introduction

Rarely do I say "this is a must have" in a review, but this is a must have for anyone with an interest in the strange and unique vehicles known as "Aerosans". Written by Jim Kinnear, this book has been a labor of love that took him some twenty years to complete, and he states from the beginning, and apologizes for the quality of some of the photos, as no higher resolutions could be found.

the book

Printed in the usual Tankograd manner with the left side of the page in German, and the right side of the page in English, the book proves to be an easy and enjoyable read. Its opening chapter starts with the idea behind the Aerosan, and the development of the design which started in the winter of 1904-1905. Broken down into short chapters, the first section of writing continues on from World War One and the Russian Revolution, through the twenties, and thirties, up to the Russo-Finnish War of 1939-1940.
Following this section we come to the photos and drawings of Areosans during this period.

Following these photos and drawings, we come to the World War Two Development stage. Coverage includes the types and manufacturer of each type produced for the war. The book continues on with 24 pages of photos and drawings of the Aerosans in use. Many of the drawings are in 1/35th scale to help modelers building any of the available, or soon to be available kits.

The following section covers the Aerosan in actual combat, followed by three pages of more photos.

We then come to the section that deals with the Finnish Developments of the Aerosans, followed by 7 pages of the Finnish Army's use of them.

We wrap up the book, with the Wehrmacht use of the Aerosan, followed by 8 pages of the German Army using them.

conclusion

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and found the photos to be excellent to very good in quality, (of course your mileage may vary). I feel it is a valuable asset to a modelers' library shelf if they have any interest in the unique Aerosan.

I would like to thank Tankograd Publishing and the Kitmaker Network for providing the review sample.

To order Tankograd Publications worldwide:
www.tankograd.com
and please mention that you saw this on Armorama.