Book Review of
G.91 Yankee
Aviation Collectables Co
Italian Aviation Series
ISBN: 9788894105063
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $24.95
Italian Aviation Series
ISBN: 9788894105063
By Ray Mehlberger
Copyright: 2021
MSRP: $24.95
HISTORY:
The Fiat G.91 is an Italian jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, which later merged into Aeritalia. The G.91 has its origins in the NATO-organised NBMR-1 competition in 1953, which sought a light fighter-bomber (officially, the competition was seeking a "Lightweight Strike Fighter") to be adopted as standard equipment across the air forces of the various NATO nations. After reviewing multiple submissions, the G.91 was picked as the winning design of the NBMR-1 competition.
The G.91 entered into operational service with the Italian Air Force in 1961, and with the West German Luftwaffe in the following year. Various other nations adopted it, such as the Portuguese Air Force, who made extensive use of the type during the Portuguese Colonial War in Angola and Mozambique. The G.91 enjoyed a long service life that extended over 35 years.
The G.91 remained in production for 19 years, during which a total of 756 aircraft were completed, including the prototypes and pre-production models. The assembly lines were finally closed in 1977. The G.91 was also used as a basis for a twin-engined development: the Fiat/Aeritalia G.91Y.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer: Fiat Aviazione / Aeritalia
First flight: 9 August 1956
Introduction to service: 1958
Retired: 1995
Status: Retired
Primary users: Italian Air Force, German Air Force, Portuguese Air Force
Produced: 1956–1977
Number built: 770
Variants: Fiat G.91Y
THE BOOK:
Aviation Collectables Co. is based in Italy.
This book is soft cover of 65 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The text is in Italian and English.
Authorship is done by a group of 6 writers. Which is the usual way that Aviation Collectables does their books.
The cover art shows a G.91 sitting on a runway with a pilot inside getting ready to take off. He has the cockpit roof up. There is a ground crewman kneeling on one knee and wearing white earphones. He is giving finger signals with both his arms raised.
The G.91Y is in a wave pattern camouflage of two shades of green, with a black nose and anti-glare panel in front of the windshield. It has a narrow white serial no. 846 under the cockpit. Next to it is a power cart.
The back cover shows a color side-view illustration of a G.91. It is in the same camouflage pattern as the one of the front cover. It has a large white fuselage code of 8 roundel 23 and a narrow black horizontal band around the top of the rudder, over a black circle with a white bird on it. It is posed against a large color illustration of an Italian Air Force roundel.
The book contains 115 color photos, including the covers (14 are of the walk-around type) and 17 black and white ones.
These show aircraft, pilots, engines and weapons of G.91’s. There are 7 line drawings, photos of the inside of factories, 2 black and white illustrations of the joystick.
There are color photos of some really spectacular paint schemes. Four are color photos of the prototype that is overall yellow with red and white checkerboard on its nose and the rear of the fuselage, a black nose tip, a narrow black horizontal stripe around the top of the rudder and alternating red and white horizontal stripes on the rudder flap.
Another G.91 is overall navy-blue with a yellow comet leaving a trail down the whole side of the fuselage.
There is another overall navy-glue one with a white woman and red lightning bolt over an archery bow on the rudder and large white outlined no. 101 and a red lightning bolt followed by white outlined letters CBR on its fuselage side.
One that is black with a grey nose and a huge yellow flower on its sides.
Color side-views profiles show four G.91s in Italian Air Force markings. All 4 are in the two shades of grey wave pattern camouflage with black nose tips and anti-glare panels in front of the windscreen.
The first one carries a large white fuselage code RS011 roundel. It has a black shield on the rudder with white man on it.
The second one carries a large white fuselage number 8 roundel 25. It has a logo on the rudder of a white arm with its fist holding a bomb.
The third one carries a large white fuselage number 32 roundel 23. It has a shark mouth on its nose and white shield with a black bird on it on its rudder
The fourth one carries dark-grey fuselage number 8-66 under the cockpit, a narrow red stripe around the fuselage just in front of the rudder and a narrow black horizontal stripe high on the rudder over a white arm with its fist holding a bomb.
The modeler’s section of the book features the building of the Aeritalia G.91Y kit no. CM7212 in 1/72nd scale. It shows the box art, one of the parts trees, 2 color photos of the model being built. A side view of it finished and a color photo of the actual aircraft it uses the scheme from.
The modeler’s section of the book shows building of the Aeritalia brand 1/72nd scale G.91Y kit no. CM7213 by an unknown modeler. The box art, one parts tree and color cover arts of 3 Matchbox kits and a DV brand kit are shown. There is a color photo of the completed model next to a color photo of the actual aircraft it uses its scheme from.
The end of the book has lists of G.91 technical data, serial numbers and the bibliography.
This is a neat book on the G.91. It will be of great interest to modelers planning on doing a model of the aircraft in the markings of either one of the 3 air forces featured.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the North American distributor of Aviation Collectables Co. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
The Fiat G.91 is an Italian jet fighter aircraft designed and built by Fiat Aviazione, which later merged into Aeritalia. The G.91 has its origins in the NATO-organised NBMR-1 competition in 1953, which sought a light fighter-bomber (officially, the competition was seeking a "Lightweight Strike Fighter") to be adopted as standard equipment across the air forces of the various NATO nations. After reviewing multiple submissions, the G.91 was picked as the winning design of the NBMR-1 competition.
The G.91 entered into operational service with the Italian Air Force in 1961, and with the West German Luftwaffe in the following year. Various other nations adopted it, such as the Portuguese Air Force, who made extensive use of the type during the Portuguese Colonial War in Angola and Mozambique. The G.91 enjoyed a long service life that extended over 35 years.
The G.91 remained in production for 19 years, during which a total of 756 aircraft were completed, including the prototypes and pre-production models. The assembly lines were finally closed in 1977. The G.91 was also used as a basis for a twin-engined development: the Fiat/Aeritalia G.91Y.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Role: Fighter-bomber
Manufacturer: Fiat Aviazione / Aeritalia
First flight: 9 August 1956
Introduction to service: 1958
Retired: 1995
Status: Retired
Primary users: Italian Air Force, German Air Force, Portuguese Air Force
Produced: 1956–1977
Number built: 770
Variants: Fiat G.91Y
THE BOOK:
Aviation Collectables Co. is based in Italy.
This book is soft cover of 65 pages in 8 ¼” x 11 ¾” page format.
The text is in Italian and English.
Authorship is done by a group of 6 writers. Which is the usual way that Aviation Collectables does their books.
The cover art shows a G.91 sitting on a runway with a pilot inside getting ready to take off. He has the cockpit roof up. There is a ground crewman kneeling on one knee and wearing white earphones. He is giving finger signals with both his arms raised.
The G.91Y is in a wave pattern camouflage of two shades of green, with a black nose and anti-glare panel in front of the windshield. It has a narrow white serial no. 846 under the cockpit. Next to it is a power cart.
The back cover shows a color side-view illustration of a G.91. It is in the same camouflage pattern as the one of the front cover. It has a large white fuselage code of 8 roundel 23 and a narrow black horizontal band around the top of the rudder, over a black circle with a white bird on it. It is posed against a large color illustration of an Italian Air Force roundel.
The book contains 115 color photos, including the covers (14 are of the walk-around type) and 17 black and white ones.
These show aircraft, pilots, engines and weapons of G.91’s. There are 7 line drawings, photos of the inside of factories, 2 black and white illustrations of the joystick.
There are color photos of some really spectacular paint schemes. Four are color photos of the prototype that is overall yellow with red and white checkerboard on its nose and the rear of the fuselage, a black nose tip, a narrow black horizontal stripe around the top of the rudder and alternating red and white horizontal stripes on the rudder flap.
Another G.91 is overall navy-blue with a yellow comet leaving a trail down the whole side of the fuselage.
There is another overall navy-glue one with a white woman and red lightning bolt over an archery bow on the rudder and large white outlined no. 101 and a red lightning bolt followed by white outlined letters CBR on its fuselage side.
One that is black with a grey nose and a huge yellow flower on its sides.
Color side-views profiles show four G.91s in Italian Air Force markings. All 4 are in the two shades of grey wave pattern camouflage with black nose tips and anti-glare panels in front of the windscreen.
The first one carries a large white fuselage code RS011 roundel. It has a black shield on the rudder with white man on it.
The second one carries a large white fuselage number 8 roundel 25. It has a logo on the rudder of a white arm with its fist holding a bomb.
The third one carries a large white fuselage number 32 roundel 23. It has a shark mouth on its nose and white shield with a black bird on it on its rudder
The fourth one carries dark-grey fuselage number 8-66 under the cockpit, a narrow red stripe around the fuselage just in front of the rudder and a narrow black horizontal stripe high on the rudder over a white arm with its fist holding a bomb.
The modeler’s section of the book features the building of the Aeritalia G.91Y kit no. CM7212 in 1/72nd scale. It shows the box art, one of the parts trees, 2 color photos of the model being built. A side view of it finished and a color photo of the actual aircraft it uses the scheme from.
The modeler’s section of the book shows building of the Aeritalia brand 1/72nd scale G.91Y kit no. CM7213 by an unknown modeler. The box art, one parts tree and color cover arts of 3 Matchbox kits and a DV brand kit are shown. There is a color photo of the completed model next to a color photo of the actual aircraft it uses its scheme from.
The end of the book has lists of G.91 technical data, serial numbers and the bibliography.
This is a neat book on the G.91. It will be of great interest to modelers planning on doing a model of the aircraft in the markings of either one of the 3 air forces featured.
I sincerely wish to thank Casemate Publishers for this review sample. Casemate is the North American distributor of Aviation Collectables Co. books and all their titles can be viewed on Casemate’s website at:
Highly Recommended.