AIRSCENE - The monthly round-up of news and background to the news, presented under section headings for Military Affairs, Civil Affairs, Aircraft and Industry, and new Civil and Military Aircraft Contracts.
ISRAEL — PREPARING FOR THE NEXT ROUND - An up-to-the-minute first-hand report on the combat readiness of Heyl Ha'Avir, the Air Section of the Israel Defence Forces, based on visits to Israeli bases by AIR ENTHUSIAST, with colour and monochrome photographs by Stephen Peltz.
IL-28, A SOVIET "CANBERRA" - A detailed description, together with the first cutaway drawing to be published, of the initial Soviet jet bomber to go into service — an aeroplane as significant and at least as widely used as the British Canberra.
IN PRINT - New aviation literature noted.
THE NOT SO ANCIENT MARINER - The McDonnell Douglas A-4 Skyhawk is still in production, nearly 20 years after the project began life in Ed Heinemann's project office at El Segundo. The latest version to enter service, the A-4M for the US Marine Corps, is described and illustrated, with a new cutaway drawing, and the operation of the type by other services is outlined in this detailed account.
VFW 614 - Germany's first post-war jet airliner is now in the flight test stage after a lengthy and difficult development period. The set-backs which have had to be overcome by the designers of this ultra-short-haul turbofan transport are fully described in this feature, and the aircraft is illustrated by photographs and a new cutaway drawing.
TALKBACK - Readers of AIR enthusiast offer comments of general interest.
THE UBIQUITOUS HAWK - Part II of the "Warbirds" feature which began last month describes the operational use of the Curtiss Hawk and P-36 family made by the USAAC and describes its selection by the French Air Force, which began to take deliveries in 1939. The flying characteristics of the Hawk 75A are compared with those of the early Spitfire in this instalment.
FLYING THE DOUGLAS TWINS - Recollections of flying the Douglas DB-7 Boston and Havoc series are contained in this "Viewed from the Cockpit" feature by H A Taylor, and RAF versions are illustrated with colour profiles and a cutaway drawing.
MODEL ENTHUSIAST - The latest plastic aircraft kits reviewed, and a page of colour profile drawings of the Messerschmitt Bf 109G.
PLANE FACTS - Answers to readers'enquiries, from the AIR ENTHUSIAST files: Pander S.IV Panderjager; rocket-boosted Heinkel He 112s; Stinson Model A; Miles M.20; Bucker Bii 131 Jungmeister; Hunting H.126.
FIGHTER A TO Z - Continuing the AIR enthusiast encyclopaedia of the World's fighter aircraft, from the Ansaldo A.C.3 to the Arado Ar 65.
VETERAN AND VINTAGE - Details and illustrations of the Mitchell Memorial Museum with its Supermarine S.6B, a surviving Comte AC-4B, the recovery of another Hawker Hind, and two Tiger Moth floatplanes.