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• http://www.aerostories.org/ • 2010-08-31
• Private letter to author from Capt. Eric M. BROWN • 2010-08-31
• Model Airplane International 8/2007 • 2010-08-31
• Swiss magazine - Helicorevue • 2010-08-31
• Amazon.com customer review • 2010-08-31
• Hyperscale.com • 2010-08-31
• Amazon.co.uk Bestseller list • 2010-08-31
• Air Modeler no. 29 • 2010-08-31
• IPMS Magazine 02/2010 • 2010-08-31
• Amazon.com customer review • 2010-08-31
• Military Aircraft monthly 5-2010 • 2010-08-31
• ModelingMadness.com • 2010-08-31
• Master Modelers no. 80 May 2010 • 2010-08-31
• www.cybermodeler.com • 2010-08-31
• Letectvi & Kosmonautika, March 2010 • 2010-08-31
• Scaleworld blog • 2010-08-31
• AIM 02 2010 • 2010-08-31
• MiniReplika 65 • 2010-03-15

• http://www.aerostories.org/ • 2010-08-31

  The least we can say is that the number of publication on rotorcraft are not so common. That is why this book must be highlighted because it brings something really different. Indeed this part of the aviation history had attracted little attention from the publishers so far even if rotorcraft (helicopters and autogiros) began their operational career during WW2. Now, we have a book which narrates in full the projects and the development of the various Allied rotorcraft types during WW2, and it comes to complete nicely a previous volume published by Mushroom on the German rotorcraft in WW2. Both book were written by the same author, Ryszard Witkowski, a very experienced helicopter pilot.

  The book is divided by country, USA, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and the history of each type is written in details, which includes the operational history for the USA. In reading the book, we soon understand that only the USA had developed a industrial strategy around the choppers, gratefully with the help of the ingenious and engineer Igo Sikorsky and by the end of war, hundred of choppers were on order in the States. The first 100 pages or so are dedicated to the studies of the various types, and the book is well illustrated with a good number of photographs. The last part, around 30 pages, show as it is usual with this publisher, various close-ups of preserved aircraft and offer a set of colour profiles which will satisfy any modeller’s curiosity.

  Even if the book is aiming first choppers enthusiasts, the book will interest anyone who is interested in WW2 aviation in general, as it brings something new because the topic is globally little known and this at a very reasonable price.

  Strongly recommended

  Phil Listemann

• Private letter to author from Capt. Eric M. BROWN • 2010-08-31
  
• Model Airplane International 8/2007 • 2010-08-31
• Swiss magazine - Helicorevue • 2010-08-31
  
• Amazon.com customer review • 2010-08-31

  5.0 out of 5 stars Useful monograph on a neglected subject, March 14, 2010 By Jim Davis (Maryland Heights, MO USA)

  The helicopter is often mistakenly seen as a purely postwar development. This book goes a ways towards showing that that was not the case. This is the follow up to the same author's "Rotorcraft of the third Reich."

  This is the 11th volume in Mushroom Model Publications Red Series (No 5111). It is a square bound, 128 page, 6-1/2" x 9" card cover. The book is divided into three major sections.

  The first section has the text with supporting line drawings and photographs. It has five chapters - a concise introduction describing the history of the helicopter and four chapters on the major allied powers, the USA, Great Britain, the USSR, and France. It appears that the criteria for inclusion was that the rotorcraft in question have some military purpose. Both helicopters, autogyros, and gyrogliders are included.

  The second section has 24 pages of color photos of preserved rotorcraft of that period.

  The third section has 8 pages of color profiles.

  All seems to be first rate. There are some errors but whether typographical or otherwise I can't say. Most glaring are designations rendered as XHRP-X (instead of XHRP-1)and HQ2S-1 (instead of HO2S-1). The translation is quite good.

  A very good volume and I hope for further "Allied" volumes to match the broad coverage, however well deserved, of German types.

• Hyperscale.com • 2010-08-31

  Reviewed by Mick Evans

  F i r s t R e a d

  Allied Rotorcraft of the WW2 Period is a new addition to the Mushroom Publications “Red Series” of books.

  Rotary wing aviation goes back a long way, to 1916 in fact when the designer Louis Brennan was given an order to build an experimental machine. His work was however suspended by “other needs” during World War One and it was not until December 1921 that pilot engineer Robert Graham made the first (albeit tethered) flight of Brennan’s machine.

  This new book from Mushroom Publications relates the efforts of Brennan as well as other pioneers in rotary wing aviation from the early days up until the end of WW2 and the ‘40s.

  The book is divided into five different chapters that cover the efforts of each of the four main allied nations of WW2, the USA, Britain, the USSR and France.

  Each of the chapters is broken down to describe the aircraft that each nation produced. The chapters and their contents are as follows:

  Chapter 1 – What is the use of it? Describes the early pioneering days of rotary wing aviation.

  Chapter 2 – The USA. The sub chapters describe the following machines:

  The Platt-lePage XR-1

  The Sikorsky VS-300 in its various forms.

  The Sikorsky R-4 – arguably the first really practical helicopter.

  The Sikorsky R-5 and R-6.

  The Piasecki XHRP-X

  The Bell Model 30.

  The Firestone OX-1, Pitcairn XR-9B, Firestone XR-9, Kellet XR-10, Hillier XH-44 and X-2235 and the Kellett XR-8.

  Chapter 3 – Britain.

  Cierva C.30A Rota

  Hafner A.R.111

  Weir W.5

  Hafner/Shorts A.R. IV/V

  Rotachute

  Rotabuggy

  Hoverfly 1 (Sikorsky R-4)

  Hoverfly II (Sikorsky R-6A)

  Cierva W.9

  Chapter 4 – USSR.

  TsAGI A-7

  AK Autogiro

  Omega

  Chapter 5 – France.

  LeO C.30

  LeO C.301

  SNCASE C.302/SE 700

  LeO C.34

  Following the above chapters you are treated to ten pages of contemporary images full colour showing restored Avro Rotas in museums and flying displays from around the world. Similar treatment is provided for the Sikorsky R-6, the Sikorsky R-4 Hoverfly, the Kellet XO-60, the Hillier XH-44, the Piasecki PV-2, the Pitcairn PA-39 and the LeO-302.

  The final eight pages of the book are taken up with colour side profile illustrations of the various machines discussed above.

  The book is paperback, B5 in size and contains 128 glossy pages in all (32 in colour) between thin cardboard covers.

  A good read for those who want to gain some knowledge of the development of rotary winged aircraft as well as the pioneering machines of the era.

• Amazon.co.uk Bestseller list • 2010-08-31
  
• Air Modeler no. 29 • 2010-08-31
  
• IPMS Magazine 02/2010 • 2010-08-31
  
• Amazon.com customer review • 2010-08-31

  By James Pernikoff (Marietta, Georgia USA)

  A companion volume to the same author's sister book on the German rotorcraft is somewhat uneven in coverage. For instance, the opening chapter on rotorcraft efforts before WW II mentions the WW I PKZ helicopter and the effort by de Bothezat, but makes no mention of the early rotorcraft of Berliner, Cornu or Ellehammer, Breguet's successful Gyroplane Laboratoire, or the autogiros of Cierva and Pitcairn, although the latter does appear briefly during the wartime coverage. The largest section deals with Sikorsky's VS-300 prototype and the subsequent production R-4, whereas the later R-5 and R-6, Bell's model 30 and Piasecki's HRP "flying banana" prototype are described rather more briefly, because the production versions of those were primarily built postwar. (Incidentally, Piasecki's "dogship" WAS referred to at one time as the XHRP-X.) British coverage concentrates on the Avro Rota but the unique Rotabuggy gets its due, and there is also coverage of Russian and French efforts. As usual in MMP books, the color section is outstanding, including color photos of restored examples and some nice side-view drawings. If early rotorcraft are in your sphere of interest, you ought to get this book.

• Military Aircraft monthly 5-2010 • 2010-08-31
  
• ModelingMadness.com • 2010-08-31

  Reviewer: Scott Van Aken

  Once again, Mushroom Models Publications has provided us with an interesting book on a subject that few have studied in any depth. This latest edition covers various rotorcraft that were developed by the Allies prior to, during and shortly after WWII.

  Though most realize the the Germans operated rotorcraft (mostly helicopters) during the later years of the war, few are aware that the US and Britain also operationally used helicopters in the later years while the British and French operated autogiros early in the war.

  Authoris Ryszard Witkowski starts us off with a history of rotorcraft from the early experimental stages at the start of the 20th century up to the initial successes of Igor Sikorsky at the beginning of the 1940s. While Germany was experimenting with tandem rotors, it was Sikorsky who successfully developed the single rotor helicopter of which we are all so used to seeing in the skies.

  From there, the book covers the craft of the US, Britain, USSR and France in separate chapters. I found the section on the USSR to be probably the most interesting as I knew nothing about Soviet work in this area, yet the names involved (Mil, Kamov, and Kuznetzov) would be later quite prominent in Soviet helicopter and engine development. I also found it interesting how much work had been done on the military use of autogiros by the British as the French.

  Typical of this series of books, there are sections on detail color photos of the many extant rotorcraft from this period as well as a goodly number of profiles on each of the major craft that are covered in this volume. When you add this to the superb selection of period photographs, you have a book that just cannt be beat.

  It is another winner from Mushroom Models Publications and a book I most highly recommend. April 2010

• Master Modelers no. 80 May 2010 • 2010-08-31
  
• www.cybermodeler.com • 2010-08-31

  By Ray Mehlberger

  Date of Review May 2010

  Mushroom Model Publications (MMP) is based in the UK. Their books are printed by Stratus in Sandomierz, Poland in the English language. MMP now has a U.S. distributor for their books, located in Pennsylvania by the name of Casemate.

  This new book is about Allied rotorcraft and helicopters of the WWII period.

  Although the Germans had a technological lead in helicopter design during WWII, nonetheless the Allied nations built and tested a surprising number of rotorcraft during the war, and had begun to use production helicopters in service by 1945.

  This book describes the development of autogyros, helicopters and other rotary-wing aircraft in America, Britain, the USSR and France, leading up to and during the war years.

  The book is illustrated with 70 black and white photos, one color photo on the cover, 55 color and 5 black and white photos of rotorcraft and helicopters that survive in various museums today.

  There are 21 line drawings of various aircraft, to no particular scale. Two of these are 3-views and one is a 4-view. In the back of the book there are 15 color profile illustrations of various aircraft used by the 4 Allies mentioned above.

  The book is 128 pages long and in MMP’s usual 6 ½” x 9” page format in soft cover.

  The author is a very experienced helicopter pilot, and for many years a test pilot and senior instructor. He has lectured on helicopter theory and applications and written many books on the subject. His companion volume on “Rotorcraft of the Third Reich” is also published by MMP. I reviewed this book back in April of 2007 and it can be found here.

  The book will be of significant interest to aircraft historians and enthusiasts and also modelers.

• Letectvi & Kosmonautika, March 2010 • 2010-08-31
  
• Scaleworld blog • 2010-08-31

  For those of you who thought there was nothing new or little-known when it came to aircraft of Hitler’s Germany, you just might want to take a look at this little softcover publication from Mushroom Model Publications.

  The word ‘little’ refers only to it’s physical size, which is 7” x 10” with 104 pages. Inside is crammed more material than you frequently see in the typical 8 ½” x 11” publication. More importantly, who knew that we’d ever see this much information on WW-II German Helicopters in a single publication.

  Inside you will find 134 b-&-w photos, 25 color photos and 20 beautiful color profiles. If that isn’t enough, you also get 20 1/72 scale plans, though to be accurate, all but two are side views only. The three-views deal with the Focke-Achgelis Fa-223E and the Flettner Fl-282B-0. Incidentally, due to the size of the Fa-223E, its plans take the form of a fold-out insert that expands to a sheet four times the size of the book cover.

  The authors begin with historical background of Flettner, Focke and Rieseler. One surprising bit of information is that German development work on rotary wing aircraft go all the way back to 1874. It’s little wonder, then, that Germany was on the verge of mature, operational helicopters at the beginning of WW-II.

  Considerable space is given to the Kolibri (Hummingbird), which most modelers know as the Fl-282. The Drache (Dragon), designated Fa-223, will probably cause a double-take because it looks like a conventional aircraft fuselage with a tubular framework extending each side of the fuselage in place of wings. That’s right, each framework supported a three blade rotor, making the Fa-223 a twin-rotor helicopter.

  Not to be ignored is the Fa-330 Bachstelze (Wagtail). Think you don’t know this little puppy? Guess again. The Fa-330 was an observation gyroglider that was designed to be towed by German submarines. While it met its design requirements (which was to provide improved observation for the submarine while running on the surface), it was generally hated by submarine crews. After enemy ships were spotted, it took too long to bring it down, dismantle and stow before diving.

  The rest of the book is devoted to experimental and paper rotarywing projects, color photos of surviving rotorcraft and color profiles.

  Whether you’re interested in filling some of those historical gaps or wanting a truly unique scratchbuilt subject for your next model contest, this is a book you don’t want to ignore.

  Distributed in this country by Casemate Publishing (http://www.casematepublishing.com), Rotorcraft Of The Third Reich is priced at a very reasonable $24.95. When ordering direct from Casemate, add $6.50 shipping for the first book and $2.50 for each additional book on the same order. 

  Posted by Richard Marmo

• AIM 02 2010 • 2010-08-31
  
• MiniReplika 65 • 2010-03-15