Friedman/Fairfax Publishing, 2001, $19.95, ISBN 1-58633-247-7, 144 pgs, 12"x11" soft cover

What a wonderful coffee table book for WWII plane fans. The 68 color drawings represent a cross section of the great planes from most of the combatants of WWII.

Note, these are current artists' work, not circa-WWII art as the title may lead you to believe.

And what terrific art it is. Not a bad painting in the bunch. Of course, US and German planes dominate, but you'll find British, Soviet, Japanese, and Italian aircraft lovingly drawn and annotated.

Each painting usually has some sort of combat theme, and planes in flames or crashed enemy aircraft abound in the background. But front and center in every plate is the main plane--a Mustang, ME-109, Spitfire, etc. Of course, every bolt, every rivet, and every aspect is crystal clear. The cover gives you an idea of what you can expect.

Background information about each plane and brief bios of some of the aces who piloted them also accompany each plate. Often, a wartime black and white photo is included. But let's be real. You are not picking up this book for its text.

If there's a nit to pick, it's that most prints extend off one page and into the second. It is disturbing to see the oh-so-clean lines of aircraft bend into the books' gutter between pages...wingtips here, a propeller blade there, etc. Better to have put the entire print on one page. Smack the art director for this inept layout, and the book editor for not catching it. The slightly smaller size would have been worth the clean-line clarity.

Gutters panning aside, what a wonderful collection of aviation paintings from 11 artists. I haven't seen the hardcover version, but the paperback version for $19.95 is a great buy for warplane buffs.