Customer Reviews

MODERN WAR MACHINE: Military Aviation since 1945 (History of Aircraft)

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This volume, part of an ambitious but never completed dozen volume series on the history of aviation, offers a very different take on a half century of military aviation. Rather than arranging the material by country, type of airplane, or even chronologically, Jarrett and his contributors take a topical overview approach, providing a broad survey of major trends. This is serious writing intended for serious readers---by which I mean this is not a "fan" book as are so many books about military aircraft. It is a book of analysis and synthesis that summarizes a vast amount of information in as concise a form as possible. Illustrated with black-and-white photos, chapters review the changing context of air warfare, armament from crude nuclear bombs to cruise missiles, the jet engine revolution, aerodynamics and airplane structures, the tremendous strides made in avionics, offensive (meaning bomber) aircraft, the attack helicopter (totally a post-war development), the modern defensive fighter, airlift (transport) operations, and likely future military aircraft trends. Though the book is now a decade old, it holds up markedly well--as do the other five published volumes of "Putnam's History of Aircraft." Would that the series had been completed!