Customer Reviews

Convair Deltas: From Sea Dart to Hustler

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

 

 

Bill Yenne's new book, Convair Deltas, is a detailed but very readable look at F-102s, F-106s and B-58s. In addition to an interesting and informative writeup on the airplanes, Yenne includes a listing of every unit each type was assigned to. Best of all, however, is the terrific selection of photos. Many are full page and in color, from Convair and Air Force photographers. All of them are new to me.

This is the kind of book that other airplane books would like to be: lots of interesting information without being so dense that the reader's eyes glaze over in a few pages, filled with great photos.

Delta-winged aircraft are largely just an interesting footnote in the annals of aviation history. As with so many other technological achievements, the Germans did it first in World War II with the far-out, unflown designs of Alexander Lippisch. After the War, Britain's AVRO "Vulcan" long-range bomber was perhaps the most distinctive delta-winged aircraft ever. The "Vulcan" was in service for many years in the Royal Air Force (RAF), and saw combat in the British-Argentine conflict over the Falkland Islands (or the Malvinas, depending on which side you were on). In the non-military arena, the Anglo-French Mach 2 "Concorde" airliner carried well-heeled jet-set passengers with speed, exclusivity and luxury until a fatal crash in 2000 in Paris permanently grounded the fleet. The United States has developed more delta-winged aircraft than any other nation, and one American company has built most of them---the Convair Division of the General Dynamics Corporation.

"Convair Deltas: From Sea Dart to Hustler" is an outstanding history of Convair's delta-winged aircraft. If you're familiar with the Specialty Press line of aviation and spaceflight books, you'll know what to expect. This volume does not disappoint. Renowned historian and military/aviation author Bill Yenne starts out with a 10-page history of Convair in its many corporate incarnations. He then jumps right into the full design and development stories of the fascinating delta-winged aircraft that the company produced over a span of nearly 25 years. They're all here: the XF-92A, the F-102 "Delta Dagger," the XFY-1 "Pogo" VTOL fighter, the F2Y-1 "Sea Dart" jet seaplane, the F-106 "Delta Dart" and the incredible B-58 "Hustler" supersonic bomber. Mr. Yenne gives comprehensive, detailed technical descriptions of each aircraft, describes their development and flight-test programs and then covers the operational histories of those that went into production. He includes hundreds of well-chosen black-and-white and color photographs (many of them rare images from his personal collection) and a few drawings of, for example, actual and proposed aircraft configurations, cockpit layouts, etc.

There's not much more to say about "Convair Deltas: From Sea Dart to Hustler" other than to recommend it highly for every aviation enthusiast. It covers a specialized topic, to be sure, but an exceptionally interesting and important one. Mr. Yenne does a superb job of telling the tale of the groundbreaking aircraft that proved out an aerodynamic concept perhaps most famously embodied in today's Space Shuttle Orbiter. Their aerodynamic and structural advantages mean that delta wings will probably always be around, and here's the full story of their early, formative years in development, flight test and operations. This is very good stuff.

I must say that I really enjoyed this book. There is so much about the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation Deltas that I didn't know. I especially liked the chapters detailing the development and testing of the B-58 Hustler, one of my all-time favourite aircraft. The photos throughout the book are really great and complement the text very well. I give this book four stars as I would have preferred a little more 'technical' detail; but that is just a personal choice and I am very pleased to have purchased it. I recommend this book to anybody who has any interest in the glory years of aviation ('50s and'60s) where aircraft development was at its peak.

This is a well written and illustrated aviation reference book covering all of the Convair Delta-winged aircraft. The book covers the evolution of the delta wing research at Convair leading up to the F-102, F-106 and B-58 aircraft which were all very successful in USAF military inventory. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in U.S. Aviation history.

Being a Dutch aircraft enthusiast for over 40 years, i enjoyed mr. Yenne's book Convair Deltas. The era in which this was all starting to happen (when i was a baby) was certainly one of the most inspiring and exciting times in the history of aviation. As a youngster, i saw the Delta Daggers at Soesterberg: they impressed me very much! This piece of history has to be seen, as pointed out in the book, in the context of the cold war, when the US were pretty much in the dark about what the Soviets had, or maybe had, or could be having in the nearby future. One can't help wonder what both sides really knew about each other in those days. The history of Convair, its formidable efforts to produce very good state-of-the-art interceptors and a superb bomber, and the good oversight of their operational deployments, was very interesting to read.
However, the reason why i did not rate the book 5 stars, is that there are some omissions and obscureties in the text.
- On page 11 under the photos, the BICh-17 is mentioned. But which of the two aircraft was the BICHc-17, as the photos clearly are very different from each other!
- The Flight Safety Statistics are not accompanied by an explanation; what is a Class A Count Rate, what a Count B?
- The photo on page 104 depicts the XFY-1, not the XFV-1.
- On page 63: Tupolev M-4s? Sloppy!
- Very peculiar: the absolute speed record is stated as being 1,525.695 mph (page 134-135), while the placard in the F-106 says 1,525.95 mph!
- To my opinion the underscripts of the two top photos on page 208 have been exchanged.
It seems to me the book was not as thoroughly checked as it should have been, which is unfortunate. These remarks did not, however, take away the pleasure with which i read the book. Recommended!

I thought it was a good book. Maybe not as much technical stuff as I'd liked, but historically a good description of development and deployment of Convair planes. I liked it and would recommend it.

THE BOOK IS FULL OF BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR PICTURES.
THE TEXT IS WELL WRITTEN AND TELLS THE STORY OF EACH AIRCRFT PROTOTYPE OR PRODUCTION.
THE LACK OF DIAGRAMS AND COLOR PROFILES IS NOT A DISADVANTAGE AS THIS BOOK REFERS TO THE MODELLER AND TO THE AIRCRAFT ENTHUSIAST.
IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I READ CONTINUISLY A BOOK IN JUST 3 DAYS.
YOU WILL LOVE IT