Phantom in the
Cold War
RAF Wildenrath 1977-1992AUTHOR: David Gledhill
YEAR: 2017
PUBLISHER: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 978-1-52670-408-5
FOR M AT: 271 pp HardbackT
h e title of this book seems
very wide-ranging at first –
the Phantom is, after all, the
iconic Western Cold War jet. However,
the subtitle makes the scope more
manageable. But the book is not just
about the Phantom! It is also about
a station and a historical period.
The author clearly knows and
loves his subject. As an RAF officer,
David Gledhill was a navigator on
the Phantom, and later the Tornado
F3 (another of his books, Tornado
F3 in Focus, published by Fonthill
Media, was reviewed in volume
24 issue 1 of this magazine).
The book starts with the history
of the Phantom in RAF Germany:
as the reader may know, it started
off in the ground attack, strike
and reconnaissance roles, just as
it did in the UK, switching to Air
Defence (AD) once the Jaguar entered
service in sufficient numbers.
The next chapter examines the
Phantom in the AD role, particularly
how it was operated, the tactics
used, and how the radar worked.
Whilst this is primarily a history-
focussed book, this chapter contains
some detailed photographs of the
radar installation, which will be
particularly useful to the modeller
who wants to super-detail their FGR2.
The next chapters cover the
history of RAF Wildenrath; the
operational context, which among
other things details the Soviet and
other Warsaw Pact forces of the time;
the day-to-day details of operating
in Germany, from the various
low-flying zones to the endlessexercises; and many other aspects.
From chapter ten onwards
the narrative covers the Phantom
squadrons themselves, 19 Sqn and
92 Sqn, from their formation as
Phantom units in the 1970s to their
disbandment as such in the early
1990s. The focus is mainly on 92 Sqn.
Although the author served with
that unit, the reason given for this
focus is not personal bias (entirely
understandable though that may
be), but because 19 Sqn’s Operational
Record Book covering the period is not
yet released into the public domain.
There is much to interest the
modeller, from the detail shots of
the radar installation mentioned
earlier, through the war loads carried,
to descriptions of special colour
schemes. It would be interesting to
see a Phantom model with a red nose,
as carried by a four-ship formation- for one sortie only – in honour
of an early Comic Relief event.
The final chapters cover the
disbandment of the units and the
fate of RAF Wildenrath. The book
is rounded out with a glossary
and index. Relevant photographs,
both monochrome and colour,
illustrate the text throughout.
If you have an interest in
RAF Germany, the Phantom, or
the later Cold War, do buy this
book. If you don’t, why not buy
it anyway? Recommended.
Thanks to Pen & Sword
Books Ltd for the review copy.
MJC
Colors & Markings of U.S Navy
F-14 Tomcats
Part 2: Pacific Coast SquadronsAUTHORS: Bert Kinzey and Rock Roszak
ISBN 978-0-9860677-9-2T
he wait is finally over!
Ever since the first
part of the new Tomcat
Colors & Markings series was
released back in 2015, I have
been waiting for Part 2, covering
the Pacific Coast squadrons,
which had some of my favourite
markings applied to the F-14.
But first, if you are not familiar
with the Colors & Markings or
Detail and Scale series of digital
books, let us cover the basics.
To use these books, you need a
smart phone, tablet, or computer
with either iBook or Kindle formats.
Obviously, the larger the screen
the more detail that you will see.
Browsing the book is simple. By
using the data bar at the bottom of
the page, you can rapidly scan all
the chapters to find the one you are
looking for. If the pictures are too
small you can zoom in and rotate
them from landscape to portrait, as
well as zoom in to see more detail.
The big advantages of these
E books are that they contain
far more information than was
possible in the printed titles they
replace, and are considerably
cheaper (under 10 US dollars or
less than £8 in English money).
As a comparison, the original
book, released in 1984, had just over
200 photographs, mostly in black
and white. The new book has an
impressive 746 colour photos, plus a
large number of colour illustrations,
as well as profiles, and these include
squadron markings and details of
exterior markings and stencils.
Each of the 15 operational
squadrons has a chapter; for
example, one of the most popular
units, the Sundowners (VF-111)
has 31 photographs illustrating
all the schemes carried by the
squadron, including one flown
by Iceman (in fictitious VFA-213
markings) during the filming of
Top Gun (probably the best advert
for the Tomcat ever made).
This book covers far more than
just the operational squadrons:
the two reserve squadrons and
the units using the type in the
adversary role also have their
own chapters. Finally, we finish
with coverage of the units using
Tomcats as test and evaluation
aircraft, including VX-4, with its
famous Playboy “Vandy1”. Mostaircraft from the unit did not carry
this marking, as can be seen by the
46 photographs showing the wide
selection of schemes that were far
more common. Four, however, were
painted gloss black with a Playboy
Bunny on the tail at different times,
until political correctness caught
up with the unit. On the last day the
Playboy Bunny appeared on the tail
it was modified to a Crying Bunny
with a tear and a frown and the
next day it was removed totally.
I am a big fan of this range and
they are a permanent feature on my
iPad as both a modelling reference
and a source of inspiration. I am
really hoping that the team at Detail
and Scale will now cover more of
their previous titles in this fashion.
We are long overdue for the Colors &
Markings treatment for the F/A-18
Hornet, which has now served for
far longer than the Tomcat and
in a wider range of markings.
Our thanks to Detail and Scale
for providing us with the sample to
review. You can visit their website
at w w w.detailandscale.com to see
the full range and much moree-book
REVIEWMustang
SERIES: Special Series
PUBLISHER: Aero Research Company
C AT. NO: 4010
http://www.AeroResearchCDs.comT
his new disc from Aero
Research has 191 images
of Mustangs. The opening
few images show some semi-
derelict surplus stock, then moves
on to cover racers and warbirds,before finishing with the much-
modified Turbo Mustang III.With the release of the new
Airfix Mustang this disc will give
you plenty of inspiration to build up
a very colourful collection of civil
‘Stangs. Hopefully an enterprising
manufacturer will produce some
conversion sets to build some of the
more modified racers, and somebody
else will produce the decals to go
with them. Race 34, “Miss Foxy
Lady” would be my choice, gloss
black with pin up art on the fuselage!
My thanks to Aero Research
for supplying this disc for review.
TMU-S78 • APRIL 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL
BOOKS & MEDIA
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