The Complete Guide to Fighters and Bombers of the World

Francis Crosby has taken the elements from his previous book (Handbook of Fighter Aircraft) and wonderfully incorporated it into a tome which is inclusive of mostly all combat aircraft since the early days of flight up to the present. In this guide are all* the production fighters AND bombers ever flown by any nation from WW1 to now. With a plethora of pictures from the Imperial War Museum as well as many other sources, one cannot help but be intrigued by the inventiveness of man as well as his penchant for warfare. The type font inside is not for the "optically-challenged", and might have some playing "trombone", trying to get it in focus, but aside from that, all other aspects of this definitive guide are well done and will make for a nice addition to any airplane enthusiast's library. *One oversight by the author was that the German (Dornier) Do335 Pfeil (Arrow) was not included. Even though this plane saw very limited action, it was none the less being produced by Germany at war's end. The British even flew one at Farnborough post WW2. Another exclusion that would have made this book even BETTER was that no PROTOTYPE (fighter or bomber) aircraft were included. Having a page on the Martin-Baker MB5 would have been the icing on the cake (imho). Considering the wealth of information this book already has within it's covers, these can easily be remedied in a later publication (edition). I'd still buy it if I didn't own it already. It's that well worth it!