Bush Flying

Ever since the publication of Stephen Piercey's brilliant Sky Truck books in the 1980s, I have been a huge fan of the Osprey Colour Series. The most recent addition to my library, this book doesn't dissapoint. Whereas most other titles in this series cover propeller-driven freighters, this one looks at smaller aircraft still plying the skies in remote areas, carrying passengers and their goods. Aircraft types covered include the De Havilland Otter and Twin Otter (with a DHC Buffalo thrown in for good measure), its smaller brother, the Beaver, various Cessna craft (mostly seaplanes), the Grumman Goose and Mallard, the Douglas DC-3, and the Curtiss C-46 Commando. These aircraft are depicted in scenic parts of western Canada and Alaska, along with some nice pictures taken in Ethiopia (most of the other Osprey Colour Series books show aircraft in South America and the Caribbean). The scenic backdrops of the Pacific Northwest are, needless to say, spectacular. I also enjoyed the extensive coverage of seaplanes and amphibians, neither of which feature prominently in the other titles. And the DC-3, in my mind one of the most beautiful aircraft in existence, in the colors of Ethiopian Airways, my favorite airline color scheme of all time, was a real treat. The brief comments are informative, though more for what they say about the operations than the aircraft itself; however, they were not as amusing as those in the books by Stephen Piercey and his two German admirers, Karl-Heinz Morawietz and Joerg Weier. As is usual for the Osprey Color Series, the photographs are of excellent quality, though some are marred by being spread over two pages. For anyone who loves aircraft and appreciates flying in its most basic form, this is a title well worth having.