William Simone

This volume serves as both an excellent history of the F-107A itself and as modelers guide in search of a model.
Well-illustrated, the author has included excepts from the flight test through disposition and display of each aircraft in addition to the usual Ginter formatting of development and technical illustrations. The coverage of the loss to the F-105 will undoubtedly rankle fans of both aircraft, but the truth of the matter is the F-105 was capable of carrying more ordnance and probably show more by virtual of the intake design had greater growth potential for a second crewman or additional equipment.
Since this is an older Legends volume dating to 2002 and before Ginter discovered color some modelers will be disappointed should the old Trumpeter kit be re-released or perhaps a modern 1/48th kit is released.
Highly recommended for anyone interested in the aircraft whether out of technical curiosity, interest in the F-107A program itself, and modelers. show less

Like so many other aircraft covered by the Air Force Legends and Naval Fighter Series of books, aside from a few magazine articles, there is a dearth of published material on the XF-90. Mr. Simone more than makes up for this by producing a volume that can standalone as a singularly exceptional XF-90 reference for a wide audience of readers.

This volume follows the typical sequence of chapters used by the publisher but is exceptional in a couple of areas. The pre-acquisition history is pretty show more standard boilerplate until you get into the coverage of the competing airplanes. That coverage although brief is outstanding.
The author also included design studies performed throughout the lifecycle of the aircraft. That coverage includes concepts and variations for the USAF ground attack missions as well some interesting proposals to the Navy.

There are also brief chapters covering the two other aircraft procured by the USAF in the competition that produced the XF-90. The chapters covering flight test, armament testing, disposition of the aircraft, and finally their ultimate fate are all excellent. A nice little surprise was finding a few pages devoted to the Blackhawk comic strip.

Although, I was disappointed there were no pictures showing the arrangement of the front of the main landing gear, the depth and quality of the technical and photographic coverage will more than satisfy the vast majority of both modelers and the technically minded.

Overall, this is volume is a standout among the already excellent Air Force Legends Series. A must buy for those interested in early jet fighters, the USAF, or Lockheed aircraft. show less