A Field Guide to Airplanes: of North America [Paperback]

M. R. Montgomery (Author), Gerald L. Foster (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 28, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0395628881 | ISBN-13: 978-0395628881 | Edition: Second Edition

The only complete, pocket-size guide to airplanes seen in North America, this includes more than 350 civilian and military aircraft, from early biplanes to Stealth fighters. Provides history, specifications, identifying features, and number made.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Formerly vice president and partner of the Architects Collaborative, the famous firm founded by Walter Gropius, Gerald Foster has taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Boston Architectural Center as well as the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited at the DeCordova Museum and at various galleries. His books include A Field Guide to Airplanes, A Field Guide to Trains, and American Houses: A Field Guide.

Product Details

• Paperback: 230 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Second Edition edition (August 28, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0395628881
• ISBN-13: 978-0395628881
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,894,584 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great spotter guide for the aviation fan., June 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Field Guide to Airplanes: of North America (Paperback)

This well organized book contains more than 350 aircraft of North America. Each aircraft is well described and a history and statistical information is nicely presented. One of the more unique parts of this guide is that each aircraft is given a small list of items that separate it from similar looking aircraft. The illustrations are precise and very accurate, too. This guide is wonderful and comes in very handy. There are more planes that could be added and possibly a few rarities that could be removed, but the book's wealth of information weighs over. This guide aids beautifully in identification of aircraft and a second book, such as Jane's World Aircraft Recognition Handbook, would make a great companion to fill in all the information. All in all, this book is very worthwhile to any aviation enthusiast.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A guide book about the iron birds of the sky., April 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: A Field Guide to Airplanes: of North America (Paperback)

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in aviation or an novice "plane-spotter". The book is set up much like (as the title says) a field guide complete with field marks for quick identification. Also a great book for getting child that is interested in airplanes. There is also a helicopter section added.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Content, Poor Rendition, October 22, 2010

By 

L. W. Bower (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Field Guide to Airplanes, Third Edition (Paperback)

This book is a disappointment. The first edition, published in 1984 was a wonderful find, a book I carried with me when I traveled. The third edition suffers from poor quality paper, re-used printing plates, and a format (5 1/2" x 8 1/2") that hardly qualifies it as a "field guide."

Montgomery and Foster did an excellent job of updating aircraft models, organizing aircraft by type, providing brief descriptions, and highlighting the subtle cues that allow one to differentiate between different series of an aircraft model. Unfortunately, the details of the line drawings are lost in the third edition, with many of the subtleties unreadable due to the inferior paper and printing process used. The first edition was printed on high-opacity white stock; this edition is printed on the same type of paper often found in mass-market paperbacks, barely above the quality of newsprint. In addition, the publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, chose to reformat the book to a size that makes it difficult to slip into a jacket pocket. The binding and cover are poor. I'm sure if I chose to keep this book (I returned it) it would fall apart within a year.

Find a new publisher, guys.