Flying Colours by William Green & Gordon Swanborough lands on the shelves of my shop.
Salamander, 1981, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Illustrated by way of: Colour Drawings; Illustrated endpapers and blanks;
From the cover: Military aircraft have been variously daubed, cunningly camouflaged, boastfully personalised or otherwise extravagantly coloured since they first took to the air almost 70 years ago. From the time that the identity of aircraft was established with national insignia, the marking of aircraft has become a science, and their decoration an art form. At times of tension, trends have been towards camouflage colours for concealment as international relationships have deteriorated. Yet, in peace and war, there have also been anti-camouflage colour schemes applied specifically to render aircraft more conspicuous for training, rescue and other purposes.
Flying Colours is a superb survey of this fascinating scene, depicting more than 100 different aircraft types, from the World War I Spads to todays swing-wing Tornado, in more than 1,300 spectacular illustrations. Splendid use is made of finely detailed profile drawings, top and bottom, head-on and scrap views, together with emblem and other detail enlargements, all in full colour and each extensively
researched by the compilers and artists who have striven for accuracy and interest. Each first-class drawing is described, with identification of squadron, unit, theatre and period, and often even the pilots name and rank too! This volume will quickly be recognised as a major landmark in aviation publishing and will especially delight aircraft modelmakers and all enthusiasts of the dramatic history of warplanes.
Very Good in Very Good Dust Wrapper.
Brown boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 207 pages. 12″ x 8¾”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one there are plenty more available here!
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