Customer Reviews

Stearman (Images of Aviation)

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Aviation enthusiasts who long for a solid history of the American-made Stearman aircraft will be delighted with this new book, the first complete history of the Stearman company and its airplanes. A pioneering company that produced versatile and popular airplanes as the world of aviation came of age, Stearman still has a devoted, enthusiastic following. Stearman aircraft were known the world over in the pre-World War II days, when aviation feats were making the news almost daily. Stearmans were used as passenger and cargo planes, for crop-dusting and towing banners, and in many a daring aerobatic display, and as training planes for aircraft pilots in WWlI.

Anyone with just the slightest interest in airplanes will surely get a kick out of this fine book! It's 150 pages are lavishly illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs from the late 1920s up to 1996. The history and uses of the legendary Stearman bi-planes are covered in full in chapters on development, military trainer use, crop dusting use, aircraft restoration, and aerobatics use. Most of the text is in the form of extensive captions for each photograph. Many of the full color photos of restored aircraft are quite stunning. This is by no means a definitive work on everything Stearman but, it does a great job covering the essentials and then some of what these great aircraft were, and are, like to own and fly!