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Book Reviews

Posted by Mike Henniger on Fri Mar 15, 2002 07:30:17 AM

I like to research the histories of aircraft that I have in my photo collection. To me a warbird is only a collection of metal glass and rubber without a history (no I am not making a statement about assumed identities and replicas, their histories are of value as well, they are just a different kind of history). One of the most useful sources of serial number and related information I know of is this book by J.A. Griffin?

Title: Canadian Military Aircraft Serials & Photographes 1920-1968
Author: J.A. Griffin
Publication Number: 69-2
Publisher: Canadian War Museum, National Museum of Man, Ottawa, Canada

This book has already been mentioned once on WIX but deserves to be mentioned again. It lists the serials for the G-, sequential, RAF and USN serial systems used by the Royal Canadian Air Force. It also includes a list of the USAAF serials of aircraft that were loaned to the RCAF and returned later, and the list of RCAF instructional airframe serials. Each serial in the lists includes aircraft model, manufacturer?s construction number, TOS & SOS dates, previous registration (serial) and subsequent registration (serial). It also sometimes indicates final disposition and has a miscellaneous notes column. I would definitely recommend this book, but you are likely to have trouble finding a copy. It was printed in 1969. I thought I heard someplace that only about 100 copies were printed as it was intended for libraries. If you live in Canada you might be able to borrow a copy on an inter-library loan.

The reason I mentioned the previous book is that it leads into the next one. The Aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces (1st Edition) picks up where Canadian Military Aircraft Serials leaves off. It covers the types in service in 1968 and those that came later. It does very well in explaining the CAF aircraft designation system. It gives a brief descriptive summary of each type, and lists for each serial the TOS date and in many cases the SOS or scrap date. The first edition comes up short in my opinion in that it doesn?t list the manufacturer construction number. The second edition, which is due to come out soon, is supposed to be more comprehensive by including the manufacturer?s construction number, previous and subsequent registrations, and other history information of the airframes. The first edition is worth picking up a copy.

Title: The Aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces, A Checklist of Current Aircraft and Disposals
Authors: Jeff Rankin-Lowe and Andrew Cline
Publisher: Sirius Productions
Date: 1995
ISBN: 1-896103-00-6

If anyone else can recommend other books that are good for serial number information please post. For example I recently found out about the Air Britain series. What other good stuff is out there?

Regards,

Mike

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