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Dear Fellows, Let me show you my last model. Call it air component of my personal Battle of Atlantic project. It is very nice model, well detailed and designed. One difficult point is undercarriage, carefully fixing is must. Be carefull with PE engine ignition wires too. I'm not sure but I think they are changed right and left in instruction. I used alternative markings from Techmod set - VC-13, USS Tripoli. And finally... is grey camouflage boring? Best regards, Michał. PS. Some close-up shots soon...

IJN Carriers Sōryū and Hiryū Kagero Sōryū meaning "Blue (or Green) Dragon") was an aircraft carrier built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the mid-1930s. Sōryū 's aircraft were employed in operations during the Second Sino-Japanese War in the late 1930s. Hiryū ("Flying Dragon") was also built for the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) during the late 1930s. The only ship of her class, she was built to a modified Sōryū design. Although ostensibly they were sisters and designed as such, the Hiryū, being built much later, enabled modifications to be initiated during construction, as experience of operating the Sōryū had shown some difficulties and weaknesses, resulting in the Hiryū have a much modified hull form, with the beam increased by just over a metre. Both ships supported the Japanese invasion of French Indochina in mid-1940. During the first months of the Pacific War, they took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Wake Island, and supported the conquest of the Dutch East Indies. In February 1942, there aircraft bombed Darwin, Australia, and she continued on to assist in the Dutch East Indies campaign. In April, aircraft from the two carriers helped sink two British heavy cruisers and several merchant ships during the Indian Ocean raid. After a brief refits, Sōryū, Hiryū, Kaga and Akagi of the 1st Air Fleet participated in the Battle of Midway in June 1942. After bombarding American forces on the atoll, the carriers were attacked by aircraft from Midway and the carriers USS Enterprise, Hornet, and Yorktown. Dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise crippled Hiryū and set her afire. She was scuttled the following day after it became clear that she could not be salvaged. The loss of Hiryū, and the two other carriers at Midway was a crucial strategic defeat for Japan and contributed significantly to the Allies' ultimate victory in the Pacific. Sōryū sank with the loss of 711 officers and enlisted men of the 1,103 aboard. Hiryū was attacked by dive bombers from Yorktown and Enterprise crippled the carrier and set her afire. She was scuttled the following day after it became clear that she could not be salvaged. This hardback book contains one hundred pages of information on the two carriers, their design, construction, and modifications, (particularly the differences between them). It also covers their weaponry, aircraft handling, plus many of their systems and sensors. Due to the restrictions imposed by the Japanese military there aren’t too many period photographs of the two ships, but what there are, have been included. Where systems and weaponry are concerned, most photographs used have been taken on other carriers of the Japanese fleet, since they were pretty standard, this isn’t really a problem. The text is well written and covers both ships as separate entities where appropriate and combined where the operations are concerned as they spent their time sailing together for most of them. The line drawings, mostly showing both the external and internal structures, mainly the layouts of the hangers, are very clear and make for useful references for the model maker. Naturally, since both carriers were used in operations against Pearl Harbour there is extensive information about the target ships assigned to each carriers air wing, along with a detailed account of the raid itself. This is also true of the Battle of Midway in which both carriers were sunk. Most of the photographs used to illustrate both raids have been published before, but there are also some new and very interesting ones included. Some of the information within the text was completely new to this reviewer and as such made for a very interesting read. For those more interested in the aircraft used on the carriers, there is a fair bit of information provided. The colour side views are particularly useful as not only do they show the colour scheme, but the relevant aircraft codes numbers for their parent carriers. The same can be said for the side views of the US aircraft used at Midway. Conclusion Being very interested in the aircraft carriers of the Japanese fleet I was pleased to be asked to review this book, and having several 1:350 scale kits in the stash, I can see me using it as reference for my Hiryū build. Those who build in 1:700 scale will have even more information to work with as both ships are available from the likes of Aoshima. All in all a very nice book, and only hampered by the pre-war restrictions on photographs of the Imperial fleet. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

I don't know if this is of any interest but I have found a site which gives aircraft sortie daily logs for aircraft, onboard USS John F. Kennedy, during the Gulf War in the early 1990's. The aircraft are A-7's of VA-46 "Clansmen" HERE is the link. Double click on each daily log to get an enlarged image. Mike