Shock & Awe

Now here's something I didn't expect to see from a decal company - a color photo journal of combat aircraft nose art. Author Greg Davis is an Air Force photographer who has had the unique privilege of being rated to fly in the back seat of F-15s and F-16s in combat. His photos have appeared in a variety of publications from Aviation Week & Space Technology to Koku Fan.

As the title denotes, this a compilation of nose art and mission markings taken during Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF - Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Some of the photos were taken in-theater while others were caught on their return home before the aircraft were stripped of their unique combat markings.

Coverage of this title includes:

• US Air Force
• USMC
• US Navy
• US Army
• Coalition Forces

As you cruise through the pages, you'll note that every photo is in full color, with a brief caption to advise when and where the photo was taken as well as any unique aspects to note in the photo. The paper quality is great and the book is bound using perfect binding. The only oddity is that the cover is printed in the same weight paper as the rest of the book, so care will be required in handling this one.

I'll confess that I didn't know of Mr. Davis before seeing this title (though as an AW&ST subscriber, I've no doubt seen his work). Nevertheless, having poured through the book a few times now, I can only hope that he'll also produce some wall calendars too!

Come to think of it, where else does a creative and prolific decal company come up with the subjects for their decal sheets if not from photo references such as this? Perhaps we'll see more photo reference titles from TwoBobs in the future.

I've always grabbed nose art books whenever I can find a new one, and this new title is not only as good as the WW2 nose art books by the late Jeff Ethel, this covers very recent operations that we won't have to wait another 20 years to obtain in book form!

You can pick this title up at selected hobby shops or directly from the TwoBobs' website at http://www.twobobs.net.

My sincere thanks to TwoBobs Aviation Graphics for this review sample!