People, Video & Book Reviews

The author reckons it’s about the best thing he’s ever done, and reading tends to confirm that opinion. It deals, of course, with three very important Australian built aircraft of the WW2 era: the Wirraway, which was really the aircraft which established an Australian aircraft industry; the Boomerang, the fighter developed in a matter of weeks at a time of crisis; and the CA-15, a one off high performance piston engined fighter which was too late to be put into production for service in WWII.

It is doubtful whether these aircraft have ever been covered in such detail before. The book is one in which the reader learns something new on just about every page. The coverage of the development of the Boomerang, the politics and projects based on the aircraft is highly detailed, while the CA-15 section simply makes anything previously written on this aircraft obsolete. Wilson traces the ups and downs of the project, the numerous philosophical changes inflicted on it and finally the need for a complete change of powerplant. All this is supported by the best collection of CA-15 photographs, drawings, performance charts and other paraphernalia ever assembled, in our opinion.

Equally detailed are the stories of the other two aircraft as well, and the result is a very important document covering a vital part of Australian aviation, military and industrial history. At 244 pages, this is the biggest of the series so far and at $23. 90 for soft cover editions and $33. 90 for hard covers (the actual book price hasn’t changed since the series began in 1988) it has got to be superb value for money.

Available from Aerospace Publications, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek ACT 2611, phone (06) 288 1677 or fax (06) 288 2021.

The Observers Book of Aircraft 1991/92 and Observers Airliners:

William Green and Gordon Swanborough What can we say about the Observers Book of Aircraft, now in its 39th edition.

So many of us were brought up on this pocketbook full of information, photographs and silhouettes which is, upgraded every year to include data on new types and the latest versions of existing aircraft.

The 1991/91 edition follows a well established format which certainly doesn’t need changing. The 250 pages cover 140 or so individual aircraft types (including a helicopter section), providing basic but comprehensive data which is easy to read and easy to carry around.

Observers Airliners is of similar format but features colour rather than mono photographs and concentrates on the most numerous and/or important airliners in service throughout the world, from the venerable DC-3 through to some new aircraft which will be with us soon including the Airbus A330 and A340, the Boeing 777 and the McDonnell Douglas MD-90.

This is the third edition of ‘Airliners’ (a new one appears approximately every five years) and is completely updated where necessary. It is of 190 pages and covers about 100 airliner types. To us, these books are such good value and of such importance, we’ve purchased a ‘few’ to sell direct from Australian Aviation for a measly $14 each including postage in Australia (add $3 for overseas orders).

Contact Aerospace Publications, PO Box 3105, Weston Creek, ACT, 2611. Phone orders can be taken on (06) 288 1677 or fax (06) 288 2021