Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft: From the Earliest Planes to the Supersonic Jets of Today [Hardcover]

Francis Crosby (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2002

An illustrated A-Z catalogue of over 170 aircraft, including early planes used in World War I, fighters from the inter-war years and World War II, and the highly powerful supersonic jet aircraft of today.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Francis Crosby has had a deep interest in aviation since an early age. After qualifying and working as an archaeologist, in 1985 he joined the Imperial War Museum's branch at Duxford, acknowledged as a mecca for aviation enthusiasts. Having held research and exhibition posts at the Museum he now heads up Duxford's Marketing Department. He has written extensively on historic aviation and has acted as a consultant for the media and the publishing industry.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Anness (February 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0754809900
• ISBN-13: 978-0754809906
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,787,385 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fighters for all, March 29, 2005

By 

lee miles "Trackend" (Canvey island, uk) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft: From the Earliest Planes to the Supersonic Jets of Today (Hardcover)

This book is great for those who like fighter aircraft from the 1914 war too the present day. All the pictures are on gloss paper (some being A4 or larger) and of a high quality as one would expect from the Imperial war museum images

The aircraft development and technical descriptions although brief (1 or 2 pages) are clear and enough for most enthusiasts if you want a large reference book with some great pictures at a very resonable price I would recommend this one

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Average Attempt, October 7, 2002

By 

John G. Hilliard (Toronto Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft: From the Earliest Planes to the Supersonic Jets of Today (Hardcover)

This book offers an interesting and brief review of the fighter aircraft from World War 1 to current day. Because of the large range of aircraft the authors needed to condense the information they were able to provide, thus this book is an overview only (and at a high level at that). I also thought that the layout of the pages per aircraft could have been done better, for example the authors detail when the fighter started production but not when it entered service nor the countries that use / used the fighter. Overall the book is ok with the basic information. It has all color photos, which is a plus.

5.0 out of 5 stars FIGHTER AIRCRAFT by francis crosby, June 21, 2010

By 

Stevan Clawson "Stevan Romano Clawson" (Venice,CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft: From the Earliest Planes to the Supersonic Jets of Today (Hardcover)

FIGHTER AIRCRAFT (featuring photos from the Imperial War Museum, Duxford)-2002,2008 (Hardback 256 pages)

I first bought this book for my dad "The Captain" (a commercial pilot). After looking into it more, I liked it so much, I had to buy one for myself!

This nice large hard cover book has a very good amount of info for anyone who has an interest in the history of fighter planes from the inception.
This book shows early aircraft design & specs. since WW1 until Present Day with nice brief descriptions with great photos.
+Many nice old black & white photos from the early days, but most are in stunning color.

There are 18 Countries depicted with their aviation technology. Yet, I see the best attention is given to the planes of England, USA, & Germany.
(Fokkers, Hurricanes, Spitfires, and Messerschmitts). As well as todays F-14 Tomcats, MiGs, and Eurofighter.

From my view, I think that this is a wonderful book for anyone who is a pilot, PLUS anyone who is interested in the history of "war aviation" and
the developments of fighter aircrafts since the beginning of aviation tech & design. +PLUS great photos!