Pen and Sword

Profiles of Flight Series: V Bombers Vulcan, Valiant and Victor

by  Dave Windle and Martin Bowman

Reviewed By  Jack Kennedy, IPMS# 12511

MSRP: $39.99 ISBN: 978-1-84415-827-0 Website: www.casematepublishing.com Review Sample Provided by Casemate Publishing. Back in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s Great Britain wanted to get into the giant nuclear bomber race so they wouldn’t be left behind during the Cold War. This desire resulted in three of the best looking bombers ever manufactured. The first was the Vickers Valiant. This was a high swept-wing, four engine aircraft. It was used to test drop Britain’s first H bomb in the Christmas Islands. It saw action in the Suez Crisis, in a non-nuclear role. It finished it’s career as a flight refueling tanker until withdrawn because of metal fatigue problems. About the same time the Valiant was flying Avro produced the Vulcan. This was an extremely beautiful aircraft with its delta wing. The Vulcan was used to carry nuclear weapons until the Royal Navy took over this task with their Polaris submarines. One of the exciting features of this aircraft was the use of the huge Avon engines that were to power the Concorde airlines a decade later. The powerful Avons allowed the Vulcan to fly like a fighter. The most famous and only wartime use of the Vulcan came during the Falklands Conflict for which it is noted for flying to and bombing Port Stanley, having flown thousands of miles with countless air-to-air refueling link-ups en route. Today there is only one Vulcan flying. I have seen it fly and it is most impressive. The third of the V Bombers is the crescent winged Handley page Victor. This sturdy bomber lasted longer than the other two and flew well into the 21 century as a tanker. Because of its durability, it was the most successful of the three. It flew higher and faster than both the Valiant and the Vulcan. Now on to the book. This is more for the aviation historian as it has no interest for the modeler. This is not to say that it is useless. As a history of the V-Bombers it is very good. It details each aircraft from its design to its demise. The authors go into very detailed descriptions of the squadrons that flew each aircraft and their missions. They also give the histories of the squadrons and when they were disbanded. The photographs in the book leave something to be desired. They are all black and white which is probably due to the era when the photos were taken. They are not exciting and offer no detailed views which I would have loved to see, especially since I am modeling some of these beautiful aircraft. Some of the photos are not in as sharp of focus as needed which is not good. One of the best features of this book are the beautiful color profiles by co-author Dave Windle. They are superb and I only wish there were more of them with different views. Overall I would rate this book as good. I would recommend this for the historian, not the modeler. Its only 57 pages long, not including 17 pages of profiles. At $39.99 I feel that it left me wanting more. Thanks to Casemate Publishing and IPMS for allowing me to review this book.