Pen & Sword | FlightCraft #29: Boeing B-29
Reviewed by Kevin Williams
Publisher Pen & Sword
Author(s): Ben Skipper
Publishing date: 2023
ISBN: 978-1-3990-4064-8 (Softcover)
Pages: 96
This particular volume (#29) in the series, takes a look at the rather iconic Boeing B-29 Superfortress. Breaking somewhat from tradition, this particular volume places very heavy emphasis on models rather than on the actual aircraft, though the aircraft elements that are covered, are still worthwhile. While the average volume, from my past experience, is roughly 75% aircraft related and 25% model related, this volume is more or less 50/50. Several finished kits from various modelers are offered here, including both 1:72 and 1:48 kits (Academy and Revell/Monogram), and all are reasonably decent depictions, though once again, nothing truly outstanding, but nonetheless do represent a decent enough cross section of what, with a little effort, can be done with and to some of the various kits in these scales.
The B-29, being world famous as the aircraft type that helped bring the war with Japan to a close by dropping the first ever atomic bombs, is certainly a subject that receives a lot of attention from the modeling community, and I heartily applaud that.
Approaching this beast of a warhorse in this fashion, seems to work well here, as there are obviously tons of other sources readily available on this magnificent machine, and is therefore quite agreeable to me.
Pen & Sword, having published tons of books over the years, is really on a roll here with this series, and I heartily approve. Newer volumes currently in the works, include the wonderful Focke-Wulf Fw 190A to G series, and I now am really looking forward to that as well. (Hopefully this newest Fw 190 volume will be followed by a book dedicated to the long nose D versions as well.)
If your passion tends toward models vs the actual aircraft, this book may well fill your needs rather nicely, and inspire you to tackle a kit or two yourself as well. Numerous (24, by my count) profiles are also included, a nice touch.
Photo Samples
At present, there are no 1:32 kits of the Superfortress to choose from, which would be ginormous anyway, but smaller kits, in the realm of 1:48 and 1:72, as well as others, do exist in numbers, so plenty is available for the modeler to choose from.
Photos of various Superortresses are depicted here, including early prototypes and oddball experimental air-frames, the Russian reverse-engineered Tupolev Tu-4, along with some very nice color profiles, as well as the finished kits themselves; plenty to choose from here, for sure.
For those with a passion for the ubiquitous Boeing B-29 Superfortress, I can highly recommend this volume. Buy a copy, you will not be disappointed.
Summation
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate this book as a solid 10, no question about it. Topping out at a nice 96 pages of B-29 coolness, it's a very nice overall look at a very well known aircraft, and is therefore highly recommended.
My review copy compliments of Casemate Publishers. Thanks a ton to Casemate, it's a great book to add to the ol' Superfortress library.
© Kevin Williams 2024
This review was published on Friday, February 09 2024; Last modified on Sunday, February 11 2024