AMERICAN MISSILES
The Complete Smithsonian Field Guide 1962 to the Present Day

by Brian D Nicklas

Frontline Books

Reviewed by Al Bowie

B-26 Marauder Walk Around is available online from Squadron.com
 

When I was growing up in the 1960s, missiles and rockets were an exciting new and cutting edge technology. Many books aimed at children packed full of vivid illustrations were available and I confess to having read as many as I could get my hands on. 50 years on, this title crossed my desk and I quite enjoyed seeing a title aimed at adults on a subject that fascinated me for many years and even occupied me during my military service.

Frontline Books have given us a small hardcover title devoted to 200 US missiles developed over the last 50 years. I thought my knowledge of US Missile Systems was pretty good but a lot of the Missiles contained in this book I was completely unaware of and enjoyed reading about them in a condensed encyclopaedic style. The book is authored by Brian Nicklas, a museum archivist and writer with the Smithsonian has covered the full spectrum of US Missiles. He presents the data in a short History, Technical specifications and one of more photographs, usually coloured.

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The book is broken into a detailed introduction including a thorough breakdown of the designation system used by the US Military regarding Missiles; The Missiles in their M sequence; and a series of listings by number, name and family. The major part of the book is devoted to the missiles themselves and as stated they are listed in their M Number Sequence which was a bit confusing at first for someone used to chronological or functional groupings. The pages are A5 in size and some pages have more than one subject which limits the size and number of the photographs given. Being a field guide this is understandable but larger photos would have been of more use to the modeller.

I noticed some errors in the data such as user nations etc but in the whole I found the title to be very informative and I was surprised at some of the foreign sourced missiles that I was unaware the US used.

The book is a great primer on US Missiles and well worth it just for the detailed introduction and the information on naming and designations. I have enjoyed reading this title and recommend it as a general reference on US Missiles.

Review Sample supplied by Frontline Books

Review Copyright © 2012 by Alastair Bowie
This Page Created on 2 September, 2012
Last updated 2 September, 2012

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