Specialty Press
Front Row Center 3
Inside the Great American Airshow
by  Erik Hildebrandt
Reviewed By  Jack Kennedy, IPMS# 12511

[book cover image]

MSRP: $39.95
ISBN: 0-9674040-6-1

Every so often a book comes along that you just have to show off. This is one of them that you should put on your coffee table for everyone to see.

Front Row Center 3 is the third in a series of airshow picture books published by Specialty Press. The author and photographer is Eric Hildebrandt who is renowned for his work in this field. He is the author of the previous Front Row Center books.

The book is entirely in brilliant color in a 12 X 9" format. There are over 300 photos in this book. In this latest edition there is a section devoted to "Must See Pilots". For those of us who love airshows, we can get up close and personal with many of the names that we have seen fly.

Mr. Hildebrandt has a dedicated section this book to the 60th Anniversary of the Blue Angels. To do this he gained access to the 7th aircraft to photograph the "Blues" as never before seen. I was very impressed as I am a fan of the Blue Angels and had seen them fly in every jet aircraft from the F-9F-2 Panthers to the present F/A -18. The images are truly outstanding and these alone are worth the cost of this book.

In a final chapter, the author did a photo-mission in the latest USAF fighter, the F-22 Raptor. It will be a long time before we see anything like the photos that Mr. Hildebrandt has taken of this great new jet.

Overall, I would say that this is one of the finest books of its kind in print. Everything about it is wonderful, from the subject matter and the layout to the especially the fine photography. I would recommend this book highly to any airshow enthusiast as I am. At a list price of $39.95, it's a steal. Go out and get one now before they are all sold out. It may be obtained from Specialty Press at www.specialtypress.com .

I want to thank Specialty Press for supplying this book for review and to John Noack for getting it to me.

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