by Dave Organ
ISBN 978-0-9541945-1-2
Apex Publishing, 12 Dewey Close, Woodmancote, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL52 9UF or www.gyrobooks.com
6¾in x 9½in softback; 232 pages, illustrated
£19.95 plus p&p

This new handbook is a descendant of the author’s earlier publication, An Introduction to Ultralight Gyroplanes, which appeared in 2002. Substantially thicker than its forebear, it offers a comprehensive survey of these extraordinary little machines, covering everything from their history to their maintenance and operation, and also includes useful peripherals such as the Civil Aviation Authority training requirements, getting started, radiotelephony and contact addresses.

by Dr Alfred Price
ISBN 978-1-8578-0324-2
Midland Publishing, Ian Allan Publishing, Riverdene Business Park, Molesely Road, Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG
12in x 9in hardback; 128 pages, illustrated
£19.99

Easily considered as a companion volume to the author’s Battle of Britain (from Classic, another of Ian Allan’s imprints), Supermarine Spitfire is a picture-led summary of the immortal fighter. Given the extensive past writings of Dr Price on the subject, I expected the text to be all too familiar, but, as with Battle of Britain, I was pleasantly surprised. Of course there is nothing new about the story, but the manner of its telling is fresh and the presentation delightful.

DVD by Strike Force Entertainments from material supplied by the Imperial War Museum, London.
72 minutes

 This DVD comprises a set of official wartime Admiralty training films as shown to Royal Navy recruits. It includes Allied and Axis aircraft which the navy might have been expected to encounter, but has no film of actual aircraft, only silhouettes, some of which were of poor quality, while drawings were even worse. An omission is the Fairey Battle, while inclusion of the Heinkel He 114 biplane seaplane seems odd.

The uninspiring descriptions of the various types seem to go on for ever, and one is glad when the film ends, a long 72min. I assume it must have been useful at the time, but it is now the most boring DVD ever. At least we know why the navy shot at anything coming near them; the sailors had slept through the recognition courses!

Action Stations Revisited – Vol 3, South East England
by David W. Lee
ISBN 978-0-859791-10-6

Vol 4, South West England
by David Berryman
ISBN 978-0-859791-21-2
 

Crecy Publishing Ltd, 1a Ringway Trading Estate, Shadowmoss Road, Manchester M22 5LH
9½in x 6½in hardbacks; 344 and 368 pages respectively, illustrated
each £24.95

Crecy continues to reissue this important series, updated and with new illustrations in many cases, and these two volumes cover the whole of southern England.

Picking through these pages, it is interesting to note that in Vol 4 there are two airfields with very similar names – Merrifield in Cornwall in 1918 and Merryfield in Somerset from 1942, the latter originally known as Isle Abbots.