This 97 page softcover book from White
Crow Publications uses
234 historical photos (many from private collections that have never been
published before) to tell the tale of the Israeli Air Force B-17Gs. You
will also find 11 pages of colour profiles, including 18 profiles in total.
There are 3 view colour profiles of the B-17G's wearing the multi-coloured
Brown/Tan/Green camo that graces so many modern day Israeli aircraft.
This book is based on 22 years of
research (140 documents and 36 interviews with veterans) and is arranged into 9 chapters that cover:
- Acquisition
- First Mission
- War of Independence
- Operation "Yoav"
- Operation "Chorev"
- After the War
- Operation "Kadesh"
- End of the Line
- Color & Markings
As for images you get:
- 234 black and white photos
- 15 sideview colour profiles
- 3 of these profiles have 3
views showing the top and both sides
The photos and images are clearly
printed on glossy paper in a very organized book. Many of these photos are
from private collections of veterans and their family members and the effort to
compile all these photos into one book must have been daunting.
Click on
images below to see larger images
This books chronicles the history
of the B-17's in service with the Israeli Air Force in the early days of the
Israeli state. The story begins with the secret acquisition of the B-17's
during an UN Arms Embargo against Israel. Then the arming of the B-17's
and their missions is told....mission by mission in detail. The ferry flight to
deliver the B-17's to Israel was also their first bombing mission as they
dropped bombs during their ferry flight.
The book uses pictures and text
to tell in wonderful detail the full history of these aircraft to their eventual
retirement from Israeli service.
Then there is a section on the
camo patterns and markings worn by these B-17s which ends with a beautifully
drawn selection of profiles. These B-17's wore some very colorful and
complicated camo schemes and if you are building a B-17 then you might want to
consider one of the colorful B-17's featured in this book.
The
story of the Israeli B-17's is an amazing interesting and an excellent read, but the selection of photos in this book is a gold
mine for anyone with an interest in Israeli Air Force history.....what a
wonderful collection of photos this book contains.
You can purchase
this book from White Crow Publications at wings48.com
or through your favorite book store.
Steve
Bamford
I'd like to thank Alex
at White Crow Publications for the review sample.
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