Book Review: "Carrier Air War in Original WWII Color"

Contrary to what some modern schoolchildren might think (if they think about it all, sad to say) World War II was not fought in black and white. Color photography in one form or another existed decades before the war, although it was not till the mid to late 1930s that Kodak's Kodachrome allowed more photographers to shoot in that format. Robert Lawson and Barrett Tillman have done a masterful job in assembling a wide variety of rare color photos depicting all facets of wartime US Naval Aviation, from flying boats to carrier action. The first chapter alone has such gems as an SBU-1 from USS Ranger, an F4F-3 of VMF-121, Curtiss O2C, Kingfishers in landplane configuration, R3D-2 (DC-5) transports, and a natural metal PBM Mariner. Basically, there is something for everyone here. There are also numerous shots of the carriers themselves, including Yorktown (CV-10) transiting the Panama Canal, an overhead shot of Wasp (CV-7), and Santee (ACV-29) showing her camouflage scheme very well.