format. Some of it is clear and quickly conveys the point like horizontal bar graphs showing the speed of the subject and two contemporaries- the longer the bar, the faster the aircraft. But the numbers and relative differences in the lines are off.
Other times the graphics make no sense. When armament (on a dive bomber?) is compared with other dive bombers, again horizontal bars with a spread are used to show the relative distance. OK service ceiling or angle of dive might be more relevant, but, if you must compare the weapons, why include the defensive machine guns in a graphical comparison. Elsewhere, bombers are compared by bombload (the key statistic), represented by bomb icons of different sizes.
The graphics also become confusing when the identical devices are used for different purposes (range, speed, bombload), or the same attribute is shown 4 or 5 different ways (range). The lack of consistency shows poor coordination, but is not the biggest drawback. The misuse of graphics (e.g. a pie chart to show relative range) or poor use of graphics (e.g. size of engine icons to represent the relative power) is far more distracting. It is also a pity when elsewhere in the book a different graphical device was cleverly used to clearly convey the same point.
Like any similar survey book, questions arise about why certain aircraft that saw extensive wartime service were excluded (e.g. Handley Page Hampden), and others that saw no wartime service (e.g. the Lockheed Shooting Star) were included. The reader is also left wondering why they have a page for Supermarine Spitfire Mk I - V, but not one for Spitfires Mk VI to 22.
The book is useful if the aircraft in question is one of the 123 planes included, but surely there is a better reference book available.
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