U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 (Specialty Press) [Hardcover]

William Norton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2008

America's military aircraft industry was forced to grow at an incredible pace during World War II. At the beginning of the conflict, the nation's air arms were out-matched by better-performing Axis aircraft. It was the development, often in secret, and subsequent performance of America's fighter aircraft that helped turn the tide of the war.
This book focuses on those American fighter projects of WWII that never reached combat forces, or only in a very limited manner. The book illuminates little known or minimally documented aircraft and projects that significantly advanced fighter design but never went into full-rate production and deployment. The standard types are also examined to illustrate the state of the art at the time, the American posture and capabilities, goals set by national and military leadership, and general factors affecting the course of development for classes of fighters. Hence, this work follows the overall development of American fighter aircraft, but emphasizes those little-known projects that matured to the point of significant design development such as mockups, wind-tunnel models, and especially those yielding flying prototypes. Also includes dead-end variants of service types, those only exported after US evaluation, and aircraft that entered service in only small numbers before being overcome by more advanced models or the end of hostilities.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This book will appeal to both the armchair enthusiast as well as the modeler. The enthusiast will enjoy reading the easy to follow text and the modeler will be impressed with the sharp, clear images of the experimental and prototype machines. ---Hyperscale, reviewed by Rodger Kelly, November 2008

You know, it seems like one can count on certain publishers to provide the finest coverage of a subject, and so it is with Specialty Press. An outstanding book that I know will be a major reference for both enthusiast and modeler alike. One that I can easily give my highest recommendation. ---Modeling Madness, reviewed by Scott Van Aken, October 2008

His latest book is a valuable reference for anyone interested in the challenges of wartime aircraft production. - --Aviation History, reviewed by C.V. Glines, March 2009

You know, it seems like one can count on certain publishers to provide the finest coverage of a subject, and so it is with Specialty Press. An outstanding book that I know will be a major reference for both enthusiast and modeler alike. One that I can easily give my highest recommendation. ---Modeling Madness, reviewed by Scott Van Aken, October 2008

His latest book is a valuable reference for anyone interested in the challenges of wartime aircraft production. ---Aviation History, reviewed by C.V. Glines, March 2009

About the Author

Bill Norton is a retired U.S. Air Force officer presently employed by JT3 at the Air Force Flight Test Center. He has been active in flight-test engineering and aircraft development since 1980. He has held numerous positions as a discipline engineer, lead engineer, project manager, and business manager. He has contributed in many flight-test disciplines, on more than two dozen programs, including fighters, bombers, rotorcraft, UAVs, and missiles. His most recent efforts were as the lead flight-test engineer on the CV-22 program, structural loads FTE on the F/A-22, and as test director on the Global Hawk and Predator UAVs. He has written eight aviation books and many other professional publications and has served as a guest instructor at both United States Air Force and national test-pilot schools.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 264 pages
• Publisher: Specialty Pr Pub & Wholesalers (September 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580071090
• ISBN-13: 978-1580071093
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 10 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #568,233 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A solid reference with great information, September 30, 2008

By 

Erick R. Munoz (Lancaster CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 (Specialty Press) (Hardcover)

This is a solid book written by someone who took the time to track down all those little details that airplane buffs want to know. There are nice write ups of all the planes listed in this book, and the pictures are first rate. There are lots of planes that I've never heard of, and it was interesting to see all the work the DoD was doing during the war.

If you are interested in WWII or experimental planes, you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of this book. You'll be very happy with your purchase.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects, September 13, 2009

By 

matt3083 "matt3083" (Tucson, Az USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 (Specialty Press) (Hardcover)

You know what the Germans did with their experimental aircraft, now you can
find out what we were doing. While we were slightly behind the curve we were
beginning to catch up. This book gives a lot of information that you will have
a lot of difficulty finding elsewhere, especially if you have no idea of what to look for. This is one of the few books to document very early U.S. jet aircraft
and jet engines. The book goes into pretty good detail for the aircraft but
not enough for the engines. All in all it is a very good read, especially if you
like little known U.S. aircraft.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars insight into the difficulties encountered by America's air services, February 4, 2011

By 

E. Franklin Evans (Georgia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 (Specialty Press) (Hardcover)

Aviation enthusiasts will find U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 a comprehensive look into the projects intended to provide improvements to existing fighters or projects that lead to production of new combat fighter aircraft. The author leaves investigation into fighter-like aircraft developed for "purely research and experimental purposes" to future discussions. The entry of the U.S. into World War II found the fighter aircraft of its services no match for the Axis aircraft engaged in warfare. U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft Projects: Fighters 1939-1945 gives a detailed and extremely well documented lay down of the evolution of American's aircraft industry and, specifically, military aircraft that had to play "catch-up" in order to meet the Axis threat. This a valuable and highly interesting chronicle of that development which includes discussion of aircraft designs that were not pursued for one reason or another.

U.S. Experimental & Prototype Aircraft: Fighters 1939-1945 is filled with technical data and engineer drawings as well as many photographs which gives us non-experts a better understanding of the massive efforts undertaken during this period. As the author states up front "...the text presupposes the reader has a fundamental understanding of airplanes" and how they work. Not a read for the novice, but still an excellent and valuable piece of work.
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