World War 2 Us Army Fighter Modeling

From Airacobras to Warhawks, from Thunderbolts to Lightnings, this book covers both the history of scale World War 2 US Army fighters, and how to get the most from modeling this subject. Step-by-step guides to creating miniature masterpieces combine with color images that clearly demonstrate key modeling techniques. This book also features superb examples of the work of top aviation modelers that will inspire and challenge. Jerry Scutts, has written over 40 books on subjects ranging from US Navy floatplane fighters in World War 2 to the exploits of USAF Phantom IIs over Vietnam. Brett Green has written Modelling the Messerchmitt Bf 110 for the Osprey Modelling series, and is the founder of HyperScale.com, an on-line vitual magazine for scale aircraft and armor modelers.

America's Hundred Thousand covers in detail the eleven U.S. fighter aircraft types produced just before and during World War II - with a combined production total of just over 100,000 aircraft. Covered are the Army Lockheed P-38 Lightning, P-39 Airacobra, Curtiss P-40 Tomahawk/Kittyhawk/Warhawk, P-47 Thunderbolt, North American P-51 Mustang, Northrop P-61 Black Widow, and the Navy F2A - Buffalo, F4F - Wildcat, F4U - Corsair, and F6F - Hellcat fighters. The text is supplemented by more than 650 photographs, and 200 tables and graphs. Fighter production figures are also included. After an introduction of each type, a heavily illustrated overview of earlier inter-war production from 1920-on, along with a discussion and illustration of wartime experimental types, is provided. A lengthy section considering several technical factors affecting fighter performance follows. These include engine models, supercharger types, propellers, aerodynamic thrust, lift and drag, aircraft weight, balance, stability and control, and armament. America's Hundred Thousand also provides details of each U.S. World War II production fighter in terms of models and changes, numbers produced, and major engine and aircraft performance aspects - in tabular and graphical form - details of weights, discussion of handling qualities and general comments, along with detailed descriptions containing many illustrations of aircraft structures and systems showing the technology of that time. In addition a comprehensive week-to-week and month-to-month chronology of development and wartime combat operational life for each fighter is provided, including many photos. This study concludes with comparisons of the eleven types in terms of program milestones, aircraft drag, power available at various altitudes, speed, climb, rolling and turning, acceleration, and diving performance, as well as general evaluations by World War II pilots.

Aimed at military model makers and wargamers who are interested in the armoured fighting vehicles of the United States as used throughout World War II, this book follows on from Modelling British World War II Armoured Vehicles by the same author. The book places its emphasis on US Army and US Marine Corps AFVs modelled mainly in 1/72 and 1/48 scales, in a deliberate departure from the more popular 1/35 scale, to encourage and inspire model makers who are new to or less familiar with these scales. Illustrated with over 270 colour photos this book features every major US AFV used in World War II, with many models shown in various stages of construction and paintings. It presents step-by-step guides demonstrating the painting techniques appropriate for different scales and includes an additional section showing how to paint wargames models. There is also a review of how the USA developed tanks and other armoured vehicles from the interwar period through to the end of World War II. This fascinating story will help model makers and wargamers give the vehicles they build an historical context.

This is a large format A-Z encyclopedia of every Allied and Axis fighting plane from 1933-1945 - from the famous to the lesser known - in all theatres of war from Europe to Asia and the Pacific.

ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN E-BOOK. Motor torpedo boat development began in the early 1900s, and the vessels first saw service during World War I. However, it was not until the late 1930s that the US Navy commenced the development of the Patrol Torpedo or PT boat. The PT boat was designed for attacking larger warships with torpedoes using its 'stealth' ability, high-speed and small size to launch and survive these attacks – although they were employed in a wide variety of other missions, including rescuing General MacArthur and his entourage from the Philippines. This book examines the design and development of these unique craft, very few of which survive today, and goes on to examine their role and combat deployment in World War II.

While the Allies largely relied on mass production to help them win World War II, Germany put a great deal of their limited resources into new technologies and wonder weapons. In addition to these tangible assets, which were used with varying degrees of success, the drawing boards of Germany were littered with dozens of advanced designs that never reached the prototype or production stages. Many of these operational and paper projects advanced the pace and influenced the direction of aircraft development in the decades following World War II, with many of the German engineers responsible for these innovations seamlessly continuing their roles in the United States and the USSR. Modellers have had a long fascination for the Luftwaffe's jet arsenal and secret weapons of fact and fiction and this new Osprey Masterclass will explore the Luftwaffe jets and rocket planes that saw service at the end of World War II.

This book focuses on those American fighter projects of WWII that never reached combat forces, or only in a very limited manner. The book illuminates little known or minimally documented aircraft and projects that significantly advanced fighter design that never went into full-rate production and deployment. The 'standard' types are also examined to illustrate the 'state-of-the-art' at the time, the American posture and capabilities, goals set by national and military leadership, and general factors affecting the course of development for classes of fighters. Hence, this work follows the overall development of American fighter aircraft, but emphasizes those little-known projects that matured to the point of significant design development such as mockups, wind-tunnel models, and especially those yielding flying prototypes. Also includes 'dead-end' variants of service types, those only exported after US evaluation, and aircraft that entered service in only small numbers before being overcome by more advanced models or the end of hostilities.

Over 250 rare photographs depict one of the greatest industrial feats of all time: America's massive production of World War II fighters and bombers. An introduction and captions outline the history.