Customer Reviews

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress - Walk Around No. 16

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With 35 pages out of 80 this book in B&W, I was a bit disappointed. I can see having some of the book show original combat photos, but some of the B&W are of restored planes, these should be in color given the asking price. There are other Walk Around books that have more color than this one.

The color photos that are present are absolutely gorgeous. All aspects of the interior and exterior are well shown. The B&W WW2 photos are very good. Line drawings and cut-aways help the reader better understand the configuration of crew, weapons, and turrets. The captions are excellent & informative, Not a lot of facts, data or information on the history of the B-17, this is a visual experience.

As a modeler, I think this is an excellent book. As an aviation buff, I really enjoyed it, but for the price, it should have more color.

After 30-odd years of viewing Boeing's Flying Fortress only in photographs or on film, my first impression on seeing a B-17 up-close was: 'Cripes, this thing is so SMALL!' Touring the inside of the aircraft only confirmed that impression; the B-17 wasn't this huge silver bird but it was a compact, functional and cramped warbird. Kneeling in the nose I remember thinking: 'My god, those guys made history in this! Wow!?!' Author/artist Lou Drendel pays tribute to the B-17G in this Squadron/Signal Walk Around, #16 in the series.

WALK AROUND 16 contains 80 pages of illustrations, the pages alternating between full color photographs/artwork and black & white shots. All of the color pages depict restored B-17s flown by EAA, Yankee Air Force, Long Star Flight Museum, etc. Most of the black & white photos are period pieces.

As always, Don Greer's artwork is absolutely super!

Bomber fans and modellers will enjoy Drendel's book; this one is a keeper!