New Books this week

I received two new books this week.

Fire Bombers in Action by Fred Johnsen. This is the first book about air tankers to come out in a long time. Also Mr. Johnson is the current leader of the museum at Edwards AFB. In addition to the book a DVD is also included with videos compiled by Mr. Johnson. The book brought back a lot of memories for me as I worked for Hunot Retardant at Fox Air Tanker base during the late 1980's. I think it is the best book on air-tankers so far. The video is good especially the old 1959 training film from the Forest Service on using air-tankers and the interview with the mars flying boat pilot is also good.

American X&Y Planes: Volume 2: Experimental Aircraft since 1945 by Ken Darling. This book is the second volume in a series that covers American prototype aircraft. The first book covered aircraft prior to 1945. The editing is good but the book suffers from some editing issues. I found the XB-55 twice in the book, I think the first time the XB-55 was listed it should have said XB-47.