The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown [Hardcover]

William Green (Author), Gordon Swanborough (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

3,500+ full-color illus. and photos. 10 x 13.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Aviation readers here have a pair of wrist-benders to peruse (these two books together weigh about 12 pounds). Both books are by long-time aviation authors, are exhaustively thorough and illustrated, and represent lifetimes of work. British aviation historians Green and Swanborough began their encyclopedia back in June 1971 in the back pages of Air Enthusiast magazine with a column called "Fighter A to Z." In the intervening decades entries were added and corrections made. To produce this encyclopedia of "every fighter aircraft built and flown," cutaway and full-color renderings were added for the better-known types. A few aviation enthusiasts might doubt that "every" fighter is represented, but the nearly 1700 entries and over 4000 illustrations will give you your money's worth, and then some. Musciano's interest in seaborne aviation began even before he designed American carriers during World War II. His history starts with Civil War balloon ships, continues through the early uses of aircraft in World War I, and then covers the explosion of diversity and interest through World War II and on to the modern era's "force projection" role. Musciano's effective telling of the story of aircraft carriers relies on short entries topped with headlines and illustrated with black-and-white photos and his own meticulous arrangement drawings of the ships and places. Both books are recommended for public libraries.
Mel D. Lane, Sacramento, Cal.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Smithmark Pub (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0831739398
• ISBN-13: 978-0831739393
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 10.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,278,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for millitary aviation fans and modelers, October 31, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown (Hardcover)

This book is a thorough and complete work, the scope of which is unmatched. Many rare photographs and outstanding color illustrations provide for hours of enjoyable reading or browsing. Limited text provides essential information on each aircraft line. Those wishing for lengthier accounts or more complete pictoral representation of individual aircraft will have to look elsewhere, but this book definately belongs on your shelf if you are a military aviation fan or scale modeler. I would caution buyers to thoroughly check the print quality, as I have seen several copies with manufacturing defects. Otherwise, this book gets highest marks

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who needs Jane's..., October 13, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown (Hardcover)

This huge tome contains descriptions, stats, color and b/w photographs etc. of every fighter aircraft ever built by any country (as of 1994). The technical diagrams of the more well-known fighters alone are worth the price.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Complete, Big, Good, September 5, 2000

By 

Frans Bonné (Oirsbeek Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown (Hardcover)

I have glanced through the book, and decided to buy it. I haven't regretted it since. It is exacty like the title suggests: offering information on all (until 1994) fighter aircraft. Often the information displayed is concise, and could have been more elaborate, but I understaand that it is impossible to describe thousands of aircraft in-depth. It would probably take a dozen books to do that. Also, it is awkward to miss the aircraft of manufacturers that haven't built any fighter at all, or miss famous or even favourite aircraft that were no fighters. i just hope that there will be another book on the bombers, trainers, transports, maritime patrol aircraft, flying boats, etc etc that is as good as this. All in all it is an excellent reference work (displaying pictures if there were pictures available at all), of which there should be more. It should not be missed in any aviations' fan book shelf.