Casemate Publishing

American Secret Projects: Fighters & Interceptors 1945-1978

by  Tony Buttler

Reviewed By  Ned Ricks, IPMS 36013

MSRP: $44.95 ISBN 10: 1857802640 ISBN 13: 9781857802641 www.specialtypress.com 240 pages Can you recall when you sat in some junior high (or middle school) class that bored you to tears so you drew your imaginary airplanes in your notebook instead of what was on the blackboard? You probably had lots of rockets and machineguns spouting flames and, if you were careful, you avoided making ratta-tat-tat noises out loud while you did it. Remember those planes? I do. And now, you can see the actual drawings for famous planes, and some that never were, in the post-WWII period. The fun part is that many of those actual drawings don’t look all that different from yours. (Except for the rocket blasts and the bad guys dying everywhere.) In Tony Buttler’s compiled book, there are lots of those “artist’s concept”-type drawings, as well as photos of manufacturer’s scale models made during the aircraft development period. Some iconic planes took shape as a drawing that could pass for a 13-year-old’s doodles and went on to play a major part in America’s military strength. Did you wonder where the F-14 and F-15 got their twin tail? Look for their lineage here. What famous fighters were originally imagined to have external mounted engines? Look here. (By the way, the scale models wouldn’t have gotten far in an IPMS contest. No weathering!) The publisher’s information sheet says, “Throughout aviation history there have been many aircraft designs that have failed to progress beyond the drawing board for a variety of reasons. The aircraft that have taken to the skies represent only a small percentage of those that were planned. This latest title in the highly successful Secret Projects series is also the first to deal with United States aircraft. Compiled by Tony Buttler, who has been researching the subject for many years, this book examines the great variety of U.S. fighter designs between the end of World War II and the period immediately after the USA s withdrawal from Vietnam. The book covers the immediate postwar designs of subsonic aircraft for both the USAF and USN, U.S. supersonic designs, the U.S. Vertical Take Off and Landing program, and the competitions that ultimately led to the development of iconic aircraft such as the F-14 Tomcat.” The book itself is printed on semi-gloss paper with a hard cover. There are 240 pages with 400 black and white and color photos. It will bear up to some prolonged reading and keep well on your reference shelf for years. Think of the advantage you will have the next time there is a “What If” theme contest at your local chapter meeting! You may even find some drawings that look like the ones we drew in 8th grade math. I highly recommend this book to fellow modelers. Thanks to Specialty Press (www.specialtypress.com) for providing the sample copy.

Information, images, and all other items placed electronically on this site are the intellectual property of IPMS/USA ®.