Painting the Fleet: Interwar Battleship and Cruiser Aviation Book Review

By David L. Veres

Review

Leveraging rare, archival sources, historian Dana Bell tackles a colorful, but oft-neglected topic in Painting the Fleet: Interwar Battleship and Cruiser Aviation – second in the author’s growing “Rivet Counter Guide” range, available from Amazon and eBay.

Aircraft modelers – especially US Navy “Golden Age” markings mavens – will love it. Contents span 25 lavishly illustrated sections across 72 pithy pages:

• Experiments
• Launch and recovery
• Basic colors
• SOC wings
• Basic markings
• Serials & Unit markings
• Flagplanes
• Asiatic Fleet
• Battleship aircraft colors
• BatDiv One
• BatDiv Two
• BatDiv Three
• BatDiv Four
• BatDiv Five & Six
• Cruiser aircraft colors
• CruDiv Two
• CruDiv Three
• CruDiv Four
• CruDiv Five
• CruDiv Six
• CruDiv Seven
• CruDiv Eight
• CruDiv Nine
• Tail Colors
• Squadron insignia

The breadth and depth of detail proved outstanding – hence, understandably, the series name. Every page authoritatively illumines the markings of USN shipborne, chiefly catapult-launched aircraft, including experimental liveries.

Revelations certainly abound. Did you know that interbellum wing chevrons on USN battleship and cruiser aircraft officially sported different widths? I didn’t, either.

Period B&W and color photos season the superb study. And color plates by author Bell and Tom Tullis include profiles, plan views, unit badges, inset details, markings variations, and more.

Finally, a separate insert contains a glossary that appears applicable to more USN “Rivet Counter” titles. Let’s hope I’m right.

Grab this page-turner. It belongs in every “Golden Age” USN library.

Robustly recommended!

My thanks to Dana Bell for the review copy!