The third of our documentation packs consists of the Warpaint Books Warpaint No. 60 - English Electric Canberra, plus our Canberra CD, at a reduced price over buying them individually.

The English Electric Canberra was designed to replace the De Havilland Mosquito as a high altitude unarmed bomber. The first prototype flew in 1949, after which the type entered service with the RAF albeit modified to make room for a bomb aimer - the type was originally designed to use electronics for bomb aiming.

The Canberra proved popular with both the USA where it was built under licence as the Martin B-57, as well as in Australia. Over 1,300 example were built worldwide with over 20 marques in bomber, photo reconnaisance, trainer, target tug and later, remote-controlled target drone roles. The aircraft is one of the longest serving in the RAF - it was finally retired in 2006 after 56 years of service. In the USA, NASA was still running two B-57 models in 2005 for high-altitude research.

The Book: The warpaint series of books are excellent and the new Canberra book is bound to be popular if interest in our Canberra CD is anything to go by. As the RAF have finally retired the Canberra (it's last official outing was at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford in 2006) this book is well timed and a fitting tribute to this long-serving aircraft.

The 84 pages contain many drawings, colour plates and photographs and a comprehensive account of the Canberra's 50+ years of service from the first prototypes to the last operational TT.18. The book also contains squadron assignment details, a list of records set by the Canberra, and the usual colour plates and scale drawings. There are also details of the Canberra's involvement in the Falklands War, the only conflict in which it faced itself (as operated by the Argentine Air Force).

Authors: Charles Stafrace, Richard Caruana.
ISBN: N/A
Published: 2006
Format: Paperback, A4
Condition: New
Pages: 84
Scale Drawings: three-view, 1:72 scale, of all variants
Artwork: Yes, details pending

This book is brand new but is out of print at the publishers, we have just two copies available which were purchased at higher than the publishers recommended retail price, hence our price.

CD Details: This photo CD contains 43 images, all 3000x2000 (approx) consisting of 12 images of the cockpit interior of WH646, which is a cockpit section on display at the Midlands Air Museum, 25 images of the exterior of WF922 (also on display at the Midlands Air Museum) and 6 images of XH171 which is currently being restored at the RAF Museum, Cosford, for display in the new Cold War exhibition hall. Photos include details of:

• Cockpit interior (12, 0, 0)
• Airframe taken from points all around the aircraft (0, 6, 2)
• Wings, tip tanks and tail (0, 4, 1)
• Cockpit and access hatche (0, 5, 2)
• Engine intakes and exhausts (0, 6, 0)
• Undercarriage (0, 4, 0)
• Fuselage markings and other details - close-ups (0, 1, 0)
• Information plates (0, 0, 1)

Numbers in brackets are for WH646, WF922 and XH171 respectively.