Books and Plans

Squadron Signal Publications

Operation Enduring Freedom By Lou Drendel

What's an aircraft book doing on a ship modeling site? First of all this isn't just an aircraft book, it covers all aspects of the Military operations against Afghanistan. While there are more pages dedicated to the Air Force perspectives there are a large number of Naval subjects that will be of great use to anyone wanting to model this period in time or who just enjoys reading about current Military might. I won't bother to bore you with all the details about the B-52's and B-1's and instead cut right to the chase. Lou Drendel has put together a great book of photo's showing some of the men and machines that helped bring down the Taliban and force Al-Qaeda that roamed free in that country to hide underground. Some of the photo's such as the images on the right of the LCAC in operation are just stunning. Note the loads they are carrying.	click images to enlarge

The photos show all branches of service but what will probably excite the naval modelers most are the deck shots of the carriers as they prepared for the strikes on enemy bases. If your looking for a guide to the aircraft that were on some of the ships that helped out you can refer to photo's such as that of the Essex LHD-2 and Shreveport LPD-12. Just about every major ship that served in this operation is featured in the book.

The flight deck shots are invaluable to detail out your flat tops. Each aircraft type is shown along with many shots of the deck crew servicing them. I would recommend this book to any military enthusiast, it is 64 pages packed full of high quality black & white and color photo's that grab even the attention of the non modeling crowd. This book available for $12.96 at Squadron.com or at your favorite hobby shop.

Special thanks to Squadron Mail Order for providing the sample for review. Don't forget to check out the new look of their website, with online search and a shopping cart for your convenience.