Battleship and Cruiser Aircraft of the United States Navy 1910-1949 [Hardcover]

William T. Larkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2000 | Series: Schiffer Military History

This thorough study of the history, development and service of floatplanes carried on battleships and cruisers documents a long neglected subject for the first time in over 400 photographs. From the 1920s through World War II, aircraft operating from cata

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd.; 1st edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764300881
• ISBN-13: 978-0764300882
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,781,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My interest in writing grew out of a combination of photography and history and progressed from magazine articles to books. 2009 is my 75th year of photographing aircraft and my hope is to document some of this for future generations to appreciate. Reading "Dime Novels" in the early 1930s about flying led me to model building, photography, a pilot's license and three years in the AAF in World War II followed by another three in the California Air National Guard. I have had a lifelong interest in Navy aircraft and in 2006 I was honored with the Admiral Radford Award for excellence in naval aviation history and literature. "Alameda Naval Air Station" is now in print and future books will cover the postwar Nonsked aircraft, and Seaplanes of California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard to find data, June 20, 2009

By 

S. Smith (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battleship and Cruiser Aircraft of the United States Navy 1910-1949 (Hardcover)

I love this book because it fills a missing niche in my aircraft library, even my refrence books only gloss over this aircraft types.

This book is full of photos of the various types of aircraft, quite a few shots of the ships they were on, plenty of action shots in recovery, landing, takeoff, etc. Lots of data tables on what type was assigned where at any given time. Experimental types are shown as are those on smaller ships.

The one thing it lacks is 1st person accounts. Specific stories about pilots doing this or that. It is more of a technical reference than a historical reference of that type. The photo captions do more of telling the tale than the main chapters of the book.

The way it's laid out is a 3-6 page introduction to the chapter. Here are a few of the 1st person accounts. Then depending on the chapter 10-20 pages of aircraft assignments, etc and then 20-30 pages of black and white photos. There are no color photos in the book. I'd estimate that half or over half the book is photos.

This is a very nice reference for a subject usually neglected.