Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives
by Martin Bowman
Usually I am very happy with this series of ‘Rare Images’ books from Pen & Sword, and the good old Phantom being one of my long-time favorite aircraft I was interested in this book.
But truth be told, it was somewhat of a let-down. The sub-title doesn’t fit, to begin with. Usually these books are about World War 2 and have lots of archived and special images indeed. This book covers the Vietnam War era mostly (since that is where the Phantom saw most of its wartime service life) and the images are just black and white side pictures of lots of different Phantoms. They are not really rare, and after a while, not very interesting either.
Having said that, the book DOES provide a nice overview of the various models of the Phantom, what the differences were and where they served. It is divided in chapters covering the US Navy and Marines, USAF, RAF and Other countries.
It still has a place in my collection of photobooks, but does not rank anywhere near the top in this series. I have seen better books by this author.
It is available here from Pen & Sword Books.
By Martin Bowman
Imprint: Pen & Sword Aviation
Series: Images of War
Pages: 117
Illustrations: 120
ISBN: 9781526705761
Published: 27th January 2020
