Cleveland Tank Plant
Aircraft and Military Vehicle Production at
Cleveland Plant 2 (1942-1970)AUTHOR: David Doyle
YEAR: 2017
PUBLISHER: G-104 Press
ISBN: 978-1-7750133-0-3
FOR M AT: 112 pp PaperbackI
had a moment of worry when I
received this book for review:
tanks? had some samples
somehow got mixed up? On
reading further, I soon discovered
that this book was very relevant
to those interested in aviation
and aircraft modelling.
The Cleveland Tank Plant
actually started life as the
Cleveland Bomber Plant. It was
conceived and built as one of four
which would produce the B-29 for
the American war effort. It was
operated by Fisher Body, a division
of General Motors, and was their
second plant in Cleveland, so was
also known as Cleveland Plant no 2.
The first B-29 produced there
was scheduled to be delivered in
September 1943, but a change of
plans by the authorities cancelled
that contract. Instead they
contracted for production of B-29
sub-assemblies, and for a new
fast-climbing interceptor, the
Fisher P-75A Eagle. That aircraft’s
interceptor requirement later
changed to long-range escort, as
backup in case the P-47 and/or P-51
did not meet expectations. Despite
the loss of an XP-75 prototype,
and many design changes,
production was started, but only
two production aircraft flew before
the programme was cancelled.
The plant was run-down
after that and used for storage,but during the Korean War it was
revived for the production of
tanks, such as the M41 Walker
Bulldog, M56 Scorpion, the
M114, and M551 Sheridan. The
last Sheridan rolled off the line
in 1970 and the building is now
a conference and expo centre.
The book tells the story of
these two phases in two sections,
covering (as one would expect)
aircraft and tank production
respectively. Following a short
text, the main body of each
section consists of many varied
and interesting photographs. If
you are now wondering exactly
what the Fisher P-75 looked like,
there are several examples here
to satisfy your curiosity, along
with some shots of the XB-39,
which was a YB-29 modified at
the plant with Allison engines.
Armour enthusiasts will
also find plenty of pictures to
pique their interest; alas, I’m not
qualified to comment on their
rarity, but I can say that diorama
fans will find plenty of inspiration.
This is something of a
specialised book, but nevertheless
it is interesting and sheds light
on an aspect of a nation’s war
effort – materiel production- that is probably rarely
considered by most modellers.
Thanks to the author David
Doyle, http://www.DavidDoyleBooks.
com for the review copy.
MJC
F-5 Freedom Fighter
Hellenic Wings
AUTHOR: Nick P Spanos
ART DIRECTOR:
Eleftheriadou Maria
PUBLISHER: Hellenic
Wings
FOR M AT: 64 pp
PaperbackI
f you have a
liking for the
F-5 Freedom Fighter and/
or the Hellenic Air Force,
then this book will interest
you. In a coffee table book
format, it is packed with
photographs of all the variants
of the F-5 which have served
with the Greek Air Force.
There is some text, in Greek
and English, outlining the
service history of the aircraft,
and some diagrams and colour
profiles that will be of interest
to the modeller. However, the
bulk of the book consists of a
wide variety of photographs
in colour, captioned in Greekand English. There are both
full-aircraft shots and detailed
close-ups, including cockpit
shots and a set showing the
Martin-Baker seat used. Subjects
cover all variants used, and also
feature both special schemes
and regular line aircraft. The
photography itself is very good,
with some very atmospheric
shots among the pages.
Thanks to The Aviation
Bookshop for supplying
the review copy, w w w.
aviation-bookshop.com
MJCDigital CD Civil Series
Ag Aviation No.3
C AT. NO.5013
PUBLISHER: Aero Research
Company
WEBSITE http://www.
AeroResearchCDs.comT
here are 152 images
of agricultural
aircraft on this
disc from Aero Research.
The first thing that struck
me when looking at these
images was the state
of some of the aircraft.
When you look at farmers’
tractors, some can look
quite smart, whilst others can
look somewhat worn out and
tired, and it appears that these
aircraft are no different. There
are some which feature rather
smart paint schemes, whilst
others are so worn and tatty
it’s amazing they can still fly.
Quite a lot of the aircraft
featured on this disc are purpose-
built agricultural aircraft, like
the Air Tractor AF802, or PZL
M-18, whilst others, like the
Grumman TBM and B-25, are
converted warbirds. The disc
also features a lot of images ofStearmans, some of which have
been quite heavily converted.
Just lately I have built a
few model tractor kits, and it
would be good if there were
some mainstream kits of
some of these everyday aerial
work horses. If anybody does a
conversion kit for the 1/48 scale
Revell Stearman I would love
to produce a model of one!
As usual there are lot of
inspiring images on this disc.
My thanks to Aero Research for
supplying the disc for review.
TMU-S78 • SEPTEMBER 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
BOOKS & MEDIA
078-79-Books-0918.indd 78 16/08/2018 17:19