Showcasing some of the most recognized and dynamic examples of aviation art ever produced, the paintings here appeared on model airplane kit boxes. Generations of hobbyists have enjoyed these colorful and inspiring paintings that graced model packaging in hobby shops. More than 170 of the most memorable examples are displayed in full color. They chronicle aviation history from the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk Flier to the Apollo Lunar Module, including many of the best-known aircraft in aviation history. Among the many artists whose works are portrayed are Tom Morgan, John Steel, Jack Leynnwood, Lorenzo Ghiglieri, Jim Cox, John Amendola, Ray Gaedke, Jo Kotula, and Dick Locher. In the well-researched text, these artists tell personal stories behind their art in their own words. This book will be treasured by aviation enthusiasts, model builders, and everyone who has fond memories of their model building days.

No single human invention has transformed war more than the airplane—not even the atomic bomb. Even before the Wright Brothers’ first flight, predictions abounded of the devastating and terrible consequences this new invention would have as an engine of war. Soaring over the battlefield, the airplane became an unstoppable force that left no spot on earth safe from attack. Drawing on combat memoirs, letters, diaries, archival records, museum collections, and eyewitness accounts by the men who fought—and the men who developed the breakthrough inventions and concepts—acclaimed author Stephen Budiansky weaves a vivid and dramatic account of the airplane’s revolutionary transformation of modern warfare. On the web: http://www.budiansky.com/

Between the world wars the main task of the RAF was to crush tribal rebellions against British rule. This study, based almost entirely on unpublished documents, shows how the independent peacetime role of air policing ensured the survival of the RAF during the lean financial times after WWI. Its analysis of rebellion and imperial violence is of interest to a broad audience. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Examines vintage model airplane kits and highlights what collectors should look for in building their collections. Covers model development in the heyday, and shows pricing for vintage kits.

The best-known and most important manufacturer of plastic model kits in the UK, Airfix has been at the forefront of the industry since 1955 when the first Airfix aircraft kit appeared in UK branches of Woolworth's. The kits were made to a constant scale and covered a wide variety of subjects, from aircraft to birds and from tanks to dinosaurs. In 1981 the famous London-based company closed down and only the kits survived intact. For the next twenty-five years Airfix was run by Palitoy and later Humbrol, but suffered from a lack of investment. In 2006, Hornby Hobbies Ltd, the train and Scalextric manufacturer, bought the ailing company and transformed it. Money and resources were ploughed into the range, and today Airfix releases around twenty new kits per year, designed to an incredibly high standard. The old kits of the 1950s and 1960s are gradually being replaced by new state-of-the-art tooling, all bearing that most prestigious name - Airfix. Published to coincide with the sixtieth anniversary of the first Airfix aircraft kit, Sixty Years of Airfix Models, tells the full story, year by year, of the company and its products. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs.of kits, box art and completed models.

Airpower is not widely understood. Even though it has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure to many people, even to professional military officers. This fact is largely due to fundamental differences of opinion as to whether or not the aircraft has altered the strategies of war or merely its tactics. If the former, then one can see airpower as a revolutionary leap along the continuum of war; but if the latter, then airpower is simply another weapon that joins the arsenal along with the rifle, machine gun, tank, submarine, and radio. This book implicitly assumes that airpower has brought about a revolution in war. It has altered virtually all aspects of war: how it is fought, by whom, against whom, and with what weapons. Flowing from those factors have been changes in training, organization, administration, command and control, and doctrine. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.

This engaging book details the wide variety of model kits produced by Revell, Inc. of Venice, California, from the 1950s through the 1970s. Over 545 color photographs display many of the much sought after kits, ranging from automobiles and ships to aircraft and spaceships. Also included are a fascinating history of the company and the men and women who drove its success, a detailed recounting of the wide ranging, exquisitely detailed models produced, discussions of the artists who brought the box art to life, a bibliography, and a model kit index providing listings of the models produced, their variations, and their value in the secondary market. Newly updated values are found in both captions and the index. Anyone collecting or building models will be fascinated with this book.

Aviation in the 20th Century changed the world forever, and this book portrays that history through art. In addition to more than 60 original fine art paintings of significant moments in aviation history are the dramatic and compelling personal stories of 30 renowned airmen who blazed new trails and accomplished many significant 'firsts' in American skies. Names like Chuck Yeager, Scott Crossfield, Pete Everest, and Joe Engle grace this list. Add pilots like "Fitz" Fulton, Jack Broughton, and "Tex" Johnston, and you have a veritable "Who's Who" of America's greatest aviation legends. This book gives readers a special "behind-the-scenes" look at the actual process of how aviation art is made. Many projects are shown from the very first "back-of-the-napkin" sketch to the complex developmental steps leading to final engineering drawings and finished paintings. If you've ever wondered how aviation art is created, this book not only explains the process in detail, but shows how the pilots contribute to finished artwork as well. Through his award-winning artwork, Mike Machat has documented aviation for the past 40 years in ways never before seen, a process made possible by flying in many of the aircraft he painted, and developing life-long personal friendships with pilots of the aircraft he has preserved for history.