Customer Reviews

B-36 Photo Scrapbook

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has some great photos, mostly of items that were left out of the Magnesium Overcast book by the same authors. It's much smaller and paperback, but with quality print and paper, and a color section in the center. My favorite photos are some of those of the interior of the B-36 taken by set designers for planning of the movie Strategic Air Command. There are many angles from the belly of the beast, with all of the knobs and dials and uncomfortable seats, all uncensored by nervous Cold War editors that usually white out details like the atomic bomb controls and ECM gear. I also loved the "family portrait" shots that contained one of each plane in the Air Force back in the 50s. Any photos with both the B-36 and B-52 (my other favorite) are always excellent.

This book is worth every penny of its low price for the photos. The only reason I do not give it a perfect score is that the Magnesium Overcast book is the one worthy of five stars. It has far more information and photos, and if you can only get one of these books, get that first. But you should get the set of the two if you are a fan of the old B-36 or old planes in general, because these are some of the best-reseached and written books of this sort I've ever seen.

Anybody looking for a history of the B-36 will be disappointed in this book - go buy Magnesium Overcast by the same authors instead. But if you want a companion to Magnesium Overcast, or simply to look at a hundred pages of terrific photographs, then this is the book for you. The author says this book was compiled from some of the photos "left over" from his larger book, and I am glad the publisher had the good sense to print this book. Many of the photos have never been seen before, and are reproduced crisply on good paper. There is very little text - just expanded captions and a few paragraphs here and there to explain things. If you are interested in the B-36, buy this book.

As you would expect from a book advertising itself as a "photo scrapbook" this small publication is crammed with a wide variety of color and B&W photos of the B-36 (and a few of the XC-99 and YB-60 thrown in). A small percentage of these photos were published in the author's Magnesium Overcast volume (a great in-depth history the B-36 for those interested), but most of the photos here are new and several are very interesting.

If you want a glimse into the career of the B-36 this is a great starting place. There is not much text (just a short introduction to several groupings of photos) but the paper is first rate and the photo reproduction is up the the standards this publisher has been maintaining in recent years.

Highly recommended.

Looks to be in great shape and it was delivered very quickly. It's a Christmas gift for my Dad who was in the Air Force. He was a navigator on a B-36. Anyhow, I won't know how much he enjoys it until after the Holidays.

This nifty Specialty Press volume is aptly named, being a collection of various photographs of Convair's B-36 bomber. Nicknamed the 'Magnesium Overcast,' Convair's behemoth was one HONKING BIG aircraft which, surprisingly, hasn't been the subject of all that many books. Leafing through this scrapbook by Dennis Jenkins, Mike Moore and Don Pyeatt, the reader is left with a desire for more, more, more on that now-vanished giant of the sky.

B-36 PHOTO SCRAPBOOK includes sections on: SAC, THE MOVIE; dozens of close-up and general view photos of the B-36; pages of pix showing the damage done to SAC B-36s by a tornado in 1952; twelve pages of gorgeous color B-36 photos; an odds & mods section; etc. Extensive captions are included throughout.

All in all, a great introduction to a classic bomber. Recommended.

*****
When it was first released, B-36 PHOTO SCRAPBOOK sold for $16.95; a great deal. Now second-hand copies go for $40-$45. Readers might consider buying Jenkins' MAGNESIUM OVERCAST instead.