Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Aircraft Carriers The World's Greatest Naval Vessels and Their Aircraft

by Chris Bishop and Chris Chant
Soft Cover 0760320055 Motor Books International 2004 $19.95
This book contains a plethora of photographs and artwork. Most of the photos are quite good. The majority of the artwork was adequate but a number suffered from poor perspective.
The authors have attempted to compile an encyclopedic reference work on aircraft carriers and aircraft carrying amphibious ships. Oddly they chose not to include seaplane tenders which were at one time a vital element of any naval force.
Several errors were noted in the book; some examples being:
USS Sangamon misidentified as an Essex-class ship
20-mm mounting identified as being onboard escort carrier HMS Trumpeter when it is clearly on a cruiser or battleship
MAC (merchant aircraft carriers) were not HMS; instead retained mercantile status as they normally carried a cargo of grain
Yorktown-class USS Hornet and Yorktown both had pictures of Essex-class namesakes erroneously substituted
Battle of the Philippine Sea misidentified as Battle of the Philippines
A photo of USS Saipan misidentified as USS Essex (LHD 2) 
Two errors on Canadian naval aviation were noted:
1. Canadian Sea King helicopters were built in Quebec and not at Sikorsky in the US
2. No mention that Canadian CS2F Trackers were built by De Havilland Canada in Toronto
The authors appear to have more comfort dealing with aircraft than the ships in this work. They are to be commended for attempting a project of this scale. Unfortunately with the number of errors, it leaves the reader with an uncomfortable feeling as to the accuracy of other information and hence cannot recommend this book.

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