THE RETURN OF YOUR UNCLE MAC:
DUE to popular demand, as the publicists would say, Mike McEvoy has returned to Scale Aircraft Modelling to produced his monthly Tailpiece column. Having completed his sabbatical few months he has come back to regular contributions with a renewed enthusiasm, not that this died all that much because readers will have noticed that his modelling in the kit review columns did not dwindle. Mike's column has always been popular with the wide range of opinions and tastes of the many modellers who write to him expressing their pleasure or disagreement with what he says. His column has always been the light-hearted end to the magazine which is

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE 50th ANNIVERSARY:
This month's leading feature on the USAF's 50th anniversary will doubtless appeal to many readers, especially those who are inclined towards present day jet aircraft wearing stars and bars. This has been done quite deliberately because it does get a bit boring now and again to see the whole main feature devoted to one aircraft type and after all variety is the spice of a modeller's life. Equally I am aware that one cannot effectively squash a history of this size into 10 pages and get away with it. The aviation monthlies can and have given wider coverage of the anniversary I know but in spite of that I feel that what we have been able to gather together is worthy of study. So compromise has been reached and although in the drawings pages we may not have been able to get in all that we would have liked the cross section of aircraft types does give an impression of the size and might of just one part of American air power. Just reading through the list of units alone in spite of the fact that so many commands, groups and squadrons have been combined in the cause of economy makes one realise how small some of the European air forces, including our own, really are.
At the same time it is interesting to note that Scale Aircraft Modelling has covered all of the aircraft depicted in the drawings pages with few exceptions, in previous issues. I do not like blowing our own trumpet to any great degree but over the past 19 years and some 223 issues we have been able to provide very comprehensive coverage of a very wide range of aircraft types. As I have mentioned previously there are times when we have to do a little hard thinking to know where to go next and at the same time provide readers with an article that is worth while. I do get the occasional letter saying that I ought to concentrate on the more popular aircraft types but in the main correspondents do not realise that we have probably featured that aircraft at some time or the other in the great amount of material that is available.
The only thing that seemed to mar the 50th anniversary was the almost complete lack of special aircraft markings. One would have thought that if ever an occassion demanded it then this was the one. After all the USAF's time honoured rivals, the US Navy produced a wide variety of new and distinctive colour schemes when their anniversary came up. Mike McEvoy has commented on this lack of colour in his Tailpiece as he and David Hannant did the rounds with their cameras at Nellis Air Force base which was selected to hold the aniversary gathering of USAF assetts. The variety and open house atmosphere was there but what happened to all those special markings which we were promised when news of the event was initially advertised?. More than likely the economies are hitting harder than originally thought and one can be sure that there were many arguements for and against in the Pentagon halls of power.
And talking of markings, there's a deliberate mistake on this month's front cover. Can you spot it? There's no prizes for telling me what's wrong but its worth thinking about.