Lockheed Aircraft Cutaways: The History of Lockheed Martin

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointed
Review: This book contains BEAUTIFUL line-art illustrations of a host of Lockheed aircraft, past and present. The artwork was done by Mike Badrocke who is a recognized master at this craft. Bill Gunston is also a master aviation writer. Together they've produced a very beautiful book for the aviation enthusiast. You'll see cutaways of the A-12, C-5, F-16, F-117, U-2, and even the F-22. There are civil aircraft cutaways such as the Constellation and L-1011. Helicopters, WW2 aircraft and before are all represented. It's a wonderful book to help you "explore" the inner workings of these aircraft, and nobody does it better than Badrocke.

Rating:
Summary: Tremendous Illustrative Effort
Review: This book contains BEAUTIFUL line-art illustrations of a host of Lockheed aircraft, past and present. The artwork was done by Mike Badrocke who is a recognized master at this craft. Bill Gunston is also a master aviation writer. Together they've produced a very beautiful book for the aviation enthusiast. You'll see cutaways of the A-12, C-5, F-16, F-117, U-2, and even the F-22. There are civil aircraft cutaways such as the Constellation and L-1011. Helicopters, WW2 aircraft and before are all represented. It's a wonderful book to help you "explore" the inner workings of these aircraft, and nobody does it better than Badrocke.

Rating:
Summary: A bit disappointed
Review: While the cutaway illustrations are magnificent, and the illustrator did a fantastic job, I find that only 1/2 of the 38 Lockheed aircraft indexed have cutaway illustrations. Perhaps it was too much to expect, but I anticipated similar cutaways of the seminal single-engine Lockheeds of the 1930's: Explorer, Air Express, Vega, Sirius, Altair, Orion. Only the Vega is so immortalized.

Also, the index is flawed by the "search for occurrences of" syndrome, as the Model 9 Orion includes a listing for the P-3 Orion, and the Model 10 Electra includes the L-188 Electra.

These are nits - it's a very good book - just not what I thought it was going to be. If you're looking for something specific, check out a copy in your local bookstore. If it meets your needs, *then* buy it.