F2H Banshee Part 1 Book Review

By Michael Benolkin

Review

Detail and Scale is back with their latest electronic title: F2H Banshee Part 1. This title combines their normal 'Detail and Scale' format with their 'Color and Markings' to provide a one-stop reference for the early Banshees. As I've mentioned previously, Detail and Scale produce some of the best best references using the interactive features of the iPad and Kindle. What does that mean to you?

• You can use menu hyperlinks to jump straight to a section of interest
• You can expand photos and drawings to full-screen
• You can zoom in on details in photos and drawings for a closer look
• You can search for specific text within the title
• You can bookmark items of interest
• You can highlight and annotate the book with your own notes

In this title, the author takes you to the second US Navy aircraft built by the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation. Their very first aircraft was the innovative XP-67 Bat which was a twin-engined, long range interceptor for the USAAF during World War 2. While the design was cancelled due to numerous development problems, the US Navy liked the layout of the design and had McDonnell develop an airframe around a pair of J30 turbine engines. The resulting design became the FH Phantom which became the first pure-turbine aircraft to operate from an aircraft carrier and the first to be employed by the US Marine Corps. While the Phantom was innovative, the truly successful design from McDonnell was its follow-on, the F2H Banshee. The F2H was powered by more powerful J34 engines giving it a more robust weapons load capability in time for service in the Korean war.

You can see in the sample pages above that this is still the thorough Detail and Scale format, but there's lots more of it at your fingertips. What's more, my iPad is no heavier with nearly 300 more pages of reference inside...

Coverage includes:

• Developmental History
• Banshee Variants
• The Banshee in the Korean War
• Banshee Details
• Banshee Paint Schemes
• Banshee Squadrons
• Modelers Section

Here is a good example of the power of electronic publications when the publisher knows what they're doing. Below is a zoomed-in image from the photo above. I used the two-finger spread, enlarged the photo to its maximum size, and I can read the bureau number and see other details clearly. You can't do this effectively in a hardcopy book (magnifying glass will help, but you're just going to see larger print dots on the page).

Looking at the details, for example, you can see the usual thorough coverage of each variant and you can zoom in on each photo to read the placards and switch settings. The illustrations are also very well done with full pan and zoom capabilities.

This title is coming just in time for the release of the 1/48 F2H2 Banshee by Kitty Hawk, and I'm certain that Part 2 covering the F2H3 will follow when that kit nears release as well.

Head over to Amazon or the iTunes Store and order a copy. This technology is also truly instant gratification as the title will download to your tablet on completion of your purchase.

For more information about this and other titles, visit their website.

Definitely recommended!

My sincere thanks to Detail & Scale for this review copy.