Panavia Tornado Book Review
By Michael Benolkin
| Date of Review | March 2012 | Title | Panavia Tornado |
|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Andreas Klein and Christian Gerard | Publisher | AirDOC |
| Published | 2011 | ISBN | 978-3-935687-17-1 |
| Format | 208 pages, softbound | MSRP (USD) | $38.00 (29.95€) |
Review
AirDOC has launched a new series called Fox Two (the radio call for a Sidewinder missile launch) and in this debut edition, we have coverage of the Luftwaffe Tornado. The title is printed in A4 format and is 208 pages - you won't be squinting to see these photos!
The first 12 pages provide a brief background on the aircraft both in English and German. The next 40 pages are full-color shots of the Tornado in Luftwaffe service including some nice shots of the special paint schemed aircraft for commemorative events, Tiger Meets, etc. There is one incredible paint job for a training Tornado based in New Mexico with the Zia flag painted underneath the aircraft, beautiful artwork on either side of the tail, and an interesting pattern of painted cracks and over-emphasized panel lines painted all over the airframe.
The next 150+ pages go into an extensive up-close full-color walk around of the Tornado IDS and ECR variants. The camera takes you into just about every bay and cavity in the airframe plus looks at the ejection seats removed from the aircraft as well as at the array of pods and weapons carried on these aircraft. Nice work gentlemen!
The title concludes with two four-view color profiles of the standard paint schemes complete with FS paint numbers. Inserted at the end of the title is a set of 1/48 scale plans of the Tornado so you can have a good reference for your next big-finned project.
This new Fox Two series promises to be the ultimate modeler's reference and has raised the bar over similar titles currently on the market. I can't wait to see what comes next!
This title is available directly from AirDOC's website http://www.airdoc.eu/.
My sincere thanks to AirDOC for this review sample!