by Jeffrey Ethell & Alfred Price, Airlife Publishing, 191 Longden Road, Shrewsbury SY3 3EB, England, 211 pp, $28.70 It's not a great tide, but I routinely buy anything by Ethell & Price and I wasn't disappointed this time. The book covers jet propelled aircraft that actually or nearly saw combat during WW II. Not only does it include such obvious choices as the Me 262, He 162, Ar 234, Me 163, the P80, and the Meteor, but also the Ba 349 Natter, the FR-1 Fireball, and the Japanese Ohka. There is a cutaway drawing for most of the aircraft, along with extensive black-and-white photo coverage. There are few technical specs, but the real strength of the book is a dear, easy to read narrative describing the design and development of each plane, and then a detailed operational history of its use. This is complete almost down to the individual sortie, and really gives the reader a clear idea of the strengths and weaknesses of these pioneering aircraft. Each had flaws, and some of the really unusual types like the Ohka and the Me 163 had significant limits on their effectiveness because of their unusual propulsion. Along with some of their more hypothetical cousins, these aircraft and their might-havebeen histories are among the most intriguing designs of WW II. Ethell and Price have done them and the reader justice. BT Back to The Naval Sitrep #3 Table of Contents Back to Naval Sitrep List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Larry Bond and Clash of Arms. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history and related articles are available at http://www.magweb.com