Aviaeology

AviaDossier 1: Canadian Aircraft of WWII

 book by Carl Vincent

Product Article by Aleksandar Šekularac on Nov 25 2009

 

“Discover how the oddball little Fleet Fort came into its new role, why the Bolingbroke was much more than ‘just a Canadian Blenheim’, when chewing gum could prove vital for a Sunderland crew, who was one of the Allies’ premier train-busters, and much more…” - excerpt from the book’s back cover.

I am leafing through this new title from a publishing house that impressed me with its debut, “Dragons on Bird Wings vol.I” (DoBW), and then left me craving more for three long years. Aviaeology is now back with the “AviaDossier 1”‏‏, the first book in an intended series covering the Canadian aircraft of WWII.

The format and scope of this soft-cover is quite different from the DoBW volume, but I am glad to report that the Aviaeology’s bar remains very high. The book has a trademark modern and appealing design, with very high paper and print quality. I can also confirm that it is well bound, as my copy survived one fierce toddler-attack, plus a scanning session for this review without serious consequences.

Aviation books usually fall in one of the two categories. They are either an encyclopedic listings of different aircraft types with short description, a line drawing and perhaps one photo, or an exhaustive monographs with everything you ever wanted to know (and more) about a certain type, or campaign. AviaDossier is quite refreshing in this regard, as it throws enough focus on each of its subjects to offer readers something interesting to hold on to, but doesn’t linger for it to become too demanding, or boring with extreme detail.

Carl Vincent obviously wields a vast knowledge on this subject, but here manages well to filter through just enough fundamental information and balance this with rare photos and colorful anecdotes to make an approachable, inviting and compact format, interesting even for those who are not fanatically devoted to the topic.  The eclectic spectrum of subjects is completely at author’s discretion, with motivation for inclusion ranging from personal interest, historic importance, technical uniqueness, pilot association, to the something completely different. Without any forced agenda, it feels almost as if someone is telling to the reader: “now, look at this one for a moment; I find it quite interesting, how about you?”

Terry “Aviaeology” Higgins is responsible for the eye-candy in the AviaDossier, providing us with beautiful color profiles of every type under consideration. As was the case with the DoBW title, these color profiles give the book a third dimension and elevate it to the shelf that gets frequent dustings. Not only is Terry’s art inspiring and lovely to look at, but also very well researched, accurate in detail and color and can be therefore used as a true reference.

So, here is a relaxed book that doesn’t pretend to offer any final words and will sit equally graceful on a coffee table, as in some prized aviation library. Regardless if you are an aficionado of Canadian flying machines, or think that they run aircraft on maple syrup up there, this book won’t fail to offer inspiration and teach a thing or two, without anyone getting annoyed.

As for me, after a week of casual reading I’ve already accumulated several quality hours of day-dreaming about various modeling ideas from its 80 odd pages. Did I mention that Aviaeology also makes decals for a number of these subjects?

My sincere thanks go to Terry for kindly sending me an autographed copy of the AviaDossier 1.

 

Here’s exactly what one gets between the covers of this book:

  • DeHavilland Fox Moth (with 2 profiles & 5 photos)
  • Consolidated Catalina I (with 2 profiles & 5 photos)
  • North American Mustang I (with 3 profiles & 6 photos )
  • Fleet Fort (with 2 profiles & 2 photos)
  • Short Sunderland III (with 2 profiles & 5 photos)
  • Hawker Hurricane XII (with 2 profiles & 2 photos)
  • Bristol Bolingbroke IV (with 3 profiles & 5 photos)
  • Northrop Delta (with 4 profiles & 5 photos)
  • Douglas Boston III & IIIA (with 2 profiles & 3 photos)
  • Consolidated Liberator GR.V(Can) (with 1 profile & 4 photos)
  • Bristol Bolingbroke IVW (with 2 profiles & 3 photos)
  • Blackburn Shark II (with 2 profiles & 2 photos)
  • Supermarine Stranraer (with 1 profile & 2 photos)
  • Supermarine Spitfire FR.IX & FR.XIV (with 1 profile ea. & 2 photos)
  • Beaufighter TF.X (with 5 profiles & 10 photos)
  • Lysander IIIA TT (with 2 profiles & 2 photos)
  • Curtiss Kittyhawk Mk.IV (with 2 profiles & 2 photos)
  • Lockheed Hudson I (with 4 profiles & 5 photos)
  • Stocky Edwards’ Spitfire & Fw190 (with 1 profile ea. & 3 photos)

 

General listing information:

 

ISBN: 978-0-9780696-3-6

Author: Carl Vincent

Illustrator: Terry Higgins

80pgs, 81⁄2x11(216x279mm) landscape format perfect-bound laminated card softcover, 20,000 words*, 70+ photos (4 in color), 45 large color profile illustrations and 4 color maps.

MSRP $29.99

E-Mail: sales@aviaeology.com

Web: www.aviaeology.com.

Aleksandar Šekularac

Photos and text © by Aleksandar Šekularac