White Crow Publications

B-17G Flying Fortress in Israeli Air Force Service 1948-1957

Written by Alex Yofe       ISBN # 0-9774627-2-2 

Product Article by Steve Bamford on Aug 6 2010

 

This 97 page softcover book from White Crow Publications uses 234 historical photos (many from private collections that have never been published before) to tell the tale of the Israeli Air Force B-17Gs.  You will also find 11 pages of colour profiles, including 18 profiles in total.  There are 3 view colour profiles of the B-17G's wearing the multi-coloured Brown/Tan/Green camo that graces so many modern day Israeli aircraft.

This book is based on 22 years of research (140 documents and 36 interviews with veterans) and is arranged into 9 chapters that cover:
  • Acquisition
  • First Mission
  • War of Independence
  • Operation "Yoav"
  • Operation "Chorev"
  • After the War
  • Operation "Kadesh"
  • End of the Line
  • Color & Markings

As for images you get:

  • 234 black and white photos 
  • 15 sideview colour profiles 
  • 3 of these profiles have 3 views showing the top and both sides  

The photos and images are clearly printed on glossy paper in a very organized book.  Many of these photos are from private collections of veterans and their family members and the effort to compile all these photos into one book must have been daunting.

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This books chronicles the history of the B-17's in service with the Israeli Air Force in the early days of the Israeli state.  The story begins with the secret acquisition of the B-17's during an UN Arms Embargo against Israel.  Then the arming of the B-17's and their missions is told....mission by mission in detail.  The ferry flight to deliver the B-17's to Israel was also their first bombing mission as they dropped bombs during their ferry flight.

The book uses pictures and text to tell in wonderful detail the full history of these aircraft to their eventual retirement from Israeli service.

Then there is a section on the camo patterns and markings worn by these B-17s which ends with a beautifully drawn selection of profiles.  These B-17's wore some very colorful and complicated camo schemes and if you are building a B-17 then you might want to consider one of the colorful B-17's featured in this book.

The story of the Israeli B-17's is an amazing interesting and an excellent read, but the selection of photos in this book is a gold mine for anyone with an interest in Israeli Air Force history.....what a wonderful collection of photos this book contains.

You can purchase this book from White Crow Publications at wings48.com or through your favorite book store.

Steve Bamford

I'd like to thank Alex at White Crow Publications for the review sample.

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Photos and text © by Steve Bamford