HMH Publications | Aircraft in Detail #021: Grumman EA-6B Prowler
Reviewed by Kevin Williams
Publisher: HMH Publications
Author(s): R. Pied, Nic Deboeck
Publishing date: 2022
ISBN: 978-2-931083-11-16 (Softcover)
Pages: 138
Another winner! This particular volume covers the Grumman EA-6B Prowler, the US Navy and Marine anti-radar jamming and attack platform, and I'm thrilled silly to finally get my hands on this. Everything the Prowler enthusiast could want, and gobs of it, is featured in this book. This volume, I don't hesitate to state, will set the benchmark for any and all future Prowler references, typical for the majority of HMH publications.
At present, I know of no available 1:32 EA-6B kit, though Trumpeter did announce one some time back.
As with the majority of titles from this publisher, this is very much a collaborative effort, using photos from many varied sources, each with appropriate photo credits given, and there are quite a substantial number of them in this magnificent volume. Printed on good quality semi-glossy stock, the photos are nothing sort of magnificent, highlighting many areas of the air-frame, giving both modelers and aviation enthusiasts alike, a wealth of eye candy on this fascinating plane. If there's a detail of the Prowler that you'd like to see, it's more than likely in this book.
This particular book (No. 21 in the series), depicts the rather interesting and iconic EA-6B Prowler, and it’s geared toward both modelers and aviation enthusiasts alike, being very much a detailed, walk around overview of the type, and that pleases me immeasurably, as it's the major reference type that I seek these days.
Photo Samples
Photos are broken down by section; forward fuselage, fuselage, air intakes, fuselage again, wings, cockpit (numerous pages), front landing gear, main landing gear, aft fuselage, vertical tail, arrestor hook, horizontal tail, maintenance, engine, maintenance again, defence [sic] systems, ordnance, and finally, Action!! Certainly enough material is presented here, to satisfy even the most ardent aviation enthusiast.
The myriad photos obviously form the backbone of this book, and for me, this is a true blessing, as I can never seem to get enough details, and this book certainly has them in great abundance. Generally, text is very informative as well. Photos are razor sharp, revealing incredibly nice color details. (It is also apparent that a couple of new titles are in the works right now, and they will most likely be crowd pleasers. I'll defer to HMH for those announcements.)
For those with a passion for the Prowler, I can highly recommend this volume.
Summation
On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d rate this book as a solid 10, no question about it. Topping out at a hefty 138 pages of EA-6B goodness, it's just packed wall-to-wall with details, details, and more details, and is therefore highly recommended.
(Several additional volumes; F/A-18 Hornet, A-4 Skyhawk, and MiG-31, will definitely be added to my ever growing book collection, and that can't happen soon enough, as far as I'm concerned.)
HMH continues here the wonderful tradition of high quality photo-documentation type books, setting the bar quite high for any emulators to seek to exceed, and I heartily applaud those efforts.
Note: Book cover image directly from HMH Publications (used with permission).
My review copy compliments of Casemate Publishers. Thanks a ton to Casemate, it's truly an outstanding reference book for the Prowler, really top-notch stuff.
© Kevin Williams 2022
This review was published on Friday, March 04 2022; Last modified on Tuesday, May 17 2022